Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (HB)
Udupi, Oct 7: A special seminar on ‘Suicide Control and Social responsibility’ was held at Udupi press club, Brahmagiri here on Thursday, October 7, to raise awareness among journalists in order to prevent suicidal tendency among public.
The conference was organized in collaboration with Dr A V Baliga Memorial Hospital, Rotary Manipal and Udupi District Working Journalists Association (UDWJA).
Dr P V Bhandary, director, Dr A V Baliga Memorial Hospital, Udupi and Dr Shubha H S, associate professor and HOD, media studies center, Manipal Institute of Communication were the resource persons.
Dr P V Bhandary in his address said, “Media influences suicidal tendency. It has power of reducing suicides also. Media can prevent suicides through sensible reporting. A person, who has suicidal tendency, may try to end life again or the person may think about various ways to commit suicide for 3-14 days.
Today’s education system is creating pressure among youths. After Covid pandemic, the rate of suicide cases “has gone up because of various reasons like financial difficulty, stress, jobless and loneliness.
“The government should think about employment generation and come up with new schemes, which support the development of the economy. But this is not happening.
“No one should ill treat others or ignore one’s mental behaviour. They need treatment and counselling. In many cases, one who wants to end life will show symptoms of the same.
“Media should have social responsibility in saving lives. It should not motivate others to commit crime,” he said.
Dr Shubha said, “There are no specific guidelines related to suicide reporting. Media can prevent such crimes by publicizing positive reports instead of glamorizing the incident.
“Suicide reporting should be seen as a health report than crime report. Though there is no specific guideline for such kind of reporting, media management can form guidelines on its own. In that way, media plays a crucial role in giving rebirth to the person trying to end life.
“In such cases, we can mention helpline numbers in the report, which may save many lives,” she said.
Dr Virupaksha Devarumane, psychiatrist, delivered the keynote address.
Rajesh Shetty Alevoor, president, UDWJA presided over the programme.
Manjunath, information department officer, Nagraj Murthy, psychiatrist, Prashanth Hegde, and Sripathi of Rotary club were present.
Nazeer Polya, general secretary, UDWJA extended the welcome and Umesh Marpalli, treasurer, rendered the vote of thanks.