Glasgow City Council's SNP leader Susan Aitken behind PR campaign to silence critical media report about suicide on River Clyde ... Council spinners cited fears of fuelling deaths ... But the politician had made a series of comments about suicides on the river just weeks earlier

One subject certain to focus the mind of a journalist it is that of suicide. Confusion surrounds what can and cannot be said. News organisations sometimes take the cautious position not to report a single word when someone has taken their own life but a self-imposed blackout is rarely necessary and serves no public interest.

These guidelines from the Samaritans are helpful. Yes, it is valid to report suicides but care should be taken about doing so sensitively, avoiding sensationalism and over-simplification, and being too specific about ‘hot spots’ or the methods used. A welcome development has been the inclusion about how people can get help.

However, one recent experience raised a new and unexpected concern – that of PR people and their political masters exploiting the media’s responsibility to be mindful and responsible.

While producing this story about suicide for STV News, I conducted an on-camera interview with Glasgow taxi driver Stef Shaw, aka The Glasgow Cabbie, who spoke about his desire to reduce lost lives on the River Clyde.

He and other campaigners, including families affected by suicide, were delighted that Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken had agreed to install ELTs (emergency lifeline telephones).

But their happiness was soured by what they felt was a clumsy attempt to politicise the issue. Aitken, overlooking their apolitical efforts, had instead publicly credited a similar but separate campaign run by SNP supporters.

Shaw told me that he and families were ‘dumbfounded as to why Susan Aitken has decided to upset so many people’, adding: “It shattered the beliefs of a lot of people and bereaved families who have voiced their sadness at what she’s done.”

Within hours of the interview, a Glasgow City Council press officer called me. We had been seen, he said. I asked who had seen me but he would not say (as it happens, a newspaper hack turned council PR had been ambling past). I explained that his call was unorthodox and premature and that if any council input was needed, I would contact him.

I later emailed the PR some questions and also invited Aitken to be interviewed on camera. The PR responded with a series of emails, almost 700 words in all. Regarding the request to speak to Aitken, he said: “We will not be making the Leader available for interview.”

There was a determined effort to halt our report. In one email, the PR wrote: “We have previously had success when engaging with the media on this issue and it was understood and accepted that reporting on the helpline pilot could have a detrimental impact. I truly hope you can reach the same conclusion.”

Another said: “I ask you again to reconsider your position on this story. If you can’t or won’t then I’d ask you reflect the information in this email within your piece.”

If we insisted on proceeding, the PR provided this quote: “We are doing everything we can in line with national guidance on how to prevent suicide.  We do not wish to take part in a broadcast which highlights the Clyde as a location where people have died by suicide.”

Anyone reading these pleas would perhaps conclude that the council and its PR people were primarily concerned about preventing suicide. However, it seemed that of greater importance was shielding Aitken from criticism.

For the SNP politician had already spoken publicly about reducing deaths on the Clyde at a full council meeting, which was live streamed online, and which had prompted the backlash from Shaw and his One More Chance campaigners.

Furthermore, she had also taken part in a lengthy online interview on the same subject. Speaking to the Indepdence Live website, she seemed to pay no regard to the suicide reporting guidelines which her PR people had used in their futile efforts to silence STV News just a month later.

In a master class of crassness, her comments included: “There is the other side to it. There are people who deliberately use the Clyde to commit suicide, by drowning in the Clyde. We have safety around accidents and accidental drowning, and we want to prevent that ...

“We want all forms of death and injury in the Clyde to reduce, whether it’s by accident or whether it’s suicide, we don’t want anybody dying in the Clyde ultimately.”

Aitken is perhaps best known for the idea the council should be called a ‘government’ and this clumsy attempt to allegedly exploit sectarianism to smear a political rival.

But to behave with such cack-handedness and hypocrisy over such an important and serious issue as suicide demonstrates a worrying lack of political nous and simple decency.

If you've been affected by anything raised in this report you can contact Samaritans on 116 123 or visit their website www.samaritans.org

Web interview ... Aitken talks suicide