City Council calls on media outlets to minimize coverage of suicide

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council urged the media to minimize its coverage of suicide incidents following reports from police that a total of 800 cases have been recorded in Cebu from 2016 to 2019.

Cebu City Councilor Niña Mabatid delivered a privilege speech on Tuesday, September 17,  during the council’s regular session “appealing to the media not to publish stories on suicide.”

She said these stories are traumatic to the love ones of the victim, who will read various accounts of the victim’s death.

These “accounts may be twisted endlessly in articles and stories.”

“I feel for the parents of the victims who has to suffer through the tragedy,” she said.

Mabatid said suicide stories appearing on newspapers and online platforms, and aired on television and radio stations can be misunderstood by young people experiencing depression and other psychological problems.

“This may prompt them to follow others and take their lives thinking that it will solve their problems. [But it] is never a solution,” she said.

Mabatid urged the council to make legislative interventions to prevent the media from excessively reporting on suicide stories

She also appealed to the media to be sensitive in covering these incidents.

Councilor Antonio Cuenco said the City Council cannot sensor the media on what to report because it is contrary to what is stipulated in the Philippine Constitution which protects press freedom.

He said the council can only appeal to the media to be sensitive in covering suicide stories and avoid naming the victims and their families.

With this move, Cuenco said the council hopes to curb suicide cases by minimizing exposure of such incidents to the youths who are the most vulnerable.

The council agreed to this with an intent to send a copy of the resolution to the organizers of the Press Freedom Week, which is celebrated from September 14 to 21 this year.

Responding to the council’s resolution, CDN Digital released this statement on the media organization’s policy in covering suicide cases:

“CDN Digital, as a policy, practices sensitivity when we cover stories that involve suicide. We never detail the steps leading to the person’s death. At the end of each article, we include a suicide prevention hotline. We have called the hotline to check if it works.

We take this seriously as an organization because we believe that our brand of journalism helps build communities. Building communities means acknowledging the struggles and the battles faced by the members of this community.” / celr