TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Pilot trial of a media intervention with journalism students on news reporting of mental illness in the context of violence and crime
JO  - Health promotion journal of Australia
A1  - Ross, Anna M.
A1  - Morgan, Amy J.
A1  - Wake, Alexandra
A1  - Jorm, Anthony F.
A1  - Reavley, Nicola J.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - 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 one-hour workshop based on the main principles was developed for journalism students. <br><br>METHODS: In this study, the workshop was piloted with a pre and 3-week follow-up evaluation with a cohort of journalism students (n = 29). <br><br>RESULTS: Three weeks after the workshop, there were significant improvements in attitudes towards severe mental illness, knowledge of best-practice reporting, intentions and confidence to report consistently with the best-practice guidelines, and performance on an editing task designed to assess adherence to the guidelines. Belief in dangerousness/unpredictability reduced markedly, demonstrating that the workshop effectively addressed misinformation about people with severe mental illness being a risk to the public. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: This pilot trial provides promising initial results and provides a basis for wider implementation and evaluation of media training on this topic. SO WHAT: Improved understanding of best-practice media guidelines, as generated through this workshop, has potential to reduce stigmatising news reporting on people with mental illness, and consequently reduce public stigma.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1036-1073
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hpja.537
ID  - ref1
ER  -