How do you feel? Preparing novice reporters for the death knock

The death knock is a reporting task that presents its own particular pressures. In addition to the usual editorial, legal and ethical concerns, the potential on the part of the journalist to do harm is heightened as they attempt to interview already vulnerable people in a situation which most are ill prepared for. In this environment, reporters are generally expected to learn how to undertake this particular form of sensitive reporting 'by doing'. Many journalists have received little or no training in this area and despite journalism educators demonstrating a willingness to prepare their students for their first attempt at this type of reporting, there is considerable confusion over the most appropriate and effective methods for doing so. This article discusses certain approaches, specifically role playing, that could be used in the classroom. Firstly, journalists' perceptions of the activity and their preparedness for it were identified in order to enrich educators' understanding of the process. Two studies were undertaken - a survey of journalists' attitudes to intrusive reporting and interviews with journalists and other interested parties on their perceptions of the death knock and appropriate educational strategies. Finally, a focus group of current second and third year students was held to review findings

Hacking into tragedy : exploring the ethics of death reporting in the social media age

The phone-tapping scandal blew up with the revelation that murder victim Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked, seeming to demonstrate that the public are much more concerned with the feelings of bereaved families than with the reputations of celebrities or politicians. Therefore any regulation that arises from the UK hacking scandal is likely to include the area of contact between journalists and the grieving. This paper considers whether families actually need more “protection” from journalists and, drawing on evidence from interviews with bereaved relatives, argues that what they actually need is informed access to the media. It also considers “hacking” and lifting material from social media sites, which, while being legal, similarly prompts many ethical concerns. Journalists’ attitudes to using these sites in covering personal traumatic events will be explored using data collected from questionnaires mostly from reporters of five years or less experience. In particular the paper will examine whether journalists consider “virtual door-stepping” to be more or less intrusive than traditional approaches and whether they use these sites to limit contact with the bereaved. It will attempt to assess the benefits and harms of a probable increased usage of social networking sites in the intrusive reporting process

Teaching responsible suicide reporting (RSR) : using storytelling as a pedagogy to advance media reporting of suicide

Reporting suicide is an important but challenging area of journalism practice. Learning how to report this complex, distressing subject is vital for journalists if they are to avoid contributing to the 800,000 annual suicidal deaths worldwide (WHO, 2019). Tuition on suicide reporting in higher education tends to be didactic and theoretical, focussing on media guidelines and codes of conduct. Thereafter, journalists’ ability to implement this guidance is mixed. To address this, the authors devised the Responsible Suicide Reporting Model (RSR) which is grounded in news-work and embeds media guidelines within journalistic storytelling, consisting of a typology of suicide narratives and 'othering', ethical rules and a standard of moderation. This study tests the effectiveness of teaching the RSR Model using storytelling-as-pedagogy and problem-based learning. Firstly, we investigated students' perspectives on current educational offerings on suicide reporting through a survey of 229 students in the UK and Ireland who had no exposure to the RSR model. We then ran workshops with 80 students in the UK, teaching them the RSR model. The results showed that students with no exposure to the model–while they seemed to be aware of the theory of responsible suicide reporting–did not know how to implement it. Students who participated in workshops, where the RSR model was used, reported a greater understanding of responsible suicide reporting, believing they became better critically reflective practitioners

Using the Responsible Suicide Reporting Model to increase adherence to global media reporting guidelines

Numerous guidelines on responsible reporting of suicide are available to journalists globally, offering advice on best practice regarding approaches and suitability of content. Whilst their advice is compelling and legitimate, their use is uneven at best. With a suicide death every 40 seconds worldwide, it is imperative journalists understand and recognise the best ethical practices in order to report suicide responsibly. To address these shortcomings, the authors present a model for responsible suicide reporting (RSR) that is grounded in news-work and embeds media reporting guidelines within journalistic storytelling practices. The RSR model consists of a typology of suicide narratives and ‘othering’, ethical rules and a standard of moderation. Methodologically, these typologies emerged from analysis of 159 suicide news stories published in 2018–19, with particular focus on adherence and non-adherence to global media reporting guidelines. We posit through the process of producing stories using the RSR model, journalists should interact more effectively with critical risk factors for example, stigmatisation, copycat effects, harmful speculation, highlighted by media reporting guidelines

