With suicide statistics showing Guyana as the country with the highest suicide rate, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) along with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and other pertinent ministries, met on Friday with the media to discuss how they can be sensitive in reporting cases of suicide.
This falls under government’s efforts to significantly remove the label attached to Guyana, and it is believed that one of the major steps is urging the media to readjust the way they give detailed reports of suicides.
President David Granger; Tourism and Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes; Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings and PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr William Adu-Krow at the head table on Friday
During the workshop, the media were involved in comprehensive sessions with a number of medical experts on how they can be more sensitive in their reporting, which researches show have an evident link to reduction in the cases.
Speaking at the workshop, President of GPA Neil Marks cited that the media fraternity has been lambasted for being sensationalist and callous in how they report suicide.
However, he added, this is so because the media operatives lack requisite training on how suicides should be reported it does not stimulate copycatting.
“The fact that sometimes we do a terrible job is because we are untrained and we just don’t know how to do it. Hence the reason we are at the workshop is to be able to understand how we cover suicides.” Mark highlighted.
Marks further stated that there will always be reporting of suicides within the media, but the most that can be done is to ensure operatives are educated in the area of how they present this information in the public domain.
Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism and Public Telecommunications Cathy Hughes spoke of the vast effect that insensitive reporting by the media has on the tourism industry and the country as a whole.
She emphasised specifically on images of gruesome crimes and suicide victims that have made its way to the front pages of newspapers in the country.
Noting this, Hughes added that Guyana is marketed to the world in a negative light: “I’d like you to consider the image or the impression you have the power to create that impact directly on how this vast world with billions of people view this country and its people.” Hughes stated.
Considering the effect on the tourism sector, the minister urged the media to join with government to promote Guyana as an attraction to the world by removing negative images from front pages of newspapers.
“I want to remind you that we are working hard to make Guyana attractive so we can sell our country as a choice destination for the world’s tourists. I ask you to please keep the pictures of smashed up cars, dead bodies lying on roadways or the minute by minute recount of suicide victims’ last days alive, off the front pages.”
Minister within the Ministry of Public Health also shared similar comments as Hughes, pointing out that statistics show Guyana as having a suicide rate of 42.2 per every hundred thousand citizens.
She reiterated the urgency of the media recognising the need for considerate reporting of suicide cases.
The workshop entailed a number of discussions with the media to shed light of their impact on the increase of suicide as the government aims to combat the societal ill.
