Changes in newspaper coverage of mental illness from 2008 to 2014 in England

Abstract

Objective This study evaluates English newspaper coverage of mental health topics between 2008 and 2014 to provide context for the concomitant improvement in public attitudes and seek evidence for changes in coverage. Method Articles in 27 newspapers were retrieved using keyword searches on two randomly chosen days each month in 2008–2014, excluding 2012 due to restricted resources. Content analysis used a structured coding framework. Univariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of each hypothesised element occurring each year compared to 2008. Results There was a substantial increase in the number of articles covering mental health between 2008 and 2014. We found an increase in the proportion of antistigmatising articles which approached significance at P < 0.05 (OR = 1.21, P = 0.056). The decrease in stigmatising articles was not statistically significant (OR = 0.90, P = 0.312). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of articles featuring the stigmatising elements ‘danger to others’ and ‘personal responsibility’, and an increase in ‘hopeless victim’. There was a significant proportionate increase in articles featuring the antistigmatising elements ‘injustice’ and ‘stigma’, but a decrease in ‘sympathetic portrayal of people with mental illness’. Conclusion We found a decrease in articles promoting ideas about dangerousness or mental illness being self‐inflicted, but an increase in articles portraying people as incapable. Yet, these findings were not consistent over time.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Portrayal by UK National Newspapers 2011–2016: A Service User - Led Thematic Analysis of Language Used

“…It was also evident that our findings aligned with the observation from Hanson et al's [36] research, in how the printed press deployed startling statistics, such as "700,000 sufferers" or "1000 a year have to give up work" [36], to associate RA with a societal 'burden' or 'cost'. Research has analysed the media's usage of language in the context of people with mental health problems [17,[19][20][21][22][23], epilepsy [9,10], diabetes [11], oral cancer [14], and the rheumatological conditions of gout [15] and osteoarthritis [35]. However, our study was the first published one on how the popular press has represented through language those who live with RA.…”

“…As one person (second author) had primary responsibility for the analysis of the newspaper items, a five year time span for the identification of articles was agreed among the authors as manageable given the amount of data. A 5 year time period has also been deemed appropriate in other research [15,17] on newspaper portrayals of long term illnesses. The exclusion criteria were: (i) items which referred to RA only once, (ii) duplicate articles, (iii) letters that sought medical advice, and (iv) product advertisements.…”

“…Recent statistics from the United Kingdom (UK) media regulator, 'The Office of Communications' (Ofcom) [4], showed that 94% of the British adult population (defined as aged 16+) followed the news and 29% of them still read newspapers in printed form. Given its important influence, various academic studies have explored the media's portrayal of long-term health conditions as diverse as eating disorders [5], fibromyalgia [6], chronic fatigue syndrome [7,8], epilepsy [9,10], diabetes [11,12], chronic kidney disease [13], oral cancer [14], gout [15], obesity [16], mental illness [17], and neurological disorders [18].…”

“…This recognition has given rise to research, which has examined the media's usage of language in the representation of longterm conditions. For instance, the media's consistent application of pejorative terminology to describe mental illness has been demonstrated in numerous studies [17,19,20]. An analysis [21] of newspaper clippings found that almost half of British tabloid articles applied derogatory terms, such as 'nutter' and 'looney' when writing about people with mental health problems.…”

Identity, law, policy andCommunicating Mental Health

“…News coverage of people with mental disorder often focuses on the relative small number who are dangerous or violent to themselves or others or portray people with mental disorders as ‘helpless victims’ 6. Some of the themes of the literature cited by Beveridge in Scots fiction are similarly not positive—those focusing on personal crisis, and gothic and divided selves for example.…”