Suicide Coverage by Mizzou grad

This week, we had the opportunity to speak with Dugan Arnett, a Mizzou grad who now works for the Kansas City Star. Arnett covered the story of two high school girls who took their lives just days apart from one another. I was thrilled to be able to listen to his perspective on covering the story and to hear what it tales to report on suicide in the news.

There were a total of three pieces on the deaths of these two girls. Each piece was different, shedding light on the incidents themselves, how the community was reacting and recovering, and how to move forward. The narrative of each was beautifully and sensitively done, while still remaining professional and accurate.

I really enjoyed the effort Arnett put into covering such a complex and difficult topic. He said he had never covered suicide before this story, and felt a little lost as to how to go about doing so. He reached out to a variety of sources- the school, members of the soccer team that the girls played on, citizens in the community, etc. He shed light on the devastation of the deaths, but not in a way that seemed invasive or sensationalized. He told the story of the loss in the community and how people were dealing with it.

My only critiques of the way this was covered was some of the terminology when referring to the incident, as well as the lack of helpful resources for those reading the story or those impacted by the event. I asked Arnett about his choice to use "commit suicide" throughout the articles, to which he said, in a reflective way, that he did not really think about it too much. I didn't want to ask in a way that came off as accusatory or to make him feel guilty, but I was curious as to whether or not he had seen anything in his research prior to covering the story that encouraged a more sensitive word choice. Commit is often associated with crime, which is not what is meant to be reflected in these stories after someone has taken their own life.

As a class, we asked Arnett about the picture he used in the article of the school the girls attended. He said it was one the Kansas City Star already had and thought it would be the most appropriate photo to use. We asked about whether or not he thought the picture painted a picture of the deaths of these girls in a way that looked angelic or heavenly, to which he said wasn't his intention. I've learned that when covering suicide, it's important to consider the impact that visuals have. I don't think it was bad of him to use the image of the school, but I do believe there may have been other pictures that would have better represented the story and the life of these two girls.