Responsible Reporting on Mental Health, Mental Illness and Death by Suicide

On the basis of her published research, Dr Duncan was commissioned by the National Union of Journalists (Scotland) to revise and enhance their existing media guidelines on reporting mental health and suicide. The guidelines were launched on November 7, 2014, at a public seminar at the University of Strathclyde, hosted by Dr Duncan. The revised guidelines address vital issues in contemporary journalism ethics by including new sections offering advice on best practice in interacting with the bereaved and appropriate use of social media in mental health and suicide reporting. Dr Duncan’s research findings appear explicitly in the following sections of the new guidelines: Digital Media Reporting of Mental Health and Suicide; Interviewing a Person with a Past or Current Mental Illness; Working with the Bereaved; What it’s like to be a Bereaved Person; and Interview Tips and Appropriate Angles to Pursue: During the interview; After the interview

The ethics

Journalists who undertake traumatic reporting work with vulnerable people – as sources, as those who appear in their stories, and in a wider context as their audience – so it is vital that they comprehend their professional standards and behave ethically. Practically speaking, ethics is about trying to do the “right” thing in difficult circumstances. Journalists do this by assessing a situation, making decisions about how they report a story and critically reflecting on their actions afterwards. Making ethical decisions often centres on where to draw the line. They do that by applying rules, considering their duties and responsibilities, thinking of the consequences of their actions and by striving to be a virtuous or good journalist. Generally, they are bound by professional standards, which often originate in codes of ethics, conduct or practice and are regulated by independent professional bodies. There are more than 310 journalism codes worldwide, some in countries with limited freedom of expression. Although they differ according to the particular governance, culture and society within their countries, they tend to be based on four ethical pillars: truth telling and accuracy; minimizing harm; independence, fairness and impartiality; and being accountable

Digital doorstepping and the death knock : ethical issues surrounding the use of social networking sites in reporting personal tragedy

Social networking sites are now used as a standard newsgathering tool by journalists. As well as helping the reporter to find sources, they also offer an accessible supply of quotes and pictures. As a result they are particularly useful in the reporting of personal tragedy where bereaved relatives and friends may be unwilling to speak to the media. This trend could be interpreted as a form of virtual or digital doorstepping, which like the traditional method, has connotations of intrusion. Using data collected from questionnaires and interviews mostly with journalists of five years or less experience, this paper explores journalists’ attitudes to using these sites in reporting personal traumatic events, the manner in which they use them and the ethical issues that arise from their use. In particular it will examine whether journalists consider them to be more or less intrusive than traditional approaches and whether they use these sites to limit contact with the bereaved, thus avoiding some of the ethical and stress-related concerns present in reporting personal tragedy. In conclusion, it will attempt to assess the benefits and harms of a probable, increased usage of social networking sites in the intrusive reporting process

Emotion and trauma in reporting disaster and tragedy

Images of humanitarian reporting often involve compelling accounts of distant human suffering, such as Michael Buerk's iconic coverage of the 1984 Ethiopian famine. Yet, for every major disaster there are personal tragedies by the score, or even by the thousand, and reporting these stories of individual bereavement is a form of humanitarian reporting many journalists are likely to come across. Whilst there are clearly significant differences in reporting humanitarian disasters and reporting personal bereavement there is also common ground. Behind every major tragedy and those images of distant suffering are individual families who have endured the loss of a loved one. Reporters often approach covering the bereaved, the vulnerable and the traumatised from an insufficiently informed position which creates a reliance on instinct, previous experience, and a variable application of regulatory systems and personal decision-making. This article suggests that a greater professional understanding of the conditions, involvements and responses to grief, loss and trauma would educate journalists – including those involved in the production process as well as in frontline news gathering – in the appropriateness of their treatment of a vulnerable person's story

The death knock and the Dowler effect: could Hackgate and the use of social media transform the relationship between journalists and the bereaved?

The phone-tapping scandal blew up with the revelation that murder victim Milly Dowler’s phone had been hacked, seeming to demonstrate that the public are much more concerned with the feelings of bereaved families than with the reputations of celebrities or politicians. Therefore any regulation that arises from Hackgate is likely to include the area of contact between journalists and the grieving. This paper considers whether families actually need more “protection” from journalists and, drawing on evidence from interviews with bereaved relatives, argues that what they actually need is informed access to the media. It also considers “hacking” and lifting material from social media sites, which, while being legal, similarly prompts many ethical concerns. Journalists’ attitudes to using these sites in covering personal traumatic events will be explored using data collected from questionnaires mostly from reporters of five years or less experience. In particular the paper will examine whether journalists consider “virtual door-stepping” to be more or less intrusive than traditional approaches and whether they use these sites to limit contact with the bereaved. It will attempt to assess the benefits and harms of a probable increased usage of social networking sites in the intrusive reporting process