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southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
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 Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:52 am Post subject: How Much Responsibility Should Be Borne By The News Media? |
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Here's an example of how the news media compounds the problem of suicide and murder.
From Japan Today:
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| Such was the notice on the bathroom door, posted on March 27 by a 27-year-old Kobe man testing a new suicide method he�d found on the Internet. It is horribly simple. You mix XXXX XXXXXXXX with XXXXXX XXXXXXXX to generate hydrogen sulfide gas, which allegedly does its lethal work quietly and with minimal suffering. |
I've omitted the actual ingredients for obvious reasons.
Do you think the sensationalization of news here creates more of the same problems originally reported?
For more on the issue,
http://sevententotokyo.com |
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Mothy
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 99
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| Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:59 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah I think it can be a problem. Of course I don't think the Japanese media is alone in this, I remember back home in the US seeing news reports that were pretty detailed on easy ways to make a bomb, make meth, scam people for their personal information, etc. The one thing I think might be different in Japan is I think the Japanese self fulfill some stuff. If there are one or two incidents that are similar the media calls it some new trend and does big stories about it, publicizing it further. They really like to sensationalize stuff. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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By posting part of the story (even with all the ingredients deleted) you're actually also helping the spread of this information to those who might use (misuse?) it - I could Google and get the story up no problem. And I thought it was common knowledge that mixing bleaches or toilet cleaners with other household products can be dangerous (there's usually a warning to that effect on the bottle), due to the risk of chlorine gas and more (BTW, the BBC has a very "helpful" page for those who want to search for "chlorine gas XXXXX").
Talking of "trends", I noticed that another teenager has apparently hung themselves in Wales...oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that, nor the newspeople even the very first case. |
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southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:22 am Post subject: |
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| fluffyhamster wrote: |
| By posting part of the story (even with all the ingredients deleted) you're actually also helping the spread of this information to those who might use (misuse?) it |
Suppose I should bear some of the responsiblity, then.
| fluffyhamster wrote: |
| And I thought it was common knowledge that mixing bleaches or toilet cleaners with other household products can be dangerous (there's usually a warning to that effect on the bottle). |
There's always somebody who doesn't know. And, even if the information is easy to gather, the how-to part of the original story was completely unnecessary and just enables people to have access to the how-to information that much easier, without doing a search. Almost as if 'someone' were trying to enable more incidents to happen.
| fluffyhamster wrote: |
| Talking of "trends", I noticed that another teenager has apparently hung themselves in Wales...oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that, nor the newspeople even the very first case. |
Your sarcasm is greatly appreciated.  |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 3:53 am Post subject: |
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| Heh, like you say SOR, I was just having some fun with ya then. I actually pretty much agree that the how-to part of the story was unnecessary, but probably it's been doing the rounds in at least the newspapers ever since the first case (in Matsuyama apparently) - and if so, again, I think that the papers should've exercised some restraint back then too. But there's probably the argument forwarded somewhere that runs, 'It is not beyond the realm of possibility that some granny somewhere will inadvertently mix ingredient A with B and gas herself, so we'd better ensure that doesn't happen even if in the process loads of kids get wind of the fact that this could be a groovy new way to top themselves'. |
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partialtone
Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 137
Location: CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| fluffyhamster wrote: |
Talking of "trends", I noticed that another teenager has apparently hung themselves in Wales...oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that, nor the newspeople even the very first case. |
Good thing the news story didn't give knot trying instructions. |
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southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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| partialtone wrote: |
| fluffyhamster wrote: |
Talking of "trends", I noticed that another teenager has apparently hung themselves in Wales...oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that, nor the newspeople even the very first case. |
Good thing the news story didn't give knot trying instructions. |
But, if it had, wouldn't that be a fairly clear case of instigation?  |
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partialtone
Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 137
Location: CA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| southofreality wrote: |
| partialtone wrote: |
| fluffyhamster wrote: |
Talking of "trends", I noticed that another teenager has apparently hung themselves in Wales...oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't've mentioned that, nor the newspeople even the very first case. |
Good thing the news story didn't give knot trying instructions. |
But, if it had, wouldn't that be a fairly clear case of instigation? |
Instigation would be a strong word. It's just how the flow of information has changed over the past 20 years. I don't think the flow of information should be lessened or limited, people just need to be properly educated to deal with the information. In this case, Japanese culture has to ditch the idea that depression and therapy is something to be ashamed of. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe we should call stuff like this 'Incitement to froth on internet forums'? 
Here's a completely different stimulus/topic that got me frothing nicely just now:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=62083 |
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southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| partialtone wrote: |
| In this case, Japanese culture has to ditch the idea that depression and therapy is something to be ashamed of. |
I agree 100%. But, I think there's a feeling among many Japanese people, including government officials, that admitting depression and mental illness are real problems in Japanese society is like admitting that there's something wrong with Japanese society. It's unfortunate that people can be so stubborn, especially when a little open-mindedness could help a lot of people. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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| All societies have or breed people with mental problems, but Japan sure seems to have its fair share. |
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