|
Abstract
|
In late April 2023, the international media broke the story of the arrest and criminal charges against Kenneth Law, a Canadian man accused of sending a deadly substance to a number of individuals across Canada and internationally (Miller, 2023; Peel Regional Police, 2023). This is a newsworthy story and one that deserves coverage. However, it also carries the potential for harm, as the substance Law allegedly distributed is unusual and previously unknown to most of the public.
In this editorial, we will describe some of the ethical issues and considerations regarding responsible reporting of the Kenneth Law story and make recommendations about how such information might be conveyed more safely to the public going forward. At the outset, we acknowledge two important points.
First, at the time of writing, Mr. Law's criminal case is still before the courts. We do not intend to make any claims about whether the allegations against him are true or false. What matters from the perspective of suicide prevention is how the details of the allegations are presented to the public, regardless of whether that information is later proven in a court of law. This is because it is the information conveyed by the media, in this case, potentially harmful details of a novel suicide method, that can impact public health and suicide rates. The media has told the story of his case in a specific way, and it is that narrative and its details that we will focus on here.
Second, the decision of many journalists reporting on the case to name the actual substance was not in alignment with responsible media reporting guidelines and we ask that expert colleague readers, as well as any journalists who may come across this article, not name it or any other novel suicide method in public-facing communications. The toxic substance that Law is accused of distributing is sodium nitrite, sometimes misreported as sodium nitrate (Peel Regional Police, 2023). We are naming the substance (and the misreported related substance) once here because it is important for those of us who are experts in the scientific community to be aware of what occurred in order to assist with suicide prevention and public policy efforts. We will generally refer to it in this article as "the substance."...
Language: en |