Everyday Ethics

By Bob Steele
Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values
Contributors: Scott Libin, Bill Mitchell

What were they thinking?

That's a polite way of expressing the anger aimed at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times for its May 30th coverage of the suicide of local television meteorologist John Winter.

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"From Shame to Suicide: Is it Ever that Simple?" by Pat Walters To receive "Everyday Ethics" by e-mail, sign up here. Newsletters are delivered as new items are added.

I don't share all of the views represented in the reader comments posted to the paper's Web site (scroll down below story). Most of the facts involved in this case are newsworthy. The Times, which is owned by The Poynter Institute, was right to report them. 

My criticism has more to do with tone and proportion, and is primarily targeted at the Tampa Bay Times, the free daily tabloid published by the Times.

The tbt* cover on that day is dominated by a large color photo of Winter with the overlaid headline, "HE DIED OF SHAME: Weatherman John Winter had a secret he feared his wife could never forgive: an affair."

TBT* cover for May 30, 2007

tbt* and the Times journalists who edit tbt* were way out of bounds on this judgment call. The tone is unwise and the intensity is unfair. The headline is a "screamer" in the worst way.

The idea of tbt*, as editor Neville Green told my colleague Pat Walters, is to reach new readers.  There's nothing wrong with experimenting with jazzier headlines and graphics in pursuit of the additional customers it will take to sustain 21st century business models.

This is a broader issue than broadsheet vs. tabloid editions. News organizations face similar issues in serving the different audiences they attract to their online editions. Interestingly, tbt* used a far tamer (and more accurate) headline on its Web site: "Before suicide, a confession". 

The challenge is to find bold and enterprising paths to new and different audiences without violating fundamental journalistic principles and responsibilities. In this case, the values of fairness and respect fell victim to the pursuit of eyeballs.

Yes, there is a story to be told. The police investigation of the suicide revealed an extramarital affair that was newsworthy given the context of when and how Winter died and the 911 call that preceded his death on April 5.

It's the tbt* cover that fails journalistically and ethically. Beyond the disrespect and harm to key stakeholders, including Winter's family, the headline and intensive play fly in the face of advice from experts in the field of suicide and analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A CDC report puts it this way: "Some characteristics of news coverage of suicide may contribute to contagion, and other characteristics may help prevent suicide. Clinicians and researchers acknowledge that it is not news coverage of suicide per se, but certain types of news coverage, that promote contagion."

It was nearly 20 years ago that clinicians, researchers and other health professionals were joined by journalists at a national workshop exploring the coverage of suicide. That workshop report  concluded that "the likelihood of suicide contagion may be increased by the following actions":

• "Presenting simplistic explanations for suicide. Suicide is never the result of a single factor or event, but rather results from complex interaction of many factors and usually involves a history of psychosocial problems. Public officials and the media should carefully explain that the final precipitating event was not the only cause of a given suicide. Most persons who have committed suicide have had a history of problems that may not have been acknowledged during the acute aftermath of the suicide..."
  

• "Providing sensational coverage of suicide. By its nature, news coverage of a suicidal event tends to heighten the general public's preoccupation with suicide. This reaction is also believed to be associated with contagion and the development of suicide clusters..."

• "Glorifying suicide or persons who commit suicide. News coverage is less likely to contribute to suicide contagion when reports of community expressions of grief (e.g. public eulogies...) are minimized. Such actions may contribute to suicide contagion by suggestion to susceptible persons that society is honoring suicidal behavior of the deceased person, rather than mourning the person's death."

What's sensational to one reader may reflect appropriate emphasis to another, of course. But the use of blood-red, inch-and-a-half type ("SHAME") does tip the scales toward the former.

Nothing about the May 30th coverage glorified Winter's actions. But much of the immediate coverage of his April 5th suicide took the form of extensive tributes. The initial stories also focused on the shock and surprise of colleagues, as well as lots of unanswered questions. All of that may have heightened what editors and news directors around Tampa Bay saw as their journalistic responsibility, nearly two months later, to report subsequent revelations and potential explanations in great detail.

Readers of tbt* were left with a headline and presentation that too easily ascribed a simple explanation to what the experts say is almost always a more complex decision.

Suicide is one of those issues that is both dramatic and complicated, just the kind of issue that cries out for the best, most careful work of journalists.

In this case, tbt* failed to measure up.