Who Gets to Tell the Story of Mental Illness: National Television News Sources and Frames in Mental Illness Stories

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:  Television news is still the largest source of news for Americans, according to the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. While it may not have as many viewers as it used to, it is still the media forum where a message can get the most national exposure, a vital consideration for health communications and marketing. For an issue such as mental illness that still has a significant stigma attached to it, national exposure is crucial to reversing the negative view some people hold about it. But despite the common saying, not all exposure is good for some issues. A loss-framed story, or news coming from a non-credible source may influence viewers' thoughts about mental illness in ways that may not be an accurate representation of reality. A series of episodic stories telling individual stories may not teach the viewers about the true prevalence of mental illness, or the likelihood that they themselves may be affected. Journalists don't have a story unless they have sources – be they someone suffering from a mental illness, a doctor, a counselor, a policeman, an attorney or a study from the CDC. Research has shown that the public is more likely to be persuaded if they believe the sources in it are credible (Hovland & Weiss, 1951; Petty & Wegener, 1998). Druckman has demonstrated that “framing works when the statements are attributed to a credible source; framing fails when the same statements are attributed to a non-credible source.” (Druckman, 2001)

Methods:  This content analysis will quantitatively analyze 20 percent (n = 557) of a sample of all of the news stories from the last 20 years of television coverage on NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN mentioning either depression or anxiety.

Results:  This study will allow us to gain insight into the type of people most commonly used for sources, how each story is framed, if the sources correlate with frame, and how the sourcing of statistics correlates with the frames in stories about depression and anxiety. Each story will be coding for primary themes, revealing if stories about certain disorders are more likely to quote doctors, cite research, or focus on individuals, and then appropriately adjust strategies to address the information they believe is either left out or overemphasized.

Conclusions:  By revealing the sourcing trends in mental health stories, health practitioners will be able to help bridge the divide between not only themselves and the media, but also between the public and what they may learn from media. Research has shown that the public is more likely to be persuaded if they believe the sources in it are credible (Hovland & Weiss, 1951; Petty & Wegener, 1998). Druckman demonstrated that “framing works when the statements are attributed to a credible source; framing fails when the same statements are attributed to a non-credible source.” (Druckman, 2001)

Implications for research and/or practice:  Knowledge of the sourcing and framing of television coverage is an invaluable tool for those seeking to change the stigma attached to mental illness.