Robin Williams Suicide: Is This How The Media Should Have Reported His Death?

The coverage of Robin Williams’ death by the media has come under close scrutiny over the last few days.

Since the great comedian’s untimely passing, hundreds of thousands of stories have been written about the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting actor. Most of them have praised Williams to the hilt for bringing so much happiness to the world while also lamenting the fact that he could no longer bring himself to be apart of it.

However, some have instead decided to focus on the grim facts of his suicide, and other reprehensible souls have ever questioned his motives and called him a coward for doing so.

The New York Daily News’ Wednesday edition was highly criticized for leading with various sensationalist bullet point headlines that failed to mention any of the work that Williams did, and instead highlighted the tortuous and grisly last moments of his life. The publication printed the word “HANGED” in large, bold font on its cover before insensitively adding further intrusive details surrounding his death.

Alan Scherstuhl, the film editor for the Village Voice, has now taken it upon himself to show how Williams’ suicide on Monday should have been reported. He wrote via a Facebook post: “I took the liberty of re-editing the Daily News’ shameful Robin Williams cover.”

You can check out an image of his work below:

He even added a nice little mention of Lauren Bacall’s death at the age of 89 on Tuesday, too. Under the sub-heading, “Hollywood legend Lauren Bacall dead at 89,” he added, “Oh, s***, really.”

Scherstuhl’s work clearly resonated with people as it has so far been liked 6,792 times, and has been shared by 1,738 people too.

Comments on Scherstuhl’s post have also showcased the growing anger at the coverage surrounding Williams’ death. Sarah Enright wrote, “Why does the media and public need to know private things about this? More class to the deceased should have been shown.”

Meanwhile, another user declared that Williams himself would have been a huge fan of the edit, noting, “So far, this is the only thing that’s got me feeling better, knowing he would love this.”

Rather than reading reports like the New York Daily News’, we should instead focus on comments from people close to Williams who knew of his warmth, generosity, and vitality first-hand. Because in the end, how he went doesn’t really matter; it’s the impact that he left that does.

[Image via Facebook]