New guidance has been published to help journalists reporting on death.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has updated its previous guidelines, which also seeks to help reporters covering inquests.

The guidance has been produced with help from IPSO’s journalists’ advisory panel, which “provided helpful feedback on applying the Editors’ Code of Practice”.

The update features case studies that are now integrated into the relevant sections of the guidance and contains further information about social media, reporting of historic events and a section on the use of video as well as photographs.

With regards to reporting historic events, the guidance makes clear that there is no requirement under the Code to provide a justification for the simple re-publication of the fact of a crime.

However, journalists are urged to be aware that the anniversary of a death or a major incident, even many years after, can be extremely distressing to the families and friends of those who died, as well as to survivors of those incidents.

IPSO’s standards officer Rosemary Douce said: “The updated guidance links more closely to the Editors’ Code of Practice – the guiding framework that IPSO uses to assess complaints

“It includes summaries of recent complaints and explains how the Complaints Committee reached their decisions.

“This guidance reflects the wider discussion about how journalists approach these issues. In writing this, we consulted our journalists’ advisory panel who provided helpful feedback on applying the Editors’ Code of Practice.

“The guidance helps to explain the challenges and considerations editors face when reporting on sensitive stories.”

The full guidance can be read here.