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Dunne sets date for media reporting of suicides meeting
Hon Peter Dunne
Associate Minister of
Health
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Dunne sets date for media reporting of suicides meeting
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has announced that the meeting of media, mental health professional and researchers he called for late last year on media reporting of suicides will be held this month.
The roundtable meeting to “identify and set some parameters” for updated guidelines on media reporting of suicides will be held at Parliament on Monday, 28 February, Mr Dunne said.
The Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean, and key representatives of traditional media and the blogosphere have been invited.
“It is vital that media in all its forms are full participants in updating the guidelines to ensure they are workable and achieve the aim of responsible reporting on the issues around suicide,” Mr Dunne said.
He said the meeting was a first step in a process that would be developed over coming months, involving broader consultation, and that he was committed to having new guidelines in place later in the year.
Last year, Prime Minister John Key directed the Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention to consider whether the current controls around suicide reporting in the media were appropriate following comments by the Chief Coroner.
The Committee reported to the Prime Minister that the media guidelines had not been reviewed since first published in 1999 and that there would be benefit in undertaking a review.
“The reality is that we live in a media world that has changed hugely from what it was in 1999, particularly through the growth in online media and social networking sites, and we also have a lot more research and understanding at our disposal on the complex issues around suicide.
“Both of these realities need to be factored into some new thinking.
“This is a critical issue to get right and I know there is a lot of determination out there to do so.
“The result of this process needs to be a very positive and useful new set of guidelines. This meeting will be an important first step in achieving that,” he said.
The Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention report to the Prime Minister is at http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicideprevention-committee#mcspreport
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