Does the Tone and Content of Media Coverage of Mental Illness Vary by Disorder? A Comparison of Reporting Patterns of Different Mental Disorders in Canadian News Media
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
23 November 2022
Abstract
This study compares the coverage of different mental illnesses in the Canadian news media over a 3-month sample period. Articles were coded for tone and content characteristics, and variations across mental illness categories were assessed with frequency counts and chi-squared tests. Articles about common mental disorders (depression/anxiety) showed more positive elements than those about severe mental illness (bipolar/schizophrenia). Many articles also focused on PTSD, with mixed coverage. Future educational efforts with journalists should particularly focus on improving coverage of more severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and PTSD.
Résumé
Cette étude compare la représentation des maladies mentales dans les journaux canadiens au cours d’un échantillon de trois mois, selon le contenu et le ton. Les variations entre différentes catégories de maladies mentales ont été évaluées par fréquences et tests de chi-carré. Les articles sur les troubles mentaux courants (dépression/anxiété) présentaient plus d’éléments positifs que ceux sur les maladies mentales graves (bipolarité/schizophrénie). De nombreux articles ont également porté sur le SSPT, avec une couverture mixte. Les futurs efforts éducatifs auprès des journalistes devraient se concentrer sur les maladies mentales graves telles que la schizophrénie, le trouble bipolaire et le SSPT.
Formats available
You can view the full content in the following formats:
References
Angermeyer M. C. and Matschinger H. 2003 Public beliefs about schizophrenia and depression: Similarities and differences Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 38 526 -534 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-003-0676-6
Angermeyer M., Holzinger A., Carta M., and Schomerus G. 2011 Biogenetic explanations and public acceptance of mental illness: Systematic review of population studies British Journal of Psychiatry 199 5 367 -372 https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.110.085563
Arbanas G., Rožman J., and Bagarić Š. 2017 The attitudes of medical doctors, nurses and lay people towards schizophrenia, depression and PTSD Psychiatria Danubina 31 Suppl 1 S672 -S679
Clement S., Jarrett M., Henderson C., and Thornicroft G. 2010 Messages to use in population-level campaigns to reduce mental health-related stigma: Consensus development study Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 19 1 72 -79 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1121189X00001627
Core R Team. (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/
Corrigan P. W., Markowitz F. E., and Watson A. C. 2004 Structural levels of mental illness stigma and discrimination Schizophrenia Bulletin 30 3 481 -491 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a007096
Coverdale J., Nairn R., and Claasen D. 2002 Depictions of mental illness in print media: A prospective national sample Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 36 5 697 -700 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.00998.x
Cummings L. A. M. and Konkle A. T. M. 2016 The representation of depression in Canadian print news Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health 35 3 97 -112 https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2016-043
Drake R. E. and Whitley R. 2014 Recovery and severe mental illness: Description and analysis Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 59 5 236 -242 https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371405900502
Ebneter D. S. and Latner J. 2013 Stigmatizing attitudes differ across mental health disorders: A comparison of stigma across eating disorders, obesity, and major depressive disorder Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 201 4 281 -285 https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0b013e318288e23f
Everymind. (2014). Reporting suicide and mental illness: A Mindframe resource for media professionals. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Everymind.
