Dr. Ann Luce to give Keynote at American Association of Suicidology Conference

Dr. Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication in FMC will deliver one of three Keynote addresses at the annual American Association of Suicidology Conference on Saturday 24th April, 9am EST, 2pm BST. The conference, the largest annual suicide prevention gathering in the United States, will host a hybrid event, with more than 2300 registered attendees, looking at the theme of “Social Contexts in Suicide.”

Luce’s Keynote is titled: “The RSR Model & The Suicide Reporting Toolkit:Putting media reporting guidelines into practice.”

Numerous guidelines on responsible reporting of suicide have been available to journalists globally for more than 20 years, offering advice on best practice regarding approaches and suitability of content. Whilst their advice is compelling and legitimate, their use is uneven at best.

With a suicide death every 40 seconds worldwide, it is imperative journalists understand and recognise the best ethical practices in order to report suicide responsibly. Luce will present the RSR Model, which is grounded in news-work and embeds media reporting guidelines within journalistic storytelling practices.

The accompanying Suicide Reporting Toolkit for Journalists and Journalism Educators helps journalists understand how to implement global guidelines. The toolkit is underpinned by 15 years of research into suicide in the media, including the new Responsible Suicide Reporting model. The suicide reporting toolkit embeds five sets of global guidelines on the reporting of suicide from the World Health Organisation (global), Society for Professional Journalists (USA), Samaritans (UK & Ireland), National Union of Journalists (UK) and the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s Editors Code of Practice (UK). Since its launch in August 2020, there have been more than 20,000 unique visitors to the site.

Luce will give an amended version of the paper at BU on Monday 26th April, 12-1pm as part of the Department of Communication and Journalism Research Seminar Series. Colleagues across BU are welcome to join via Zoom:

https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/88034420929?pwd=MTN0U0Q2TW5NMXNsQ3I4c3JQVjhQQT09

Meeting ID: 880 3442 0929

Passcode: FqeH6*.W