The Press Council wants more freedom for the print media to write about suicide, rejecting suggestions this would trigger "copycat" deaths.
Press Council chairman Sir John Jeffries, a retired High Court judge, says in the council's annual report released today that New Zealand's suicide rate was one of the highest in
the world and the print media increasingly regarded the issue of suicide as of urgent public interest.
But newspapers and magazines still faced restrictions on reporting suicides under the Coroners Act.
"The Act is under review by the Government and the council agrees with calls to relax reporting restrictions on self-inflicted deaths, given the incidence of suicide in New Zealand," Sir John says.
"Not surprisingly, therefore, newspapers are gradually testing the water by more often reporting suicides in their communities in order to explore their causes and where there may be a public interest.
"Inevitably complaints have followed and the council wholly accepts that this is a sensitive matter involving the private grief of families, and sometimes, the cultural practices of the diverse races living in this land."
The Press Council has referred to the benefits of publicity in some of its decisions on complaints against print media.
Sir John says some health professionals continue to express fears that media interest in suicide would trigger a copycat effect.
"Yet New Zealand's restrictive reporting regimes, set alongside the rise in suicides in recent years, would suggest the opposite."
The Press Council urged editors to exercise caution when reporting suicide, taking care over the language used and the way articles were displayed, and where possible to accompany reports with information about where help could be found.
The annual report says complaints to the council increased by more than a third to 106 in 2001, compared with 75 the previous year.
But of the council's 47 adjudications in 2001, only one was upheld and three were partly upheld.
Non-publication of letters to the editor featured prominently among the complaints, as did complaints from aspiring mayors and councillors over local body election coverage, the report says.
- NZPA
