Deciding whether to publish information about a suicide should be left to newspapers, which have generally shown they are responsible and sensitive in dealing with this subject, the Ontario Press Council said in a press release.

The Council was commenting on a recommendation by an inquest jury that examined the suicide of a student who jumped from the Bloor Street viaduct in Toronto Dec. 11, 1997.

We recommend that every effort should be made to keep the location and method of suicide out of the media, the jury said. If that is not possible a low profile should be given to these matters.

Explaining its reasoning, the jury said It has been shown that reporting suicides and locations of suicides acts as a magnet to perpetuate the act and the location becomes known as a death magnet.

The bridge from which the student jumped has become a common spot for suicide jumpers, prompting a decision to erect a high fence along each side of Bloor Street.

The Press Council said it recognized the importance of the issue raised by the jury. But it said the press does not report suicides unless they are clearly newsworthy and did not see the need for authorities to withhold information about them.

What made the incident in question of news interest was that the suicide occurred after an off-duty police officer was invited to question students at a downtown school about a prank that resulted in alteration of the text of a letter in the school yearbook. The amended version had a reference to the Maple Leaf Gardens sex abuse scandal and described the school as unique and abusive.

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