Editorial - Tuesday October 29, 2013

Peter Jackson, editor, The Northland Age

FIVE children have taken their lives in the tiny community of Taupo Bay in less than 18 months, the most recent loss, of a 15-year-old school girl, finally prompting some in the community to speak publicly.

Journalist Amanda Snow, who grew up in Kaitaia, last week told the story of a community that was 'pleading for answers.' The 15-year-old, who died earlier this month, lost two cousins late last year, following the death of another teenage girl in June. A 10-year-old boy died a few months later. Those deaths were recorded by this newspaper according to the rules, noting only that a young person had died and that police were satisfied that there were no suspicious circumstances. Such is the extent to which authorities control the reporting of suicides, whatever the age of the victim.

If the theory is that preventing public notification of suicide will deter others from taking their own lives, it isn't working. It will come as an unpleasant surprise to some that 34 people ended their own lives in Northland in the year to June, up from 26 the year before and compared with the 20 lives lost on the region's roads in the same period. The road toll is the subject of constant public discussion and angst; the suicide toll is spoken of, in generalities, only once a year, when the official statistics are released. Unlike the road toll, however, the key to reducing the suicide rate does not lie with the government. The answers must come from within our families and communities.

Five deaths in one small community is not unprecedented, but has to be raising questions much closer to home than the politicians and government departments to which some have turned for answers, not only as to why tragedy should visit such a small community so often but how others can be deterred from see suicide as a solution to whatever it is that troubles them.

The families of those who have died at Taupo Bay are not without ideas as to the underlying problems. They have cited boredom, bullying, social media, drugs and alcohol as potential factors, the aunt of the latest victim, and cousin of two others, saying adults needed to talk to young people about suicide, a process that also had to involve schools and sports clubs. Labour MP Shane Jones has also reiterated his concern that some vulnerable young people are driven to take their own lives by what he describes as the romanticising of death.

The reality of death, especially suicide, was very different. He told Snow that "these tangi" were heart-wrenching, that a tangihanga related to suicide was a bleak affair, leaving behind only broken hearts and fractured communities. He also saw the need to oppose the 'sub-culture' of alcohol, drugs and hopelessness that he saw as playing a major role. And in that, he was getting to the nub of the problem.

The writer doesn't know the specific circumstances that might have contributed to the deaths at Taupo Bay, although, according to family, the latest victim had been subjected to bullying at school. Anecdotal evidence suggests that bullying is a reasonably common factor, the teenager's father telling Amanda Snow that young people needed to be encouraged to speak out if they had worrying thoughts. Easier said than done, perhaps, but that offers the only real hope that this awful scourge can be brought to an end.

It goes without saying that families have a duty to protect their children from the evils of drugs and alcohol. There is no doubt that they play a part in juvenile (and adult) suicides, although much of the emphasis over recent years has been on bullying.

To an adult who grew up without ever imagining the advent of 'social media,' the solution to bullying via electronic device seems simple - turn the thing off. Given the extent to which social media have become a part of many young lives these days, perhaps it isn't as simple as that, but we would be doing our children a favour if we could show them that there is much more to life than devoting huge amounts of time to communicating from a distance with so-called friends in a manner that makes them vulnerable to harm.

The grief that must follow the loss of a child by suicide is incomprehensible to anyone who has not suffered it, but there is little point in looking outside the family for protection. Calls for education campaigns and government-sponsored programmes are understandable but ultimately pointless. The key, surely, is to listen to our children, to take their concerns seriously, to help them build the maturity and resilience they need as they progress towards adulthood, and to protect them from potential sources of harm, including drugs and alcohol, boredom, bullying and unfettered access to social media.

No government department can do that for us. No government department can monitor the negative influences that might blight a young life. Parents and families have to do that, by recognising that children need the protection and nurturing that only a family can provide, albeit sometimes with outside assistance. And at the heart of that lies communication with children, not via a cell phone or computer screen but by word and deed within the family.

If one recalls correctly it was rocker Alice Cooper who was once accused of writing and performing songs that were allegedly contributing to youth suicides a couple of generations ago. Asked what he would say if he was confronted by one of his 'victims,' he said, "I wouldn't say anything. I would listen to him."

The need to listen to protect our children is also emphasised by the other scourge that currently afflicts the very Far North. Police are investigating more allegations of sexual crimes against children, reminding us once more that some who live among us are not what they seem. The latest arrest also calls into question the extent to which some media are prepared to risk further damage, with no greater motivation than beating their opposition to 'the story'.

This newspaper, which knew that a man had been charged 10 days before it was broadcast by TVNZ, did not make that information public, because, quite properly, police were concerned that publicity at that stage could jeopardise their investigation, and expose the alleged victims to even greater trauma than they were already facing. The accused man is scheduled to appear in the Kaitaia District Court tomorrow, at which point the allegations are likely to be released. The Northland Age accepted that rationale. Other media did not.

There was absolutely nothing to be gained, and much, potentially, to be lost, by breaking the story last week. The fact that court-imposed suppression orders were breached presumably didn't bother TVNZ or the dailies either.

This newspaper's view, which is not widely shared in this business, is that the overarching priority is for the alleged victims to be protected from further offending and harm that can be done by the judicial process, and for the protection of potential future victims. The latter relies on the accused, if he is guilty, being denied the opportunity to continue offending. The need for any news organisation to be first with the story is no priority at all.

Media that do not ascribe to that philosophy care only about circulation and ratings, not about the damage they might do. Drugs and alcohol, boredom and bullying are not today's children's only enemies.