I won't be a bystander on abusive 'blogging'

The unfortunate demise of Jo Said, a man who heckled the Gonzi administration during the 2008 general election and made full use of the platform offered by a willing Labour Party to vent his self-interested ire (he was turned down for a high-ranking post at the MTA) should not have been reported.

Said was not a public person. He did not occupy a public post. He was not facing criminal procedures over charges incurred in the public discharge of his duties, such as former judge Ray Pace. He had not been part of any major news headline since 2008. He had a family and the right to a private life, something that was crudely robbed of him by the opportunistic, unprincipled and non-journalistic poison-pen of Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

As a journalist I must tell you, the reader, why Said's death should have remained a private affair; why you should know why the mainstream media does not report such suicide cases and attempts.

Firstly, out of solidarity with his grieving family at such a sensitive time of the year - had this death had any public interest ramifications, had it impacted upon decisions affecting taxpayers or a public prosecution, it would have been treated differently.

Secondly, and importantly, there is ample research worldwide that this sensationalist blurting-out of a suicide can increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals. "Copycat suicide" is a serious matter, and should be treated as a public health issue. It is complex and we should respect the mental illness that sometimes contributes to someone taking their own life.

Thirdly, the horrible and disturbing agenda of the blogpost. Caruana Galizia chose to, deceitfully, make a tenuous link with Labour's hosting of Said during the 2008 elections, and use Said's death against the party she detests. This is fucking sick. Not because of the ridiculous notion of linking the man's death to Labour; but because it is being used as the duplicitous pretext to report a gossipy suicide - something that the mainstream media chooses responsibly not to.

This is an abuse of the individual power in publishing a blog. It would be an abuse of the blog's readership, but a blog is not a national newspaper: a blog has no responsibility to its readers, it only loves the 'sight' of its voice floating into the ether.

The matter is simple enough: you have to show your anger at misleading, disingenuous and devious self-promotion masquerading as 'blogging' or 'journalism' by simply saying it. I've had enough: this is fucking sick.

I've had enough: this is fucking sick.

I've had enough: this is fucking sick.

I've had enough: this is fucking sick.