Sorry to hear that someone felt they had to resort to suicide.
My thoughts are also with the people doing the search, may they stay safe in their grim task.
metalman.

Agreed,

my condolences to family and friends.

So sad. RIP.

Another oddity in a long list of oddities regarding this “news” site.

So am I to understand that 250 News actually has a policy regarding not reporting on incidences of suicide? If that’s true, what else don’t you report on? A “news” site that cherry-picks the things they report on and more often then not present only one side of the story are not news sites at all, they’re blogs. Perhaps you call those editorials? Then would that make the comments section Op-Eds?

If you were even remotely inclined, please don’t trouble to explain your position on not reporting on suicides, as I’m sure it’s probably impertinent.

Unless you have vast amounts of more information than you’ve reported here, I find your characterization of the incident tawdry.

From the article: “250News does not normally carry stories about people taking their own lives, but in this instance, where public information is requested, we are making an exception.”

I suppose if you don’t like the policy, you can go elsewhere?

No we don’t normally carry suicides. There are upwards of 24 people who take their own life each year in this city, and region.
These people in most cases are facing a mental problem. Their families and others also may be trying to assist them, and you think that we should make the situation worse by telling everyone who has a sense that they must be informed, be damned about those who were suffering a mental break down, or the families they leave behind, to satisfy someone’s bent sense of what they think is right. That kind of reporting is worse than tabloid news and I can assure you we won’t be a party to it.
It is akin also, to writing a story about every bomb threat we receive. The copy cats soon discover that its an easy way to get a day off or receive some recognition. The same applies to those who might be contemplating suicide.
Good reporting is just that. 250news will continue to set its standards high. If you can find someone who likes to report on suicides, by all means go to them, we won’t be a party to it.
Ben Meisner
250news

Thanks for that Ben. Some people just don’t understand.

First, my sincerest sympathies with the family and friends of this person in question.

It is pretty well known that most news outlets, large, small and everything in between do not report suicides unless it is a high profile case (entertainer, pro sports player, politician, etc.), or a murder-suicide. That is their prerogative, and I have no argument with that.

However, to hear another side of the story, the following excerpt taken from Ryerson Review of Journalism may help explain why this is so: (Note: it was written by a journalist who contemplated committing suicide and is now calling on all journalists to break this “final taboo” (i.e. not writing on these incidents).
Here is his quote:
“There were 3,743 reported suicides in Canada in 2005; I was nearly number 3,744. The media cover murder-suicides, celebrity suicides and the odd “normal” suicide. But that’s just a fraction of them. Conversely, there were 658 murders that year, and all received coverage. More people kill themselves than die by motor vehicle collisions. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in Canada and the second leading cause of death for people 15 to 24. A Harris-Decima poll released in late August revealed that 83 percent of Canadians didn’t know that.”
(end quote)

Praying God’s peace upon those who are directly affected by this tragedy.