Correction in Guardian article about false suicide stats

[CallMeSirShotsFired]

Last week I read this article in The Guardian, which initially contained the false and non-cited statement-as-fact "half of trans pupils in the UK have attempted suicide".

I contacted the readers' editor to point out the quite significant nonsense behind that claim, using the Transgendertrend "suicide myth" article which debunks it openly and transparently (unlike the original survey/methodology).

I am pleased to see they have - albeit grudgingly and only to a limited extent - amended it:

"homophobic hate crimes in the UK have risen by 80% in four years and (according to a 2017 survey) half of trans pupils in the UK have attempted suicide " - the underlined text is now a hyperlink to the Stonewall survey they used as the basis of the quote.

It's not perfect and their email reply doesn't accept the survey claim is not credible; but it's better than nowt.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/04/manchester-pride-2019-ticket-prices-inclusivity)

I saw that stat and queried in the comments. Such lazy "journalism".

Thanks for doing this, OP - it's something I've been meaning to do for ages. I'm quite shocked that they haven't corrected it properly. I don't know which Transgender Trend article you linked to (I think there are two), but one of them is by a professor of sociology at Oxford University:

www.transgendertrend.com/suicide-by-trans-identified-children-in-england-and-wales/

It's worrying that even when presented with strong evidence by a reputable academic, they still persist in repeating this lie.

And it's not only that it's untrue - it's massively irresponsible to keep saying that a vulnerable group is a high suicide risk. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. The paper carries a very good article today about why reporting of the Columbine killers as loners and misfits and victims of bullying encouraged people who really were loners and misfits to carry out their own school killings. Teens are easily influenced. The media has a huge responsibility not to spread harmful messages.

indeed.

(Scanning the comments, they almost exclusively refer to the LGB aspect or issues - all based round LGB sexuality, even if the "label" is the wider LGBT acronym.

Haven't yet come across any relating to T yet. It seems to be quite the irrelevance to everyday gay, lesbian and bisexual people...)

The link goes to page not found..?

oops sorry - rogue bracket at the end of the URL. Delete that and it works.

I never understand how the samaratins aren't all over these kinds of inaccurate references. Didn't they produce a guide on reporting on suicide?

They did. I also referenced them and the issues around suicide ideation in my complaint.

I must be incredibly naive. I really thought that if someone pointed out to them that the stat is factually wrong, and that reporting suicide in this way flouts Samaritans guidelines, then they'd fall over themselves to correct it. What an idiot.

Hackmum would you email in as well? Maybe if more people request accurate journalism they have to listen. I'd be happy to PM you the text of my complaint if you like?

I note it wasn't included in this week's "clarifications and corrections" column, so I may follow up on that anyway.

Info here: www.theguardian.com/info/2014/sep/12/-sp-how-to-make-a-complaint-about-guardian-or-observer-content

That's a good idea, OP - if you PM me your complaint it would help me formulate mine.

They've had a few readers' editors, and I have the sense that this latest one isn't as good as the others they've had. The previous ones used to quite often do a column where they'd discuss a serious issue or complaint in some detail. This guy has mostly written about stuff that is pretty trivial.

From the Michael Biggs article in Transgendertrend

"This covered suicides by children aged from 10 to 19 in England and Wales in 2014 and 2015. Out of a total of 316 suicides, 13 were ‘LGBT’ and 4 were ‘uncertain about their sexual orientation’.

The researchers kindly responded to my request for disaggregation. Of the 13 LGBT victims, 9 were homosexual and 4 were bisexual; to preserve confidentiality, they were unable to disaggregate by sex. None of the cases were identified as transgender."

This totally debunks the scaremongering statistics put out by Stonewall and all the other pro trans groups.

Well done OP - I read the article and was irritated by the casual use of the false stat. I must get more proactive about following this stuff up. If you PM me roughly what you said I'll email the editor too

hackmum and OlennasWimple PMs sent to you both.

Hasn't Roz Kaveney got an 'agreement' with the Guardian?