The Portrayal of Mental Health and Illness in Australian Non-Fiction Media

Abstract

In contrast to previous research, the current study found that media reporting of mental health/illness was extensive, generally of good quality and focused less on themes of crime and violence than may have been expected. This is encouraging, since there is evidence that negative media portrayal of mental health/illness can detrimentally affect community attitudes. However, there are still opportunities for improving media reporting of mental health/illness, which should be taken up in future media strategies.

Trends in Newspaper Coverage of Mental Illness in Canada: 2005–2010

“…It appears that Canadian newspapers are similar to other countries where danger and crime are key themes in media representations of mental illness. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The findings are concerning given that exceedingly rare behaviours of people with a mental illness, such as crime and violence, are being considerably overreported. Despite this, people with a mental illness are much more likely to be a victim of crime and violence, and pose little elevated risk when controlling for factors such as substance abuse.…”

“…22,23 Media may also promote more positive societal attitudes toward people with a mental illness. For example, one recent study 9 found a preponderance of positive attitudes and stories in the Australian media regarding mental illness, which may reflect recent antistigma initiatives aimed at journalists and editors. Another study 13 demonstrated that media reporting of mental illness in Jamaica tended to be positive; this was attributed to strong leadership and intervention by key local psychiatrists interacting with local media.…”

Media representation of depression in young people: a corpus-based analysis of Irish newspaper coverage

“…Grilli et al (2002) cite the mass media as 'the leading source of information about important health issues' (p. 2) and suggest that health services 'should consider mass media as one of the tools that may encourage the use of effective services and discourage those of unproved effectiveness' (p. 7). Francis et al (2004) found that media reporting of mental health in Australia was generally of good quality, with a focus on policy/programme initiatives and issues related to causes, symptoms and treatment. Although much useful information on mental health is provided by the media, with increasing collaboration between the media and mental health organisations (Anderson, 2003), misinformation and bias are also evident.…”

Media portrayal of psychosis in Sinhalese newspapers over two points (1986 and 2011) in time

“…When international data on news coverage during the two study periods were compared, the findings were mixed. While some studies reported an improvement of reporting across time -for example, depiction of causation using a biomedical model and highlighting of aspects such as recovery from illness -other studies failed to show such positive change (2,11,12).There is no published data on depiction of schizophrenia or psychosis in Sri Lanka.…”