Kenneth Orr against the Nelson Mail

The Nelson Mail published an article on June 21, 2025, titled Maurice Gee: A writer who understood us and forgave.

This was an obituary about the life of Maurice Gee which led with the fact that he had left a note to his family explaining that his health was failing, that he feared the threat of senility and that was why he had decided to end his own life. The article was careful to note the difficulty of referring to it as a suspected suicide.

Kenneth Orr complained that the article accepted Maurice Gee’s presumed suicide as rational and normal and in his view it breached Media Council Principle (1) Accuracy, Fairness and Balance.

“It is reported that his death was believed to be by suicide and his motif was the fear of dementia and the desire to exercise his right to choose when and how he would die. He was presumably not suffering from a terminal illness, was not dying nor in insufferable pain.

“The article accepts his presumed suicide as rational and normal. The message being given to the community is that suicide for the elderly who are experiencing failing health, memory loss, unsteadiness on their feet and experiencing falls is understandable and accepted.

“There are over 35,000 persons in New Zealand over the age of 90 years of age, many of them would be experiencing with patience and humility the same vicissitudes as the late Maurice Gee. I fear that promoting the belief that it is acceptable for the elderly to commit suicide that ultimately; we could have a campaign to accept that the elderly have a duty to commit suicide as their life has no value and they are a burden on society.

“There was no voice opposing suicide to provide balance. There was no advice given to those considering suicide of helping agencies that might help them to avoid suicide. I presume that the Press supports the Government’s recently announced excellent Suicide Prevention Plan. This article presented an excellent opportunity for the Press to express its opposition to the intrinsic evil of suicide. It is disappointing that there was nothing stated in this article that supported the Suicide Prevention Plan”.

The Media Council notes this obituary was a fitting tribute to an iconic New Zealander which covered his life and contribution to literature in detail.

It began by setting out how Mr Gee made his final decision and carefully navigated the potentially awkward legal and moral issue raised by author’s decision to end his life at the age of 93. The law designed to discourage suicide was referred to and the article did not endorse, glorify, encourage or promote it suicide.

Mr Orr believes suicide is intrinsically evil and clearly disapproves of the choice made by Mr Gee when he decided to end his own life.

But the Media Council does not accept his suggestion that an anti-suicide message needed to be run with this obituary. Tagging such objections onto a eulogy would be entirely out of keeping with a story designed to paint a full picture of a man and his pragmatic and unpretentious attitude to his life.

Decision: No grounds to proceed.