What would you have chosen to do as a journalist in this situation?   Because this case study is intended primarily as a teaching resource, a password is required to view the epilogue. The purpose is to encourage readers to pause and think about how they would resolve the difficulty, before learning how the journalist(s) […]

There was a broad consensus in the newsroom that the story contained a strong public interest. Still, the newsroom was under pressure from the police to keep the story under wraps, and the family couldn’t be reached for comment. It became evident that the reporters involved had uncovered all the information they were likely to […]

The circumstances of the officer’s death raised many difficult questions for journalists at The Spectator. What drove this officer to take his own life? Was there something disquieting going on within police ranks — an internal investigation, perhaps — that drove this officer to take his own life, with a police-issued weapon, while on duty? […]

Every person we spoke to for this case study noted that stigma plays a role in hindering an open discussion of suicide, in the media and general public alike. Sociologists define stigma as “an ‘attribute that is deeply discrediting’ and that reduces the bearer ‘from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one’” […]

Some critics argue journalists use the phrase “public interest” too liberally, as a convenient way to justify the publication of a contentious or sensitive story. “I think the catch-all phrase of what is in the ‘public interest’ is something that is so non-defined and not prescriptive that it can essentially be wrapped around any incident,” […]

The Spectator’s ethics guidelines indicate that suicide should not be reported unless there is a “public need to know” [1]. But how, exactly, should that public interest be defined? As a societal issue, there is no question that reporting on suicide is in the public interest, according to CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin, who co-wrote the […]

After it became clear that the police officer had taken his own life, the first hurdle that The Spectator’s editors and reporters faced was their own publication’s policy on suicide reporting. In 2005, many newspapers followed a long-standing blanket policy that cautioned reporters against covering incidents of suicide. The Spectator was among them. Even today, […]