Posts should be moderated so that folks with their own agendas who wish to steer off topic can be CENSORED...there I said it. So that brings us back to the media...and this well written article. As a journalist I'm very fed up with the ethical standards in modern media. It's all about soundbites, catchphrases, celebs and teenagers, which is not to say I'm pro-censorship, I'm just pro-discretionary editing as to what is REALLY in the public's best interest. Whether it's TV or print media, we're being fed a daily diet that pretty much matches our actual diet. Too many carbs and not nearly enough lean meat. We're getting fat on apathy and our calorie intake increases in direct opposition to our lowering IQ's.

As for why people commit suicide in the first place - it's as individual and as perennial as reasons why the rest of us choose to remain alive. Because we feel we have to...for whatever reason. Trying to blame the government takes away personal accountability...which is JUST PLAIN STUPID AND WRONG and it's definitely throwing the teenager out with the clearasil.

To take the high road, journalists don't have to pander to the lowest common denominator...surely a change of career is preferable to prostituting one's morals for a steady income.

there I said it.

Newspapers have been accused of being sensationalist since they first began. But...there has always been a choice in the quality of news.

Maybe I'm just getting older, but the quality and variety of news outlets, be it papers or TV seems to be diminishing by the year. They're all the same.

This is well demonstrated by following through how this particular tragedy has been reported. Why it needed to be reported at all mystifies me.

If there was a perception of it being in the public interest, a general article about youth suicide and potential causes would more appropriate.

It used to be that if one had a vocabulary greater than 400 words, moderate attention span, moderate ability at comprehension and an ability to think for oneself there would be a newspaper that catered for that.

I wonder what it says of us, the public, that papers like this are not deemed profitable enough to print anymore.

Chainsmoker,

What, you don't believe what you see in the papers? You're joking right?

Or are you one of those conspiracist types who think that we're living in George Orwell's 1984?!?

Get real.

There are Muslims on trial, with half a dozen convicted, right here in Australia, for exactly what the papers say they are/were planning.

You just can't criticise the 'ethnic other' can you?

I noticed, as I always do, that you can't attack me for any of my points, just slander.

So weak, make an argument or don't bother. I wasted thirty seconds of my life on your post.

I want them back.

And to the post who said we shouldn't say anything off topic - this isn't off topic. It is the main fear I always see.

Apart from being called a paedophile, being called a racist is the worst thing one can say.

I believe that unless a person has evidence for their claim, the type of evidence say..of wanting to blow people up for not being Muslim, one should use the term wisely.

Most discussions on this site always end up with talk about radical Muslims. How can they not? It is the issue of the day, and yes, somehow the sick Islamist supporters on the left call anyone who wants to discuss it a racist.

That IS a fear.