Investigative reporting

The story I chose is from CBS News and is titled “Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans.” It covers the high numbers of suicides among soldiers who served active tours in the army. This story is different from the average news reporting story because it involved serious investigation using suicide data documents from 45 states, which reported 6,256 suicides among those in the armed forces in a year.

The reporter gave the target of the investigation a fair opportunity to give it's side of the issue. Not only were the families of those who committed suicide interviewed about the situation, but documents were requested from the Veterans Affairs Committee. However, once the documents were finally sent to CBS, the only suicides recorded were those from “active duty.” Also, the head doctor of mental health at the Department of Veteran Affairs, Ira Katz, was interviewed and said suicide is a major problem, but not as severe as an epidemic. So, each side of the story was made available.

The key document would be the suicide data requested from the states.

There are graphics to accompany the story – one video about the story, and one image of the parents of a soldier who committed suicide, Jeff Lucey.

This is a big issue, especially during a time of war in this country. Thousands of soldiers are serving in the military, and they could be affected by this issue, or even know someone who has committed suicide after serving tours. The soldiers’ families are also affected, because their family members who are serving in the military could possibly commit suicide, and with the high numbers reported in this story, it is likely some of them will. It would also be of interest to veterans who previously served.

I think the story is appropriately written and fairly reported.

The reporter most likely heard about some of these suicides among the military and followed up with investigative research to find out more about the issue. What was discovered was an incredibly high number of suicides among this group of people, and the fact that the military and government are trying to hide the actual numbers is a serious issue.