Press Releases

The function of an Ombudsman is, I am sure, well enough understood in the Ireland of today for it not torequire anything substantial by way of explanation here. This Annual Report, however, is significant not only because it is the first of its kind and outlines our activities during the first year of operation, but because it also indicates clearly the parameters within which I as Press Ombudsman work.

There is a growing realization of the signifi cance, and seeming intractability, of suicide as a social problem in the Ireland of today. Just before Christmas, the Press Council of Ireland published, as a discussion document, the outcome of a public consultation it had held, with the cooperation of all its member publications, on the topic of Suicide and the Press. It is a calm and measured document, with many good ideas both for journalists and for those affected by suicide or working in the field of suicide prevention, and is available on our website.

“The past does not exist. There are only infi nite renderings of it”Ryszard Kapuscinski Travels with Herodotus

“Current Issues in Journalism”

Address by Dave O’Connell, Group Editor of the Connacht Tribune, at the Press Council’s conference on media coverage of suicide in Portlaoise on December 3rd 2008

PRESS COUNCIL OF IRELAND PORTLAOISE 3 December 2008

THE OFFICE OF CORONER AND THE CORONER’S COURT

A discussion document on issues connected with the reporting of suicide in the press will be the focus of a meeting being organised by the Press Council of Ireland in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise, on Wednesday December 3rd at 8.00 pm.

The launch of a memoir by one of the better known Irish newspaper editors of the twentieth century is,among other things, an occasion to refl ect not only on the past of our newspapers, but on their future.

The role of newspaper coverage in cases of suicide was highlighted at a meeting in Portlaoise on [Wednesday 3rd December] sponsored by the Press Council of Ireland, and which heard contributions from journalists, experts on suicide, and the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for mental health, Mr. John Molony TD.