THE Caribbean Voice is thrilled that yet another training session on suicide reporting has been undertaken with the Guyana media, especially in view of the fact that the local media continue to sensationalise suicide, post pics of suicide victims, and use suicide-inappropriate language such as ‘commit.’

However, we also know that lots of advocacy has been done in this respect by various entities, including The Caribbean Voice, as well as by persons working behind the scenes, and we believe that the Guyana Press Association must now take the lead in ensuring that journalists conform to appropriate suicide reportage.

We are also aware that the mindframe guidelines, developed in Australia, considered possibly the best approach globally, has been offered to relevant government and professional media entities as an approach that can be implemented. Thus we strongly urge that the Guyana Press Association, editors of all media entities and government ministries and agencies responsible for media, along with the Ministries of Social Protection and Public Health, work together to ensure that the mindframe guidelines become normal practice in the short term.

These guidelines are online, can be accessed by anyone and are easy to understand, present on and follow.

Sincerely,

The Caribbean Voice