Last Saturday Times of Malta’s newsroom received several phone calls and e-mails from readers saying passengers had been evacuated from the Gozo ferries. Our journalists immediately made calls to find out the nature of the problem and were informed there was yet another bomb scare.
Unlike most of the other news organisations, Times of Malta decided not to carry the item. The reason? Because it has always done this. And, more importantly, because studies show that when news agencies report such hoaxes, they inspire others to follow suit.
Repeated news reports of bomb hoaxes have negative effects. Among other things, they are likely to cause the public to be less responsive when there is a real threat or danger as well as unnecessarily causing alarm.
In some cases, the media do have a role to play in explaining why a vessel, a shopping centre or the law courts have been evacuated by the police. The key is to be very selective.
When the airport was evacuated earlier this year because of a perceived security issue, Times of Malta held off publishing anything about it until it transpired that the security men themselves believed there was a suspect package. It turned out to be nothing more dangerous than diving equipment, but since it was not likely to lead to a copycat incident we reported it as we do with many other incidents.
When it comes to bomb scares, this newspaper has always been of the opinion that it should report far more prominently any subsequent arrests, which could discourage such threats by showing the consequences of threatening others.
Likewise, we do not report suicides or overdoses (bar truly exceptional circumstances). The way the media covers suicide can influence behaviour negatively by contributing to contagion. We saw it in the 1970s and 1980s when the State broadcaster used to report the tragic cases of people jumping to their deaths outside City Gate.
More than 50 research studies worldwide have found that certain types of news coverage can increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals. The incidence of copycat suicides is related to the amount, duration and prominence of coverage.
The suicide rate rises when the news report explicitly describes the method used or when it embellishes the story with dramatic headlines or images that sensationalise death.
We are as aware as anybody that journalists can cause harm when reporting on certain matters, but we take as much care as we possibly can to ensure that when we divulge details of an incident, it is proportional to the nature of the event and in the public interest.
There can be a fine line, which we do not always see clearly, but this balancing act is one we seek to perform daily.
In the case of Gozo Channel, we believe other sections of the media did more harm than good by saying there was a bomb scare. The ferry company hardly helped matters by specifying as much in a press release – when it would have made much more sense to say that the service had to be suspended due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’.
The question needs to be asked: does Gozo Channel take action with respect to any anonymous phone call or does it take police advice on whether there is a credible threat? If it's the former, the service could be in for a lot of trouble.
Had the company cited ‘unforeseen circumstances’ it would have kept the public informed without giving the criminals behind this act the pleasure of seeing the result of their actions on websites and on the front pages.