Category: General
Ethical reporting of suicide
Spirit Moves is a discussion programme on RTÉ Radio which explores ethical issues that arise from current news events. It is broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Sunday evenings at 6:00pm; it is re-broadcast on RTÉ Choice (one of RTÉ’s Digital Radio Stations) on Monday afternoons at 4:00pm; and episodes -including this – are available to stream here. This evening’s programme discussed the ethical and legal issues that arise in the context of reporting suicide. The host was Tom McGurk, and the participants included Colum Kenny, Joan Freeman, Paul Drury, Tom Clonan, and Lisa O’Carroll.
Suicide is a serious and tragic social issue, on which several indefatigable organisations do sterling work. In particular, reporting it has been the subject of a conference (pdf) by the Irish Association of Suicidology, and of a report (pdf) by the National Office of Suicide Prevention. The American Association of Suicidology has developed a set of sensitive guidelines on the reporting of suicide; and Headline (blogged here) is doing something similar in Ireland.
The Press Council has recently published a very interesting Discussion Document (pdf) on the issue. As I’ve previously argued on this blog, the key point is that much of the reason for sensationalist media coverage (that sells papers or delivers audience share) is because we – the general public – buy the papers and listen to or watch the programmes.…
Consequences
Via University of Louisville Law Faculty Blog:
Bonus link: In a similar vein, see Lawyer’s Humor, Circa 1875 from the Legal History Blog.…
St Bridget’s Day
Anois teacht an Earraigh
le Antaine Ó Raifteirí (1784-1835)
(source | translation)
Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá dul chun síneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.
Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é ní stopfaidh me choíche
Go seasfaidh mé thíos i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.
I gClár Clainne Mhuiris a bhéas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mBalla taobh thíos de ‘thosós mé ag ól,
Go Coillte Mach rachad go ndéanfad cuairt mhíosa ann,
I bhfogas dhá mhíle do Bhéal an Áth’ Mhóir.
Fágaim le huacht é go n-éiríonn mo chroíse
Mar éiríos an ghaoth nó mar ‘scaipeas an ceo
Nuair a smaoiním ar Cheara nó ar Ghaileang taobh thíos de
Ar Sceathach a’Mhíle nó ar phlánaí Mhaigh Eo.
Cill Aodáin an baile a bhfásann gach ní ann,
Tá sméara is sú craobh ann is meas ar gach sórt,
Is dá mbéinnse i mo sheasamh i gceartlár mo dhaoine
D’imeodh an aois díom is bheinn arís óg. …
Three internet tropes
Three articles in today’s Observer demonstrate three recurrent internet tropes.
Update: The first relates to Goodwin’s Law; the second concerns the long-term fragility of digital storage of date; and the third relates to the religious wars between mac and pc. …
Are some goats more equal than others?
Legal Eagle, on Skeptic Lawyer, tells us that a goat is being held on suspicion of committing an armed robbery in Nigeria.
Rather than being a page from George Orwell‘s Animal Farm, this is actually not quite as bizarre as it seems on first blush. A bear in Macedonia, which repeatedly raided a beekeeper’s hives, was found guilty last year of theft and criminal damage; and the wonderful movie The Hour of the Pig (imdb) reflects the common practice in the middle ages of putting animals on trial. I have already discussed some of the legal issues in my post Isn’t it funny, how a bear likes honey? I can feel a movie coming on about 419 scammers getting their goat!
In the meantime, Legal Eagle – who has been here before – asks about the current defendant:
I wonder what rights the goat has. Does it have the right to legal representation? To be treated equally before the law?
If these rights are provided to human defendants in the Nigerian courts, and if the law is anthropomorphically prepared to put a goat on trial, then of course Nigerian law should afford these rights to the goat as well.…
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