The Press Complaints Commission and Polis, the LSE-based think tank, are to hold a seminar about the problems posed by reporting suicide.
It follows a year in which there were concerns about media coverage of a the spate of suicides in Brigend, South Wales. In 2006, there were complaints about the publication of pictures showing a woman in the act of committing suicide by jumping from a hotel window.
But there have been many other instances too, as a search of the PCC website reveals. The seminar, which will take place on December 1 at LSE, will therefore explore ethical and practical issues faced by journalists in reporting suicide.
Chaired by Charlie Beckett, director of POLIS, the panel will include PCC director Tim Toulmin, Society of Editors director Bob Satchwell, Sonia Livingstone (LSE), Anthony Langan, the Samaritans' public affairs manager, and Odd Isungset chairman of Norway's PCC.
