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Background: Media messages about mental illness pose unique challenges due to the possibility of perpetuating stigma through language, imagery and framing. When stories about mental health issues appear only in connection with acts of violence, or when the public simply does not see positive stories about people living successfully with mental illness, misperceptions persist that result in a reluctance to seek help. By working directly with news, entertainment and social media organizations, the program addresses these issues head-on, helping media professionals, mental health stakeholders and the public to change the story sent by their messages.
Program background: TEAM Up (Tools for Entertainment and Media), a project of the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC), provides assistance to journalists, entertainment media professionals and mental health stakeholders around accurate reporting and depictions of mental health issues. To create systemic change and shift professional norms, the project developed recommendations and resources regarding production of nonstigmatizing news and entertainment content. A new entry in the 2013 AP Stylebook (the “journalist’s bible” followed by nearly all newsrooms) on ‘Mental Illness,’ based on the project’s Mental Health Reporting Style Guide, institutionalized the recommendations into policy. Outreach then focused on key leverage points to support organizational adoption of EIC’s recommendations,including key distribution partners National Association of Broadcasters and Radio Television Digital News Association. Journalists throughout California received training from an experienced journalist in how to report on stories with a mental health component in an accurate and balanced way. Similar outreach was done with entertainment writers, producers and other creators regarding storylines and portrayals of mental health issues. In addition, the project created a first-of-its-kind set of guidelines for using social media for mental health promotion and suicide prevention. Industry partners such as Facebook, NAB and RTDNA are distributing these guidelines to help individuals and organizations take into account the messaging considerations unique to these fields. Recommendations cover social media strategy development, content considerations related to stigma and suicide contagion, language and images, building online engagement, privacy and safety concerns, and addressing suicide-related posts by other people.
Evaluation Methods and Results: Evaluation of this project takes several forms. An analysis of changes in news coverage of mental health issues over the course of the project is in process; similar research on entertainment media content is occurring as well. The project has worked with newsrooms throughout California, and has trained nearly 3,000 media professionals and stakeholders. The project has also worked with students and faculty at 66 colleges and universities statewide to reach the next generation of media professionals, shaping both their professional practices and personal attitudes.
Conclusions: By developing targeted resources for different types of media and identifying key points of leverage for adoption, the project has been able to guide the direction of messaging about mental health issues to reduce stigma and encourage more people to seek help when needed.
Implications for research and/or practice: Working directly with the media sources of messages about health to change how they portray the issue can help transform public perceptions and attitudes.