These days, in an era of widespread media and ever-advancing communications technologies, people are kept abreast of events and occurrences all around the globe. In regard to the use of mass media, some people believe that there ought to be a worldwide ban on the broadcast of teenage suicides by dint of potential negative psychological phenomena. From my perspective, the proposed complete prohibition of such content is both unreasonable and unattainable.
To begin with, a prohibition of news involving a specific type of content is never justifiable. Such a global interference in news broadcasting is essentially a serious violation to human rights as everyone has the right to seek, to receive and to impart information and ideas through any media. While advocates of the proposed ban may argue that individual compromise is necessary for the greater good, it is, in fact, an unfounded assumption that suicide-related news would do any harm to society. Contrary to some beliefs that teenage suicides imagery is scaremongering and creates public fear, to broadcast news related to this by officially monitored means will be highly informative and useful. Such broadcasting ought to be utilized to promote public awareness on adolescent mental health, thereby improving overall living standards.
Additionally, a lawful ban on broadcasting related to juvenile suicides is highly impractical. Not only will such a proposal receive global dissent but it will also be subject to various acts of defiance. Were a ban on news regarding teenage suicides come into effect, many would intentionally deliver them on unofficial platforms and abuse public’s curiosity to their own good. If this is to be the case, a well-meaning premise may counterproductively create more social ills in that the motives of those who provide unauthorized broadcast of so-called news are usually far from benevolent and just. Public distrust and societal instability will inevitably emerge in the event of the prohibition of suicide-related news on all media platforms. For example, if an extremist group were to spread false rumors that some teenagers are being coerced into committing suicides after expressing disapproval of a newly-elected politician, the consequences would be nothing but catastrophic.
To conclude, I totally disagree with the idea that governments should impose a large-scale ban on news related to cases of teenager committing suicides for the aforementioned reasons.