Building Sustainability of Mental Health Messages in News and Entertainment Media

Background: Studies in several English-speaking countries have shown that newspapers and other media frequently frame mental illness in a stigmatizing way. Notably absent are positive stories that highlight the recovery of people experiencing mental illness. Many of these articles reinforce negative language or stereotypes, or include inappropriate references to mental illness, and make it more difficult for people to admit that they are having problems and to seek help.

Program background:  TEAM Up (Tools for Entertainment and Media), a project of the Entertainment Industries Council, provides assistance to journalists and entertainment media professionals for accurate reporting and depictions of mental health issues. To create systemic change and shift professional norms, the project developed resources and conducted outreach with a focus on influencing news media and entertainment industry organizational policies and best practices. The cornerstone of the approach was a mental health reporting style guide modeled after the Associated Press Stylebook, and intended to be adopted by newsrooms as editorial policy. The project developed a compendium of depiction suggestions for entertainment writers and other industry professionals with mental health facts and key considerations for how to portray compelling characters and stories accurately. Partnerships were pursued with professional associations to secure their endorsements to increase credibility with their members and facilitate dissemination of the guidelines. To further institutionalize the shift toward nonstigmatizing media coverage, the project is training the next generation of media professionals by creating curricula and faculty fellowships to reach students in journalism and television/film schools.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  As the project has progressed, the success of its sustainability focus is becoming apparent. After reviewing the project’s mental health reporting style guide, the Associated Press added an entry on mental illness to its AP Stylebook, considered the definitive writing style guide for U.S. journalists. This means that many of the project’s recommendations are now institutionalized as editorial policy in newsrooms across the country. The National Association of Broadcasters endorsed the project’s materials and became a partner in facilitating the adoption of the recommendations by its member organizations. In addition, working at the corporate and newsgroup levels of media networks and publications, the project has been able to increase the efficiency of its outreach. A partnership that started with one Univision station has blossomed into a national relationship. Conducting outreach to publishers of regional newspaper groups has opened access to many dozens of outlets at a time. When the directive to improve reporting practice comes from corporate headquarters, newsrooms and writers rooms must listen.

Conclusions: Approaching media organizations from the top down, promoting policy adoption at the editorial level, rather than from the bottom up through outreach to individual writers, creates more efficient and sustainable change for the long term. At the same time, providing resources and support to those who are writing the stories, as well as cross-promotion between organizations, are critical for success.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Think beyond short-term outreach to individual practitioners and look at how you can institutionalize sustainable change in the field.