Closed petition Ban the press from reporting suicides

Closed on 28 September 2019

Media organisations report and publish a death by suicide with no consideration to the family involved. The law gives preference to the public’s ghoulish interest over a family’s right to grieve in private. If someone dies by suicide, the press should be able to report only that they have died.

Suicide deaths are a shock to all left behind and are traumatic enough without the death being broadcast to the wider community. Suicide deaths are not easily explained to children left behind. Families should have the right to explain what has happened at an appropriate time or when the child reaches an age where they can fully understand and process the information, not have their parental choices taken away simply because media organisations deem it newsworthy.