දිවි තොර කරගැනීම් සහ මාධ්‍ය ආචාර ධර්ම

Abstract

During the months of January 2022 and February 2022 several news reports relating suicide incidents violated media ethics guidelines as follows; Derana, Divaina and Aruna published news on an American beauty queen who took her own life, which contained the following ethical violations relating to suicide; mentioning the method of suicide, publishing suicide notes, and not mentioning helplines. International media outlets such as The Guardian, Good Morning America and Associated Press that reported on the same did not include any of the above ethics violations. Sunday Aruna published an article on a suicide incident which contained the ethical violations of mentioning the method of suicide, mentioning the place of suicide, publishing news on suicide with prominence, simplifying reasons for suicide and not publishing helplines. Divaina, Lankadeepa, Swarnavahini, Aruna, Mawbima, Daily News, Sirasa, Mawbima, Daily News, Ceylon Today, Daily Mirror, The Morning and The Island reported on a murder-suicide involving a Sri Lankan in Australia, which violated the following media ethics on suicide; Divaina, Lankadeepa, Swarnavahini, Aruna, Mawbima, Ceylon Today and Daily News gave prominence to the news on suicide. Divaina, Lankadeepa, Swarnavahini, Aruna, Mawbima, Daily News, Sirasa and The Island did not contain emergency helplines. Divaina, Lankadeepa and Swarnavahini sensationalised the suicide incident. Additionally, Divaina also mentioned the method of suicide and blamed the victim. In the meantime, Ceylon Today and The Island published emergency helplines in compliance with ethical guidelines. Aruna, Divaina, Mawbima, Lankadeepa, Ada and Hiru reported on a suicide and a suicide attempt, where all the media outlets mentioned the method of suicide and did not publish helplines. All except for Hiru also gave excessive details on the suicide attempt. Aruna and Divaina contained the violation of reporting suicide with prominence.