JMU softball player death and possible suicide - too far?

She was absolutely a public figure in her market. The Daily News Record could not ignore the story. Whether or not it should be national news is up for conjecture, but for the DNR, JMU is the biggest beat by a mile. The team was in the WCWS final a year ago. She was a big part of it. She won CAA player of the week two days before. There's no way that paper couldn't cover that story.

 

I assume that they might get game coverage, at worst they get briefs on ones not covered in person. Like no one would notice one of the best players wasn't in the lineup, like it was an ankle injury or something.

 

And on top of all that, while it may be quick for some to put college softball back in its usual cubby hole, you would think interest would be up as a result of going to the WCWS last season.

 

In what way is a suicide "news?"

 

It's news -- in that market -- in that a star player on a WCWS team is no longer there. You report that news, you move on. You don't need to linger on it. But you can't just ignore it.

And considering all of the talk we're having about mental health in sports, a second prominent member of a high-level women's college sports team taking her own life (along with the Stanford soccer goalkeeper) is certainly a noteworthy news item and a launching point for further discussion of the issue.

Though to the OP's point, I don't like the speculation about such things until they are confirmed by someone in authority.

 

She's actually the third -- a runner at Wisconsin died in the middle of last month and her parents announced it was suicide

 

A death might be news. Might be.

We can absolutely choose to ignore the method.

In what way has reporting a suicide ever helped prevent another suicide?

In fact, it's probably just as likely to cause one.

We need to rethink our approach to things completely.

 

JMU cancels the rest of its season

 

This may be a failure in me as a (former) journalist, but this is one case where I would 100 percent defer to the wishes of the family.

If they want to talk and get the story out there, in the hopes of bringing awareness to mental health, I'm fine with that. If they don't want a word of "suicide" breathed in relation to their loved one's death, I'm fine with that. I wouldn't try to advocate for either approach.

The thought of what they are going through, having to bury a child or loved one after a suicide, and a lifetime of second-guessing about what signs they should have seen but didn't, how they could have helped but didn't, makes my heart ache.

 

Do we mull the possible consequences of every story before we report it, then? Otherwise you've got papers/broadcasts/websites full of stories about cute puppies, kids playing in the park, sunrises, sunsets and that board favorite, local teams tried really, really hard!
Pretending suicide doesn't happen doesn't make it go away.

 

Doesn't make it news, either.

People have been ending their own lives since we came down out of the trees.

What more do we understand about this young woman by reporting she committed suicide? What's newsworthy about her specific loneliness or despair or brain chemistry?

Presumably, yes.

 

The local news reports people shot or who died in a car crash. Those people are in no way public figures. Why are those deaths news, ones by suicide aren't?