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Press Council to issue guidelines on reporting suicide, brutal murder
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A selection of mastheads of newspapers owned by media group Fairfax in Sydney. (AFP/Saeed Khan)
T
he Press Council is drafting guidelines for media outlets on how to cover and publish news reports on brutal murders and suicides, council chairman Yosep Stanley Adi Prasetyo has said.
“These issues are not covered in the journalistic code of ethics. But journalists should develop common sense,” he said on Sunday as quoted by Antara.
The fourth article of the journalistic code of ethics prohibits journalists from publishing hoax, slanderous, graphic or obscene reports.
Read also: Man arrested for allegedly hacking Indonesian Press Council website
He added that news reports about people committing suicide could lead to copycat actions by other people with depression or other mental disorders.
Yosep urged psychologists, psychiatrists and the public in general to file written protests or statements to the council if they found improper news reports about suicide, murder or other cases of violent death. “Such input will help us in formulating the guidelines,” he said. (kuk/bbs)
