The portrayal of mental health and illness in Australian non-fiction media

Abstract

Objective: To provide a detailed picture of the extent, nature and quality of portrayal of mental health/illness in Australian non-fiction media. Method: Media items were retrieved from Australian newspaper, television and radio sources over a 1-year period, and identifying/descriptive data extracted from all items. Quality ratings were made on a randomly selected 10% of items, using an instrument based on criteria in Achieving the Balance (a resource designed to promote responsible reporting of mental health/illness). Results: Reporting of mental health/illness was common, with 4351 newspaper, 1237 television and 7801 radio items collected during the study period. Media items most frequentl..