Dunne: media reporting of suicides meeting to be rescheduled
25 February 2011

A meeting of media, mental health professional and researchers on media reporting of suicides planned for this Monday will be rescheduled because of the Christchurch earthquake, Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne announced today.

 The roundtable meeting had been called to “identify and set some parameters” for updated guidelines on media reporting of suicides, and was to have been held at Parliament.

 “We will be looking to reschedule the meeting, hopefully within the next month, All the invited participants have been contacted and informed,” Mr Dunne said.

 He said that the quake would have stopped a number of key participants from attending.

 The Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean, and key representatives of traditional media and the blogosphere had,been invited.

 “Clearly this is an extraordinary time with extraordinary pressures on people and organisations, including the Chief Coroner and media organisations,” he said.

 When it is rescheduled, the meeting will be a first step in a process that would be developed over coming months, involving broader consultation, and that he was committed to having new guidelines in place later in the year.