Three cheers for suicide

Note: The title is not meant to offend, but merely provide an example of sensationalism

A few days ago I was hosting a study group with a few MIJ students. We were speaking about the importance of quality writing and the concept of sensationalism came into mind. When I brought it up, the students admitted to having never heard of the word.

I gave them a brief lesson, citing the aforementioned story on the woman being dipped into boiling porridge as a local example of sensationalist photography.

We were also looking at an article titled "Measles kills 19 in Dowa in one week". This story refers to a local church not allowing vaccinations for a group of children, leaving many to die. I suggested that one way to create a sensationalist headline would be to say, "Church kills 19 in Dowa".

I also referred to some international examples of sensationalist cover stories after the earthquake in Haiti.

Recognizing that sensationalism is fairly relative, I explained to the students that there is a fine line that some media outlets have crossed in order to sell more copies of their paper.

They understood... I hope. Although it was only a few students that received this mini lesson, if it means that three more journalists understand the concept of sensationalism before they move on to careers in the media, I feel a-okay.

On a similar note, yesterday afternoon there was a lively discussion in the newsroom of The Daily Times (as described by jhr-intern Philippa Croome) about this very subject.

They were covering a story about three siblings who took part in "a bizarre religious ritual". Two men and a woman committed suicide by jumping into a fire. The debate over which photo and headline to use became heated (no pun intended).

Most people in the newsroom wanted to use "SHOCKING" as the headline, along with a photo of the charred bodies laying in a fire pit.

After much debate, Philippa left the office without hearing the final decision. Her and the EIC felt the photo and headline were too unprofessional, while all of the reporters and the Managing Editor wanted to use the sensationalist cover.

This morning as we drove off to work, Philippa and I peered out the window at the boy selling the newspapers. He held them up for us to see and laughed at how intently we stared.

We both cheered. They went with a less graphic photo and the headline, "Horrible suicide".

Yes, the cynical print journalists cheered for horrible suicide.