Pilot trial of a media intervention with journalism students on news reporting of mental illness in the context of violence and crime

Abstract

Issue addressed: News reports linking mental illness to violent crime are among the most stigmatising portrayals. These portrayals can perpetuate stereotypes of dangerousness, negatively influencing public attitudes and having a harmful impact on people with lived experience of mental illness. With the aim of improving the quality of news portrayals and mitigating harm, best-practice guidelines for media reporting on mental illness, violence and crime have been developed. To increase understanding of the guidelines’ content, a 1-hour workshop based on the main principles was developed for journalism students. Methods: In this study, the workshop was piloted with a pre and 3-week follow-up ev..