Would your local paper do this?

[LaraMN]

Last Tuesday, a fifteen-year old student at our local high school committed suicide. I looked at our local paper today, and there is an article about the school/student's response to the boy's death, including his name and information about him.

I realize that in a small city (population 11,000), most people are going to hear about it, and it's not to hard to check the obituaries if a person hears of a suicide and wants to find out the name of the victim, but I'm not sure how I feel about the paper publishing an article about it.

I hope his family was consulted and approved of the article being published.

[wildhorses]

1. i don't think so...perhaps with the parents permission

in order to help educate people:shrug:

sad. my heart goes out to the family

[LaraMN]

2. I'm thinking the paper MUST have consulted with his family.

In an obituary, you don't have to state the manner of death, but the article did so.

[wildhorses]

3. yes, that is my thought also.

very courageous of the family. perhaps it was a healing process for them as well, cathartic.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. I don't find this unusual

That doesn't mean I think it's right. It's just... fairly common.

The paper wouldn't need the parents' permission to do it. Whether they should be consulted beforehand is a topic for debate.

[LaraMN]

5. What struck me is that we've had plenty of suicides at the h.s.

over the years, but none were presented as front-page news.
Our paper just hired a new editor recently. I wonder if that was a factor, or, perhaps the family wanted to share (if that were the case, I think the paper should have indicated as much.)

I just felt uncomfortable about seeing it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Are you talking about the story

in the Pine Journal about the school bringing in crisis counselors? That's the only one I saw — but then, the web site allows one "teaser" read; after that, you've gotta register. :eyes:

I also checked the staff directory. They list exactly three people in editorial — the editor, a sports reporter and a "guest writer." That's gotta be one tiny paper, probably a weekly. If that's the case, there's a higher likelihood that its writers are less-steeped in journalism than at larger papers.

[LaraMN]

7. Gah! It changed...

the paper comes out on Wednesday, so the online version changed as well. There were a few features on a memorial for the boy/the VT victims, and the article you saw might have been the one I read (in full) from last week's paper, which focused on his death and the school's response.

The print version of the paper would torture you; the editing is AWFUL (or has been, historically.)

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. What I read isn't gonna win any awards

Also typical of small papers.

[LaraMN]

10. I love the letters to the editor.

Usually that section consists of some group thanking some business for donating money to some cause, or REALLY poorly written opinion pieces (terribly compelling, when the writer is an obvious shit-for-brains.)

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. There's no difference between op-ed sections

in small-town newspapers. You've read one, you've read 'em all.

[LaraMN]

15. Once, I very nearly penned a scathing criticism of our local Dairy Queen,

because they WOULD NOT change their signage, and they had a misspelling and an out-of-season greeting on it (for MANY weeks.) It was driving me mad. I started working on the letter, and suddenly, the DQ changed its sign. I don't think much of the town would have appreciated my sense of humor and outrage, anyway.

[tigereye]

17. sounds like the high school needs a serious suicide prevention program

that's sad.

:hi: Lara.

[pdx_prog]

8. It's no different than the paper from where I used to live..

Every Wednesday they would publish all of the court cases and the outcomes from the previous week. Some people couldn't wait to run home and open up the paper to the "funny pages" to see who bounced a check or got caught speeding or any other lame-o charge. Thursdays were always the days when people would come up to you, look left and right to see if anyone was listening and whisper, "did you see where <blank> was in court for <blank>?"

It was truly disgusting....

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Which was disgusting?

What the paper printed or people's reactions to it?

[pdx_prog]

14. That they printed it....

If an older person read about someone in the paper they were marked for life as being "no good"....lol

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Oh... yeah

That's the paper's fault.

[LaraMN]

13. Ha! That sounds familiar.

Our police report used to be HILARIOUS. The person who wrote it up made it as comical as possible, ie; "A woman on fourth street reported 'something large and wispy rolling down Carlton Avenue.' Officers responded promptly, but the 'large, wispy' object evaded capture."

They don't do that anymore, so I skip the police report.

[Oeditpus Rex]

18. The Arcata (Calif.) Eye is famous for its police log

It actually published two "best of" books.

http://www.arcataeye.com

[LibDemAlways]

19. Ours used to be overtly racist. The ethnic background

of suspects was always prominently mentioned - unless the person was Caucasion, in which case ethnicity was a non-issue.