Amanda White
Blog 4
Back in April of 2016, Joseph Karol Koscinski died by suicide at the age of 41. Following the event The Sharon Herald published an insensitive and unwarranted report of the man’s death. Joe Pinchot and Melissa Klaric, Herald Staff Writers, included details describing how the man died and included that when his body was discovered it was “still-warm”. They also added details of past legal run-ins and Koscinski’s history of mental illness. As an example, the very first sentence of the article is “A 41-year-old Sharon man, who served time in jail for attacking his high school football coach in 2013, jumped from the Oakland Avenue Viaduct to his death Sunday afternoon.”
Generally, it is fair to report on a suicide being that it takes place in a public place, or it has an impact on the public. It’s not something that the media should ignore; however, careful consideration should go into the context of the story. Andrew M. Seaman, ethics chair for the Society of Professional Journalists, comments on this story by saying, “It definitely goes beyond what you would expect or hope an article on an event like this would be.” I agree with this statement as I believe that there was a lot of information in this story that should have been excluded. The gruesome details, the description of Koscinski’s legal past and history of mental illness should have been contextualized by the newspaper before running the story. Koscinski’s mother told IMediaEthics of the disgust she felt from reading the article. She was upset over the information that was released as her son had made a cognitive effort to put his past behind him, and the article brought it all back to light. According to the mother, the “story didn’t just hurt the Koscinskis, but showed ‘Blatant Disregard’ for mental illness.” She wrote to IMediaEthics explaining that
“people with mental illness are not crazy. They are people who got dealt an unfair card in life; a chemical imbalance in their brains which often results in a multitude of painful symptoms from depression, to mania, to psychotic thoughts and even voices that won’t go away. The Herald’s insensitivity to my son as a person with real feelings and all those who suffer with mental illness is beyond wrong. It is an atrocity.”
According to The Society of Professional Journalists’ ethics code, journalists should attempt to “minimize harm” and “show compassion for those who may be affected by news coverage.” The Herald failed to do either of those things. They caused more harm to Koscinski’s friends and family, leaving them with a graphic image of his death. Executive director of the National Alliance for Mental Illness, New Hampshire, told IMediaEthics that “this is a great example of how not to report a suicide death.” Had the Herald taken into consideration the information that they were releasing, they could have avoided the pain that it caused.
The other ethical issue that arises from this story is the fact that “scientific research studies have found that certain types of news coverage of suicide deaths, including graphic images, method of suicide, etc., can increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals,” as described by Amy Kulp from the American Association of Suicidology. The Herald added details into the story that may have encouraged readers to take suicidal actions.
In conclusion, I do not support the way that the Sharon Herald presented the story. I think that they portrayed Koscinski in a negative way and released too many details of his suicide. This story caused a lot of backlash in the online community and with the Kroscinski family, which could have easily been avoided. What I’ve learned from this is that it is important to carefully consider the information that you’re reporting; and that you should focus on the care that needs to go into telling the readers what the person was like when they were alive.
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Resources
PINCHOT and MELISSA KLARIC Herald Staff Writers, JOE, and Melissa Klaric. “Man Jumps to Death off Viaduct.” The Herald. The Herald, 04 Apr. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2017. <http://www.sharonherald.com/news/man-jumps-to-death-off-viaduct/article_3b1b0a37-65ca-571a-8f7b-89753187dd28.html>.
Smith, Sydney. “How Not to Report on Suicide: Sharon Herald Story Crossed the Line.”IMediaEthics. IMediaEthics.org, 30 Dec. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2017. <http://www.imediaethics.org/case-study-report-suicide-sharon-herald/>.