Suicide Reporting in Kosovo: Between Public Information and Preserving Human Dignity

This year, Kosovo joined the caravan of countries that mark September as the international month for suicide prevention. Many public figures and influential people in society shared preventive messages. There were also numerous calls for every person who, due to mental health problems and certain social and economic situations, seeks help and support from institutions and professionals in the field, in order to improve their quality of life.

The main call was clear, that no one should be left alone in the face of social, psychological or economic difficulties. A very large commitment to raising awareness and not only is made by the Center for Suicide Prevention – Life Line, which offers concrete support to people in emotional difficulties, among other things.

Suicide is not a phenomenon that should be ignored, because it is a public health issue. Add to this the fact that in Kosovo, between 2000 and 2020, about 1 people committed suicide, while over 4 others attempted to do so. Although the reasons that push people to commit suicide include, but are not limited to, mental health problems, substance abuse, economic and social conditions, research shows that the cause of such an event is usually not a single reason – for example: the loss of a family member, debts, separation from a partner, etc.

And while it has such importance, there is no doubt that reporting and informing the public is important to the extent that this reporting does not serve as a reason to show citizens the possible methods of committing suicide. The media, which is often considered the “fourth power” after the legislative, executive and judicial branches, should be more careful in reporting suicide cases, thus respecting the principles of journalistic ethics on reporting the truth to the extent that this reporting serves the public interest and not to the extent that the public interest is violated by reporting the “whole truth”.

The reporting of suicides in our country by the written and audiovisual media must be balanced between the right to inform the public and the protection of the dignity and privacy of the victim and their family members. Such reports should not contain details or disclose the way in which the victim ended his or her life or the circumstances that led to this act. A study conducted in 2020 in different countries around the world concluded that when the media reported on suicide methods used by famous people, there was a 30% increase in suicides by the same method. Thus, international experiences have already proven the phenomenon of imitating suicides after reading articles or news that contain details, a phenomenon known as the “Werther effect”.

It is unacceptable both in terms of journalistic ethics and in complete contradiction with the legislation on the protection of personal data and individual privacy, when the media, in the name of "exclusivity" and for their stories to become more "viral", publish photographs/videos from the moment of a person's suicide, their first and last name and other personal characteristics, parts of suicide letters and statements about the manner in which the act of suicide was committed.

Some of practical instructions on how suicides should be reported are: preserving the victim's personal data; not mentioning the form or means by which the suicide was committed; not including photos/videos from the location where the event occurred; not using terms such as "large number of suicides", not publishing the victim's last messages, etc.

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Therefore, instead of publishing "details" that do not contribute to the public interest, a good practice that could be used in this case is that within each reporting - according to standards - on people who have committed suicide, the audience should also be able to find helplines for people who may eventually have thoughts of suicide.

Until suicide cases are reported according to international standards and in compliance with local legislation, Center for Strategic Litigation (CSL), based on the mental health component, invites the family members of persons who have committed suicide and whose privacy has been violated by media reporting, to pursue legal avenues through a complaint to the Information and Privacy Agency (AIP).

(This editorial was written by the Center for Strategic Litigation, within the framework of the “Human Rightivism” project supported by the Embassy of Sweden in Pristina and implemented by the Community Development Fund - CDF)