CTA Tattler

Reporting on CTA suicides, deaths

I wrote yesterday about another death on CTA tracks. As far as I know, it hasn't yet been classified a suicide. But I do know that when I post about deaths or suicides on CTA tracks, I get lots of comments.

Some folks call the suicide victims selfish. Others take a more compassionate approach. However you feel, it is a subject that makes us think, and feel. And it's not going away.

One commenter on the Eyewitness account of the Loyola CTA platform suicide wanted to know why the papers don't cover suicides so much. Another said it was probably a good thing, because "when these types of things appear in the papers it gives others the idea, and there would be more jumpers."

I came across some research that validates that viewpoint -- "Reporting on Suicide: Recommendations for the Media":

"The media can play a powerful role in educating the public about suicide prevention.

"Stories about suicide can inform readers and viewers about the likely causes of suicide, its warning signs, trends in suicide rates, and recent treatment advances. They can also highlight opportunities to prevent suicide. Media stories about individual deaths by suicide may be newsworthy and need to be covered, but they also have the potential to do harm. Implementation of recommendations for media coverage of suicide has been shown to decrease suicide rates:

• Certain ways of describing suicide in the news contribute to what behavioral scientists call "suicide contagion" or "copycat" suicides.
• Research suggests that inadvertently romanticizing suicide or idealizing those who take their own lives by portraying suicide as a heroic or romantic act may encourage others to identify with the victim.
• Exposure to suicide method through media reports can encourage vulnerable individuals to imitate it. Clinicians believe the danger is even greater if there is a detailed description of the method.
• Research indicates that detailed descriptions or pictures of the location or site of a suicide encourage imitation.
• Presenting suicide as the inexplicable act of an otherwise healthy or high achieving person may encourage identification with the victim."

Prevent Suicide Now's Web site also cites the same report, and provides further tips for media on reporting on suicide, and avoiding "suicide contagion":

"One of the best examples of suicide contagion was that of the Vienna train suicides of the 1980s. For a period of about four years, from 1984 to 1987, several individuals died by suicide by running or jumping in front of oncoming trains. The media coverage of each suicide was sensational and extensive, and caused numerous “copycat” suicides.

"Finally, in 1987, a campaign was launched to alter the way the media reported the suicides. The result of the campaign was dramatic--suicides and attempted suicides dropped by over 80% after only six months."

Further Internet searches on the subject found that "about 200 people in England commit suicide annually on the country's railways, costing the industry approximately £300 million a year, including 2,000 days off a year for staff suffering from trauma-related sickness. " That's from a story about the problem on Toronto's rail lines, urging the Toronto transit folks to take some prevention actions.

Shanghai officials are doing just that, by employing almost 400 security guards to patrol platforms throughout the system.

With the current CTA financial crunch, I just don't see that happening.