Hawke L. D., Parikh S. V., and Michalak E. E. 2013 Stigma and bipolar disorder: A review of the literature Journal of Affective Disorders 151 3 805 -820 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.08.014
Hildersley R., Potts L., Anderson C., and Henderson C. 2020 Improvement for most, but not all: Changes in newspaper coverage of mental illness from 2008 to 2019 in England Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 29 e177 https://doi.org/10.1017/S204579602000089X
Huang B. and Priebe S. 2003 Media coverage of mental health care in the UK, USA and Australia Psychiatric Bulletin 27 9 331 -333 https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.27.9.331
Krendl A. C. and Freeman J. B. 2019 Are mental illnesses stigmatized for the same reasons? Identifying the stigmarelated beliefs underlying common mental illnesses Journal of Mental Health 28 3 267 -275 https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1385734
Kvaale E. P., Gottdiener W. H., and Haslam N. 2013 Biogenetic explanations and stigma: A meta-analytic review of associations among laypeople Social Science & Medicine 96 95 -103 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.017
Li Y., Hildersley R., Ho G. W. K., Potts L., and Henderson C. 2021 Relationships between types of UK national newspapers, illness classification, and stigmatising coverage of mental disorders Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 56 1527 -1535 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-021-02027-7
Marie D. and Miles B. 2008 Social distance and perceived dangerousness across four diagnostic categories of mental disorder Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 42 2 126 -133 https://doi.org/10.1080/00048670701787545
Norman R. M., Windell D., and Manchanda R. 2012 Examining differences in the stigma of depression and schizophrenia International Journal of Social Psychiatry 58 1 69 -78 https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764010387062
Reavley N. J., Jorm A., and Morgan A. 2016 Beliefs about dangerousness of people with mental health problems: The role of media reports and personal exposure to threat or harm Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 51 9 1257 -1264 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-016-1215-6
Ross A. M., Morgan A. J., Jorm A. F., and Reavley N. J. 2019 A systematic review of the impact of media reports of severe mental illness on stigma and discrimination, and interventions that aim to mitigate any adverse impact Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 54 11 -31 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-018-1608-9
Ross A. M., Morgan A. J., Wake A., Jorm A. F., and Reavley N. J. 2020 Guidelines for news media reporting on mental illness in the context of violence and crime: A Delphi consensus study Australian Journalism Review 42 2 293 -311 https://doi.org/10.1386/ajr_00041_1
Ross A. M., Morgan A. J., Wake A., Jorm A. F., and Reavley N. J. 2021 Key stakeholders’ recommendations for improving Australian news media reporting of people with severe mental illness, violence and crime Advances in Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1080/18387357.2021.1942101
Stuart H., Chen S. P., Christie R., Dobson K., Kirsh B., Knaak S., Koller M., Krupa T., Lauria-Horner B., Luong D., Modgill G., Patten S., Pietrus M., Szeto A., and Whitley R. 2014 Opening minds in Canada: Background and rationale The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 59 1_suppl 8 -12 https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371405901S05
Thornicroft, G. (2006). Shunned: Discrimination against people with mental illness. UK: Oxford University Press.
Wahl O. F. 2003 News media portrayal of mental illness: Implications for public policy The American Behavioral Scientist 46 12 1594 -1600 https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764203254615
Whitley R., Adeponle A., and Miller A. R. 2014 Comparing gendered and generic representations of mental illness in Canadian newspapers: An exploration of the chivalry hypothesis Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 50 2 325 -333 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0902-4
Whitley R. and Berry S. 2013 Trends in newspaper coverage of mental illness in Canada: 2005-2010 Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 58 2 107 -112 https://doi.org/10.1177/070674371305800208
Whitley R. and Carmichael V. 2022 Veterans in the media: Assessing Canadian newspaper coverage of the Lionel Desmond murder-suicide Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health, (aop) e20210060 https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0060
Whitley R. and Saucier A. M. 2022 Media coverage of Canadian veterans, with a focus on post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide BMC Psychiatry 22 1 339 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03954-8
Whitley R. and Wang J. W. 2017 Good News? A longitudinal analysis of newspaper portrayals of mental illness in Canada 2005 to 2015 Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 62 4 278 -285 https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743716675856
Wood L., Birtel M., Alsawy S., Pyle M., and Morrison A. 2014 Public perceptions of stigma towards people with schizophrenia, depression and anxiety Psychiatry Research 220 1–2 604 -608 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.07.012
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 41 • Number 2 • April 2022
Pages: 17 - 24
History
Version of record online: 23 November 2022
Key Words
Mots-clés
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Other Metrics
Citations
Cite As
Lara Antebi and Rob Whitley. 2022. Does the Tone and Content of Media Coverage of Mental Illness Vary by Disorder? A Comparison of Reporting Patterns of Different Mental Disorders in Canadian News Media. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
41(2): 17-24. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2022-012
Export Citations
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
There are no citations for this item
View Options
View options
Login options
Check if you access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Subscribe
Click on the button below to subscribe to Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
