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4/30/2015
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APME NEWS By David Minthorn
AP Stylebook minute Stylebook adds ‘suicide’ entry and offers delicate handling
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P’s longtime practice is to report a suicide or a suicide attempt only if the person is well-known or the circumstances are particularly unusual or publicly disruptive. The guidance had taken the form of internal memos to AP reporters and editors, or passed along by senior editors on a case-by-case basis. An all-staff memo in 2013 from the AP Standards Center in New York noted, “suicide stories, when we write them, should not go into how-to detail on the methods used. The basics are enough. ...” Why, then, was “suicide” added for the first time to the 2015 AP Stylebook? The rationale came down to choosing the right language -using neutral words to report deaths linked to mental illness and shunning the traditional term “committed suicide” on our own because it can imply an illegal action. By the dictionary definition, commit means “to perpetrate an offense or crime.” But killing oneself or attempting to do so has long since been dropped as a prosecutable offense in the United States and many other places. When the AP Stylebook expanded the “mental illness” entry in 2013, how to cover suicide wasn’t in the guidance. Mental health professionals who focus on suicide prevention and Stylebook users who had experienced the trauma of suicide in their families noted the omission and requested that the Stylebook add the topic. Appeals sent to the AP Stylebook team underlined the scope of this mental health problem and using language that doesn't stigmatize those who choose to die by their own hand, or their survivors. Months of discussions starting in mid-2014 resulted in the drafting of what we consider to be suitable language on covering suicide. The suicide entry was unveiled March 27 at the American Copy Editors Society convention in Pittsburgh among other changes and updates to the Stylebook. For the first time in the Stylebook’s 62-year history, suicide is given a separate entry. It doesn’t ban “committed suicide” - a term widely used by authorities. But it urges staffers to avoid using the term except in direct quotations from authorities. It counsels alternatives like “died by suicide,” “took her own life” or “killed himself.” Reaction has been positive. Here’s the entry:
suicide Generally, AP does not cover suicides or suicide attempts, unless the person involved is a well-known figure or the circumstances are particularly unusual or publicly disruptive. Suicide stories, when written, should not go into
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APME NEWS
What’s new in the stylebook? • Sports Guidelines have been updated with more than 60 new or revised entries, ranging over baseball playoffs, basketball’s NCAA Tournament, O-line and D-line in football, horse racing, injuries, Olympic Games, race distances, soccer tactics, titles and winter sports. • New or updated terms include ACL for anterior cruciate ligament, day to day, double axel, free agent, hat trick, heatstroke, MCL for medial cruciate ligament, Olympian, shoestring catch, Sweet 16, “tiki-taka,” Tommy John surgery, trifecta and zonal marking. • Global warming, which can be used interchangeably with climate change, is another new entry. Climate change is more accurate scientifically to describe the effects of greenhouse gases on the environment, including extreme weather and changes in rainfall patterns, ocean acidification and sea level. But global warming is used in common parlance and is widely accepted. • Other new or updated entries include abaya; Affordable Care Act; airsoft gun; animal welfare activist; Arab Spring; autism spectrum disorder; Crimea; dog walker; drop-down; drive-by; Ebola; execution-style; justify; Kathmandu; National Security Agency; obscenities, profanities and vulgarities; One World Trade Center; privacy; Schengen Area; Uber; and Ulaanbaatar. Entries on militant groups such as Boko Haram and Islamic State are also new this year. • Some terms that were previously in the Social Media Guidelines are now listed in the A-Z section. New entries include favorite, meme and Swarm. Druze and Wicca are new to the Religion chapter.
detail on methods used. Avoid using committed suicide except in direct quotations from authorities. Alternate phrases include killed himself, took her own life or died by suicide. The verb commit with suicide can imply a criminal act. Laws against suicide have been repealed in the United States and many other places. Do not refer to an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Refer instead to an attempted suicide. Medically assisted suicide is permitted in some states and countries. Advocacy groups call it death with dignity, but AP doesn't use that phrase on its own. When referring to legislation whose name includes death with dignity or similar terms, just say the law allows the terminally ill to end their own lives unless the name itself of the legislation is at issue.