Examining the quality of news media reporting of complex mental illness in relation to violent crime in Australia.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Sage Publications Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0374726 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1741-2854 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00207640 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Soc Psychiatry Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: <2002->: London : Sage Publications
      Original Publication: London Avenue Publishing Co
    • Subject Terms:
      Mass Media* ; Mental Disorders*/epidemiology; Humans ; Australia/epidemiology ; Violence ; Crime
    • Abstract:
      Purpose: News reporting on mental illness can perpetuate stigma. An understanding of the current picture of such reporting is important to identify areas for improvement. This study investigated the quality of Australian news media coverage of complex mental illness in the context of crime and violence over a 2-year period, prior to the release of new media guidelines.
      Methods: This research utilised a systematic search of Australian news articles that were published between July 2018 and July 2020 and reported on mental illness in relation to violent crime. Researchers developed a Mental Illness and Crime Reporting Quality Framework to determine quality scores for news articles according to 11 relevant factors in media guidelines. An additional 11 characteristics of articles were extracted for further descriptive analysis.
      Results: One-hundred and twenty-eight Australian news articles met inclusion criteria. The average quality score was 50 ( SD  = 13.91) out of a possible maximum score of 100 (range 11-78). Strengths and weaknesses were identified as some criteria were consistently met, and other criteria were met rarely or not at all. There were emerging trends between quality scores and article characteristics, including publication source, though these analyses were not statistically significant.
      Conclusion: The findings indicate that Australian news coverage of complex mental illness and violent crime met half of the criteria of reporting guidelines that minimises risk of perpetuating or reinforcing stigma. This demonstrates significant opportunity to improve the overall quality of media reporting on crime and mental illness. Future research should evaluate the impact of the guidelines on the quality of news reporting after their implementation by utilising a similar methodology, using these findings as a baseline measure.
      Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Complex mental illness; crime; media coverage; media reporting; news media; psychosis; stigma
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20230830 Date Completed: 20231129 Latest Revision: 20231201
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      PMC10685681
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/00207640231194481
    • Accession Number:
      37644701