Examination of Witness (Question Numbers
260-275)
MR ANTHONY
LANGAN
19 MARCH 2009
Q260 Paul Farrelly: What would you
say to that?
Mr Langan: There were a number
of lines of inquiry taking place at the time.
Q261 Paul Farrelly: It is a line
of inquiry that you are pursuing internally?
Mr Langan: In terms of the research,
it is looking at what were the links if any. Yes, it is a legitimate
line of inquiry to look at: does this phenomenon called social
networking have an impact but it is similar to the same questions
we have asked about whether television and broadcasting have an
impact. We have had some research on that so I think it is a legitimate
line of inquiry, yes.
Q262 Paul Farrelly: Do you think
that in the reporting the reporting went from what you might say
is a legitimate speculation overstepping the mark and asserting
things that could not be supported by the evidence, that there
were pacts, and therefore it was irresponsible in that respect?
Mr Langan: I do not recall that
many reports talking about suicide pacts.
Q263 Paul Farrelly: This is what
stands out in my mind from the memory of the reporting.
Mr Langan: There were obviously
some reports about the relationships between people. Whether there
was interaction there or not I have not heard and I think that
is yet to be established.
Q264 Paul Farrelly: To your recollection,
was there any single newspaper, or one or two newspapers, that
were pursuing the story in such a way that it became incumbent
on other media and newspapers to follow them?
Mr Langan: I do not think so.
Q265 Paul Farrelly: Was there one
newspaper like the Daily Mail or the Daily Express?
Mr Langan: My recollection is
there was not. I think it was a story which captured national
attention and many of the papers were interested in the issue.
In terms of our press office, I would have to go back and check
how many inquiries we were getting from separate newspapers. I
think they came from across the titles.
Q266 Paul Farrelly: The PCC has shown
us examples of a procedure called desist notices. They have told
us that everyone has always observed the desist notice. It begs
the question as to whether they have a conversation beforehand
and ask will you observe it if we issue a desist notice. That
is something we will talk to them about. Did the PCC issue any
desist notices, to your knowledge, in this situation?
Mr Langan: My understanding was
that the PCC did issue desist notices to editors about the re-publication
of photographs and that was following the meeting in Bridgend
with the families.
Q267 Paul Farrelly: Was that notice
respected?
Mr Langan: I believe so.
Q268 Rosemary McKenna: Have there
been any further suicides since the end of 2008 and have they
been reported differently?
Mr Langan: There were some suicides
over Christmas and New Year which Members may have heard about.
We think they have been reported differently. They have been more
low key. I think they have been appropriate in that they have
not given explicit detail, which is one of the considerations
that we do ask of reporters in this matter. Some of the lessons
are being learned. I raised this point earlier but what is important
for Samaritans is to ensure that the lessons of Bridgend are properly
picked up on in terms of the work with the PCC. We see that as
one avenue to make sure that redress can be developed. I think
it is more important for us now to work with the Code Committee
to make sure that there are opportunities to actually engage in
the development of future codes to make sure that they are actually
addressing these issues in quite strong detail.
Q269 Philip Davies: I was interested
when you were answering Paul's questions about this concept of
cluster suicides. It is a well known phenomenon. I did not know
it was but obviously it is. We are focusing here on Bridgend but
has the reporting of Bridgend been totally different from the
media reporting regarding other cluster suicides? Where you do
get a cluster in an area has the reporting of that in other places
been the same as what took place in Bridgend or has the reporting
of the Bridgend one been completely different to the reporting
of any other cluster suicides?
Mr Langan: I think Bridgend was
a phenomenon. I would hope it was a singular event. The previous
cluster that I am familiar with was in Craigavon in Northern Ireland
about a year previously. That was quite significantly reported
in the Northern Irish press and did hit the national news in the
UK but it did not have the same impact as Bridgend did. I am not
sure what the reasons for that were and I would hope that would
be explored in the research. Bridgend was a particular event.
Since Bridgend there have not been, as far as I can recall, any
significant suicide clusters. There have been a number of other
high profile suicides that we have talked to the PCC and editors
about, again about the detail used in a story, the language and
the imagery used. This is the issue about why article 5(ii) needs
to be explored and expanded in the Code. I am not sure how far
I can talk about other examples but we have recently talked to
the PCC about some cases of murder suicide where we have felt
that there has been explicit detail. One of the anomalies we are
starting to look at is whether innovative, novel, graphic methods
of death are more likely to affect vulnerable people than talking
about imagery and methods of death which are more open and accessible
to people. I reflect this in passing, say between portable power
tools and people's school ties. If they are referred to in the
story, do those different methods have different impacts on the
audiences?
