On Friday in Waikiki someone jumped or fell off of the Pavilion hotel over by the Sizzlers. My friend, who lives close to it, said it happened at about 5pm. I went by at 9pm and the body was still there. Which really surprised me. How long do they typically leave out a body when something like that happens?
Anyway having a mildly morbid curiosity I watched the nightly news to hear about it. Suicide in Waikiki is typically big news, or at least it was last time it happened. Anyway there was nothing. I buy both morning papers, nothing. I didn’t look at both evening papers though. I watch the news the next day at 5pm and 6pm, nothing. Did I somehow miss it?
What’s going on? Have you guys heard of this? Was it pushed out of the news because the old lady who got hit and killed while jay walking and the guy from Salt Lake (neighborhood on Oahu) who drowned off Hawaii Kai while jet skiing? Did the Hawaii Tourism Authority squash the story? Or is this sort of thing just not newsworthy here anymore? I find all of these hard to believe. I’m so baffled that I started this thread.
If someone jumps/falls/is pushed off a high place, unless there is still life in the body requiring medical treatment, the body stays in place until the cops show up, collect evidence, take photographs, as so forth. This can take a surprising number of hours. In a recent incident in Chicago, the gentleman in question not only fell off a building, he impaled himself on an iron picket fence as well, which present some body removal complications. I think that one took 8 hours or so to clean up (one of his neighbors is a co-worker, she was quite shook up). So, the four hours you described isn’t too bizarre.
Why wasn’t it on the news? I don’t know. A lot of newsworthy stuff actually never makes it onto the TV news. To some extent, it has to do with where their crews are. Check the newspapers, you’re more likely to see stuff there. Even then, it’s hit-or-miss on suicide getting into the news.
is that “sizzler’s” you speak of that horrid buffet style crappy steak house from the 1980s? Does this abomination still exist? If it does, I’d imagine they cut a deal, and a chop or two, with the cops.
Actually the body hit in front of the clothing store just to the left of the Subways. I mentioned Sizzlers since it’s two stores to the left of that one and very recognizable to people who have driven by it.
Most news media do have a “self-censoring” policy when dealing with suicide. Mostly to discourage “copypcat” suicides. You will usually hear about suicides on the news only if it was a murder-suicide and there was another victim.
The news media isn’t censored by any kind of government or political interference, but most of the time they adhere to this self-censorship as a matter of their own, internal policies. They won’t report on suicides unless there is some really, really significant reason that the public really needs to know (such as a public health risk), or it seems, in the case of celebrity deaths (interesting double-standard).
I remember reading about suicides in the newspaper before, so I don’t think censorship is the case here. Rather, I think those other news stories you mentioned took priority over this one, and I suspect with suicides they prefer to contact the person’s family before writing about it.