You are editor: The suicide story
Posted at 3:00 PM on January 18, 2011
by Bob Collins
(22 Comments)
Facts can often ruin a good headline.
This morning, several news outlets were connecting the death of central Minnesota teen Lance Lundsten with suicide, spurred on by bullying in school. It's been an increasing theme in Minnesota in the last few months.
But is the connection being made prematurely?
KARE 11's Web site, for example, today carries this headline:
But at the bottom of the story, we find this:
The reporting is based on a story from KSAX TV in Alexandria, which is also headlining the suicide angle and citing an unnamed person in the sheriff's office.
The coroner isn't talking, according to the TV station:
Lance's father called KSAX and said he received a call from the coroner saying Lance had an enlarged heart and died of a coronary edema. He said it was not a suicide.
He also said there were no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system, but the toxicology report has not been finished according the medical examiner's office. The medical examiner's office also said they had no comment about the phone call to Lance's father.
In a separate article from KSAX, the station removed any doubt that it was suicide, in an interview with Sen. Al Franken:
"My heart goes out to Lance's family, and friends and loved ones. It's a tragic event, not only for them, but for the school, and the Alexandria community and really for all of us," Franken said.
"LGBT kids really do need (more) protection," Franken said. "They're two or three times more likely than straight kids to get bullied. Nine in ten LGBT students said they've been bullied or harassed and almost two-thirds say they don't feel safe in school."
This afternoon, Cristi Jessee, the KSAX news director, said the sheriff's office is backing off the suicide claim. "My reporter first called the sheriff's office on Monday, and the sheriff was not available," she said in an e-mail. " My reporter talked to a deputy who, she says, confirmed this looked like a suicide. I just got out of a meeting with the sheriff's department and I will be updating the story online and on air today. The sheriff's department is now officially saying the investigation is ongoing and will not confirm suicide. In light of this new info, we are updating the story."
You are the editor. What's your headline?
Comments (22)
This seems to be one of those stories that just shouldn't be printed until all the facts come in. An openly gay teen dies...the sheriffs dept says suicide...his friends claim due to bullying...his father insists that the coroner (who hasn't officially commented) is blaming a medical condition...but the boy lived with his grandparents.
Doesn't that seem like too many questions with not enough answers to go to print with anything more than "Teen dies, more information needed."
I think a good rule of thumb here is to ask, "What would my story be if there weren't all these other stories in the past?"
well, the headline technically isn't inaccurate: The friends, seemingly unaware of any medical condition, but aware of the bullying, and possibly aware of some level of stress that was causing their friend, did apparently believe that.
I get the sense that the father was unaware of both the medical condition and the bullying, so he's not necessarily any more a reliable source.
As for the station, they did have the sheriff's office at the time saying suicide, and the friends reporting bullying.
I suppose we could not report anything until the coroner's report is released, but that can take days, weeks, or even months, and even then, still be inconclusive.
Franken himself was likely responding to the facts as presented to him by the reporter.
This is the sort of things that happen when media outlets are staffed by advocates rather than reporters.
No, it's the type of thing that happens when media outlets are staffed by people wanting a good story and not stepping back when they think they've got one.
David G, if you've got two sides, both fairly -- as you say -- unreliable, then you don't choose one over the other . You report what you know. In this case, 18 year old dies.
Once you think you've got a story, it's hard to UNget it.
This is an example of why editors matters. They ask -- or should ask -- why do you know what you think you know?
"This is the sort of things that happen when media outlets are staffed by advocates rather than reporters."
They did have the sheriff's office saying it looked like a suicide, then you have friends saying he was bullied. The resulting story fits into a broader problem around the country. Sloppy, result, but I don't think you can say "advocacy" with any certainty.
I don't think you can ignore the reports or rumors of suicide. A community that size, they're flying around already,and probably need to be addressed somehow.
Nor do I think you can simply wait for the coroner's report, given the uncertain time interval for those to be released.
Seems to me something like this happened in another outlet recently...something like they initially attributed an act to something then found out later that wasn't the real cause...what was that...
I'd be curious about what made the deputy think it "looked like" a suicide before getting to the headline.
//wait for the coroner's report, given the uncertain time interval for those to be released.
The young man is being buried on Wednesday, the autopsy is done, a death certificate has to be filed. I can't imagine it's going to be very long.
In any event, the lede needs to reflect what is known. A young man is dead.
I think, actually, you CAN ignore the suicide rumors and even if it turns out to be suicide, you still need some evidence that it was the result of bullying.
In this case, however, a lot is attributed to students. There's probably no greater source of misinformation that a group of schoolkids with no firsthand source of information.
If a father is insisting it's a medical condition and coroner isn't disputing that, there's no reason that shouldn't carry at LEAST equal weight -- and perhaps more -- than a group of unnamed students.
It's uitterly ridiculous to build a headline and opening paragraph around them, and then bury the father's side in the last paragraph.
If it should then turn out that suicide was a cause, you've still got a story.
"The young man is being buried on Wednesday, the autopsy is done, a death certificate has to be filed. I can't imagine it's going to be very long."
Actually, it could. KSAX story said tox screens can take up to 5-6 weeks to return.
On a personal anecdote, when my brother's wife died, he had to wait over 9 months for the medical examiner report-long after the memorial, and it still came back inconclusive.
OK, back to your question:
"Friends and family mourn the death of a local teen"
THERE.
No matter WHY it happened, it happened, and lots of people are now trying to deal with the aftermath.