Q270 Philip Davies: In terms of cluster
suicides and what might be expected when you get them and the
factors in them, with the Bridgend ones was the fact they were
so young a special factor or would that be the age range in which
lots of people do commit suicide? Was the age of the people one
of the factors that would have alerted a big press interest?
Mr Langan: I think so. One of
the things we know about vulnerable groups in Wales is that it
is not necessarily that suicide across Wales is higher than the
other UK nations but that there are hard to reach groups within
that nation. The 16-25 age group was seen as a particular risk.
What is interesting though is these other suicides over the age
of 28 that I referred to they have not been reported in the same
way. We are looking at something like 14 suicides which were not
reported in the same way because they were over that age.
Q271 Philip Davies: Is it more distressing
to the family to have reported the suicides of children? It seems
to me that potentially it may well be more distressing for the
families of a child who has committed suicide and equally that
could be of more interest to the media. You have this double whammy
that it is more tragic in many respects for the families because
it was somebody so young that had done this and that is made worse
by the fact the press are more interested in it because it is
somebody so young.
Mr Langan: There is no doubt that
the death of a child does have an impact on a family member. The
majority of people in the country have families and children and
those sorts of stories will have an impact without a doubt. Could
I ask the Committee one favour? One of the things we ask people
who talk about suicide not to do is say "commit suicide".
Because it is not a criminal act we feel that the connotations
of saying "commit" with the word "suicide"
do actually continue the stigma. We prefer to say people who take
their own life.
Q272 Alan Keen: There are lots of
feelings put forward about the media; that they made it into a
story because it looked like one was affecting the other. My feeling
as they stand at the moment is there is something in the fact
that one person who is that sort of individual and is close to
considering taking their own life we could not argue that they
would not be influenced by this but the evidence is far from convincing.
What is your feeling? Are you getting towards feeling that maybe
there is a case for an authority, the PCC, needing to be able
to step in and stop the reporting or are you completely unconvinced
of that? How do you feel now?
Mr Langan: We have always supported
the reporting of suicide because we think it is an under-discussed
issue. The press, the media, are a good channel for getting this
topic discussed so we do not want to see a ban on suicide reporting.
Norway tried that route but have now stepped back from it. We
think that the topic should be open for discussion. What we welcomed
from the PCC was the use of desist notices, where I was told they
were being used, in order to reduce the pain upon the families
from seeing photographs re-produced ***. There were issues raised
by the families that these photographs were photographs that did
not really represent the person; they were almost a persona used
for social networking sites. It is a balance between the two.
We do need to make sure that this issue continues to be discussed.
Our role again on this was to make sure that the issues being
discussed were the right issues. We have talked about some of
the less developed theories about why these things happened. There
were discussions about this being caused by electricity pylons
which were disputed ***. Perhaps in those circumstances it is
important that we can continue to work with the papers, particularly
locally, to say "What has that actually done to help with
this problem?"
Q273 Alan Keen: Did most of the press
or all of the press actually say there is a possible danger here,
can we help, or did they just report it to get headlines? Were
the press responsible when they reported these things and the
possible links? Did they, at the same time, say this is where
you go for help?
Mr Langan: Yes, they did do that.
It is that issue of ensuring that whenever we were being interviewed
we always made sure we were telling people our telephone number,
telling people the website address, but also asking the editors,
and the readers' editors as well, to actually work within the
paper to ensure that those sources of support were being put in
the papers whenever the story was discussed.
Q274 Alan Keen: Your feeling is that
we do not have to recommend anything further. You would rather
that your help continued to be there in the future or do you think
there is something you would like us to actually say?
Mr Langan: If there is a recommendation
or if there is something that Samaritans would like to see, I
think it does come into the issue of regulation and it is about
the development of the Code. I am sure the Committee are familiar
with the report from the Media Standards Trust: A More Accountable
Press. There are some useful ideas in there which could be
looked at. It is only part one of the report which is out so far
so it is difficult to talk on part of a report but it does point
towards the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and their CAP
Code. The CAP Code is coordinated by a lay chairperson and a criticism
often put to the Code Committee is that it is put together by
journalists, for journalists. I think if we could look at having
more lay involvement in the development of that Code and could
feed in at an earlier process, that would be useful from our own
perspective to make sure that the issues are being discussed more
openly and fully.
Q275 Helen Southworth: You have raised
the detail of information that was given. Would you be able to
send us something that would specify some of the areas of concern
that you have? If you have time, could you look at it and decide
which issues would be most suitable to let us have.
Mr Langan: I may need to check
the details with you but I am sure I can help you.[3]
3 Note by witness: I am happy to send copies
of Samaritan's media guidelines to inform the Committee on this
area. Back
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