Suicide headline: Ohio paper learns the hard way that compassion counts more than search engines

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By David Rothman

The Cleveland Plain Dealer learned the hard way that compassion counts more than search engine placement.

When a man killed himself, dozens of readers spoke up against the practice of putting the names of even obscure suicide victims in headlines.

Defending his employer, a reporter named Michael Sangiacomo wrote: “Using a name in a headline is done to increase the number of hits on a search engine. We know it’s not traditional journalism, but is becoming the norm.”

Maybe on other stories. But on suicides? Of course, this is hardly an issue for the Plain Dealer alone. What do you think? Meanwhile, smartly, the PD has replaced the original headline with “Man found hanged at Stow playground.”

Thanks to a Tweet from Olevia, a aka Cheri Campbell, a Lorain, Ohio, librarian—among the angry commenters.

(Item posted around 9:40 a.m., but moved down since we’re mainly an e-book blog.)

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