"No, it's the type of thing that happens when media outlets are staffed by people wanting a good story and not stepping back when they think they've got one."
Uh-huh, but where is the story in that? The only thing that makes it a story are hot key words, "bully", "gay", "suicide".
IF kids are killing themselves b/c they are (a) gay and (b) they are bullied into killing themselves, I think the belief that it's something people should know is appropriate.
Of course, suicide is the second-leading cause of death of young people in Minnesota. The danger in making it a story b/c a person is gay, might undermine the much more serious public health issue and create the impression that teen suicide in Minnesota is a "gay issue." It's not.
At the same time, it's worth noting, some news organizations don't believe in highlighting the teen (gay and straight) suicide issue b/c there are some experts who believe it creates the environment for copycat suicides.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons why parents of a young person who is in crisis, often finds out there's no beds in any psychiatric ward (suicide is often a mental health issue).
Regardless of what might be the story, it's important to hang a hat on what is known, not what is thought and to present conflicting information with equal weight.
Like recent stories elsewhere, it appears that the desire to get the story FIRST and make it as spicy as possible outweighed the need to get the story correct.
KSAX is an ABC affiliate tied into KSTP and KARE (of course) is an NBC affiliate, so it at least has the appearance of two competitors going for the story--never mind that some fairly significant facts appear to be overlooked. I tend to agree with GregS that the story gets more attention because of the other factors.
Without those other factors, it is highly unlikely that a sitting U.S. Senator would offer a quote on the untimely death of a teenager due to an enlarged heart, based on information provided by the Coroner to the young man's father. To me, that is on is the person who wrote the article for the KSAX website.
Well, the other side of this is we don't know a lot. We don't know it's NOT suicide, we don't know that it is. We do know that suicide among young people in Minnesota IS a problem.
We could do that story anyday.
Bob collins for ombudsman! :)
///This seems to be one of those stories that just shouldn't be printed until all the facts come in. An openly gay teen dies...the sheriffs dept says suicide...his friends claim due to bullying...his father insists that the coroner (who hasn't officially commented) is blaming a medical condition...but the boy lived with his grandparents.
Doesn't that seem like too many questions with not enough answers to go to print with anything more than "Teen dies, more information needed."
Posted by JB | January 18, 2011 3:22 PM
Hey JB-where in the article does it state that he lived with his grandparents?
//This morning, several news outlets were connecting the death of central Minnesota teen Lance Lundsten with suicide, spurred on by bullying in school. It's been an increasing theme in Minnesota in the last few months.
What has been an increasing theme in Minnesota- Teen suicide or bullying? I don't think kids get homo fear from each other but it is a learned fear from the adults. Perhaps we could call them Holy-roller-homophobes.
Wow, imagine that hatred created by the church.
"IF kids are killing themselves b/c they are (a) gay and (b) they are bullied into killing themselves, I think the belief that it's something people should know is appropriate. - Bob Collins"
Sure, but does each instance require a breathless "if it bleeds, it leads" story at 6:00 PM? How about a soft piece a week later? You know, something respectful.
The first thoughtful story about a gay teen bullied into suicide deserved a Pulitzer prize, the next twenty were simply Mad-Men chasing the latest media fad.
My question "where is the story in that?" asked why you would consider reporters getting the facts wrong during a feeding frenzy as something worthy of mention. The media does it thousands of times a day.
Far different tone in this story...
http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/81582
Except that it's wrong. It doesn't source the cause of death from the one person who has the information -- the coroner. It quotes the father quoting the coroner.
KSAX followed up with the coroner who says death was NOT caused by the enlarged heart.
It's disturbing that reporters are presenting facts second and third hand.
I didn't say it was right. In that sense it is no better than the original KSAX story. I just find it interesting that two organizations in the same town can be on such opposite tracks on the same story.
My guess from being familiar with both organizations is that the newspaper reporter, who has been there forever and is well known, would rather be wrong about the medical condition than the suicide. Whereas the television reporters for KSAX generally use the position as a stepping stone to the next level and are probably looking for a big story. Again, completely my own theory on why the tones are so different.
I think the original Echo Press story also stressed the bullying/suicide angle, but when the father called they changed it to "died of a medical condition" finding. In fact, neither had been determined.
That's why I say the only thing anyone can say for certain is a kid a dead and nobody knows for sure why. Yet.
| January 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
Master Archive
Recent Entries
- The crowdsourced vacation
- 'Phone tapping' is the new birth certificate
- Bad week. Good people
- Military moms and the bond they have
- Bob Dylan's world
- The stuff we throw away (5x8 - 5/24/13)
- Sunday liquor sales: The little bill that can't
- The concealed carry muzzle
- There's Texas and then there's everywhere else
- Tornado damage via satellite
Categories
- Arts
- Aviation
- Crime and Justice
- Disasters
- Economy
- Energy
- Five by 8
- Floods
- Floods 2011
- Health
- History
- Icons
- Life
- Marketing and advertising
- Mary and Bob
- Media
- News
- People doing good
- Politics
- Race
- Regional history
- Religion
- Schools
- Science
- Sports
- Surveys and trivia
- Tech
- The jobs we do
- War
- Weather
- You Should Meet...
Services
- Become a Member
- Member Connect Accounts
- Leadership Circle
- Sustaining Members
- Member Discounts
- Become a Sponsor
- Tax Information
- Planned Giving
- Vehicle Donation
- Donate Stock