Censorship by violence

One of my friends recently told me a story about the son of her friends. He had to be taken to a psychologist after watching news on TV about a mother killing her child.

At the end of the 18th century, many West European countries banned The Sorrows of Young Werther, a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The protagonist commits suicide by shooting himself because of unrequited love. The book was banned because of a series of suicides committed by young men in the same manner. Thats when the connection between publication of information about violence and its social effects was made.

The U.S. and many European countries have legal mechanisms regulating the media when it comes to reporting on violence. Many media also have codes and standards about reporting such incidents.

In Britain it is forbidden to show close-ups of severed limbs after accidents. There are clear regulations for how many seconds and how closely you can show such videos. This is not censorship, but a way to be responsible about every word you say and every frame you screen.

In Ukraine, its not regulated. The only thing that can potentially restrain newsrooms are personal ethics of journalists. Unfortunately, not everyone has them.

Just a few weeks ago, I walked into a cutting room and bumped into a young female editor with a very red face. She turns around and tells me: I cant edit this. It was a video of a news item about the rape of a nine-year-old girl. But other people can do it.

Imitation of television

There is a direct correlation between media reports about suicides and the increase in numbers of suicides, especially among teenagers. Suicides, as well as other forms of violence are known to have produced copycats.

Does this mean that news of violence should be hushed? No. It means that it needs to be done carefully and guided by the principle of do not harm. I found a document developed by the department of mental health of the World Health Organization, published in 2000, entitled Prevention of suicides.

In it are recommendations for media workers, how news about suicides should be reported as to not harm society. Its basically a list of prohibitions: a suicide cannot be reported as a routine event. Details should be withdrawn about the exact manner of suicide. You cannot describe the situation that caused it as hopeless and present the reasons as if they justify the action.

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Censorship by violence