RIP Chris Page

Honestly, that was my first thought, that this could have had something to do with being let go.

I will agree with what others have said _ there should be some sort of counseling. Most of the people who do the laying off in this business don't give a shit about what happens to the people they let go.

 

Awful to hear of this.
RIP, son.

 

So sad.

RIP

 

According to police reports, Page apparently inhaled a fatal combination of potassium cyanide and muriatic acid.

How in the hell did he get a hold of that stuff?

 

http://www.amazon.com/QT-Muriatic-Acid-Quantity-12/dp/B000BZZ24I

http://www.sciencestuff.com/prod/Chem-Rgnts/C2313

Pretty simple, really.

Took me about 3 minutes to find these two links. The former can be found at Home Depot -- it's used to treat swimming pools -- and the latter is readily available on the Internet -- it's used by jewelry companies to treat impurities in gold and other metals.

 

Ok, that's scary.

 

Just saw this:


http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/05/call_to_action_over_laido.php

 

We had an outstanding artist at my paper once.

Nice guy, though obviously obsessed with the world at large.

He hurt us all when he went home one day and hanged himself. We so wanted him around, and we miss him to this day.

The world is so fucked up these days. But it's not your fault, peeps, so shake it off and find some things to be happy about. It's hard, but it's not impossible.

RIP, Jon B., and Chris Page, too.

 

According to police reports, Page apparently inhaled a fatal combination of potassium cyanide and muriatic acid.

I also don't think the East Valley Tribune should be publishing the exact recipe for those who wanna kill themselves.

Better just to say he committed suicide. Sometimes the details set up disasters for other lives.

 

Journalistically, I don't think this is much of an issue. It's a legitimate cause of death. If they said he shot himself, is that going to make a suicidal person get the idea to go out and buy a gun?

Trust me, if someone is going to commit suicide, they're not going to get inspired by the cause of death in a newspaper.

 

The corporations couldn't possibly care less. Once the employee is off the payroll, the corporate suits wash their hands of them.

 

I'm sure no one doubts that there were other contributing factors that played into Chris Page's suicide.

I think there is also little doubt, however, that his layoff did nothing to help prevent or delay his desperate act. On the other hand, does anyone really doubt that it did, in all likelihood, help to put him over the edge?

For better or for worse, for many journalists, their work is their life.

It comes with the territory of dealing with constant deadline pressure, being constantly on guard against being beaten, being, essentially, on call, all the time. It comes with working whenever the need or the occasion arises. It comes with having to manage lots of travel, many different types of work (print edition, web, blogs) and now, the immediacy of the 24-7 news cycle. It comes with typically working all hours, and usually, according to other people's schedules rather than our own.

Couple with that the frequently passionate, driven, empathetic, caring and all-or-nothing natures of idealistic people who usually want to make a difference, and you have all the ingredients for trouble if the "cause" -- i.e., their work -- is ripped away, and their careers taken out from under them.

We are right to be concerned and to give some thought to the possibility that Page's layoff played a significant part in his suicide.

Unfortunately, this is true in almost all cases. It really is terrible.

But that doesn't make it any less true.