PA 6568 Media Cover 19/12/01 9:35 AM Page 2 The Media Monitoring Project a baseline description of how the australian media report and portray suicide and mental health and illness Jane Pirkis, R Warwick Blood, Catherine Francis, Peter Putnis, Philip Burgess, Belinda Morley, Andrew Stewart and Trish Payne of the Centre for Health Program Evaluation, University of Melbourne, and the School of Professional Communication, University of Canberra The MediaMonitoring Project A BASELINE DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA REPORT AND PORTRAY SUICIDE AND MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS JANE PIRKIS, R WARWICK BLOOD, CATHERINE FRANCIS, PETER PUTNIS, PHILIP BURGESS, BELINDA MORLEY, ANDREW STEWART AND TRISH PAYNE of the Centre for Health Program Evaluation, University of Melbourne, and the School of Professional Communication, University of Canberra © Commonwealth of Australia ISBN: 0 642 50367 2 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the Mental Health and Special Programs Branch. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction rights should be directed to the Promotion and Prevention Section, Mental Health and Special Programs Branch, Department of Health and Aged Care, GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601. The opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Commonwealth. This document is designed to provide information to assist policy and program development in government and non-government organisations. Additional copies can be obtained by: Mail: Mental Health and Special Programs Branch MDP 37 Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care GPO Box 9848 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Fax: 1800 634 400 Telephone: 1800 066 247 Website: www.mentalhealth.gov.au Edited by Stephanie Haygarth, Canberra Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care Publications approval number: 2974 CONTENTS Contents INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME 1 A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE REPORTING AND PORTRAYAL OF SUICIDE, AND MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS, IN THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPTER 2: METHOD 9 CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW OF MEDIA ITEMS 11 CHAPTER 4: NEWSPAPER ITEMS ON SUICIDE 13 CHAPTER 5: TELEVISION ITEMS ON SUICIDE 19 CHAPTER 6: RADIO ITEMS ON SUICIDE 25 CHAPTER 7: QUALITY OF SUICIDE ITEMS 31 CHAPTER 8: NEWSPAPER ITEMS ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS 45 CHAPTER 9: TELEVISION ITEMS ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS 51 CHAPTER 10: RADIO ITEMS ON MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS 57 CHAPTER 11: QUALITY OF MENTAL HEALTH OR ILLNESS ITEMS 63 CHAPTER 12: DISCUSSION 77 APPENDIX 1: SEARCH TERMS 85 APPENDIX 2: MEDIA SOURCES 86 A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE REPORTING AND PORTRAYAL OF SUICIDE, AND MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS, IN THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA 103 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 105 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 109 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH QUESTIONS 111 CHAPTER 3: MEDIA FRAMING THEORY 113 CHAPTER 4: SUICIDE — REPORTING AND PORTRAYAL 115 CHAPTER 5: MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS — REPORTING AND PORTRAYAL 143 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS 169 REFERENCES 173 iii INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME The Media Monitoring Project Introduction to This Volume A number of international studies have considered the impact of media reports of suicide and mental health and illness. Typically, these have suggested that under certain conditions media reporting of suicide can lead to imitation, and that media reporting of mental health and illness can contribute to negative beliefs, stigma and discrimination. Very few relevant studies have been conducted in Australia. Much less work has looked at the extent and nature of media reporting of suicide and mental health and illness. The work that has been done has suggested that the media tend to report suicide in a sensationalist fashion and portray mental illness negatively. Once again, few studies have been conducted in Australia. The Media Monitoring Project: A Baseline Description of How the Australian Media Report and Portray Suicide and Mental Health and Illness was commissioned by the Mental Health Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care to address some of the gaps in knowledge identified above, particularly with respect to the extent and nature of the reporting and portrayal of suicide, and mental health and illness, by the Australian media. The studies The Centre for Health Program Evaluation, at the University of Melbourne, was contracted by the federal Department of Health and Aged Care to conduct a quantitative study, looking at the extent of reporting of these subjects in the media (J Pirkis et al, A Quantitative Analysis of the Reporting and Portrayal of Suicide, and Mental Health and Illness, in the Australian Media). The School of Professional Communication at the University of Canberra was contracted to conduct a qualitative study (RW Blood & P Putnis et al, A Qualitative Analysis of the Reporting and Portrayal of Suicide, and Mental Health and Illness, in the Australian Media), looking at the nature of the material provided and how it is characteristically framed. The two reports of these companion studies have been published together in this volume, and should be read together, and in conjunction with the other publications produced as a result of the Media Monitoring Project: • J Pirkis and RW Blood, Suicide and the Media: A Critical Review, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 2001. • C Francis, J Pirkis, D Dunt and RW Blood, Mental Health and Illness in the Media: A Review of the Literature, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 2001; 1 • RW Blood, C Francis, J Williams, K McCallum and J Pirkis, Mental Health and Mental Illness in the Media: An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Research Reported in Journals, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 2001; and • RW Blood, P Putnis, T Payne, J Pirkis, C Francis, K McCallum and D Andrew, How the Australian Media Report and Portray Suicide, and Mental Health and Illness: The Case Studies, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra, 2001. Project aims The Media Monitoring Project had two specific aims: • to establish a baseline picture of how the Australian media portray suicide, and mental health and illness; and • to inform future strategies intended to optimise media reporting of suicide and mental health and illness. The Media Monitoring Project With respect to the latter aim, the Media Monitoring Project was closely aligned to another media initiative of the Promotion and Prevention Section of the Mental Health Branch, Department of Health and Aged Care, a kit known as Achieving the Balance: A Resource Kit for Australian Media Professionals for the Reporting and Portrayal of Suicide and Mental Illnesses (Penrose-Wall et al, 1999). Achieving the Balance was designed to promote awareness among media professionals of the issues relating to suicide and mental health and illness. Towards the end of the Media Monitoring Project, the department commissioned an evaluation of Achieving the Balance, with the aim of producing a revised version of the kit. The Media Monitoring Project was therefore timely, because its findings had the potential to influence the revision of Achieving the Balance. 2 A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE REPORTING AND PORTRAYAL OF SUICIDE, AND MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS, IN THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA part of The Media Monitoring Project: A Baseline Description of How the Australian Media Report and Portray Suicide and Mental Health and Illness JANE PIRKIS, CATHERINE FRANCIS, R WARWICK BLOOD, PHILIP BURGESS, BELINDA MORLEY, ANDREW STEWART AND PETER PUTNIS of the Centre for Health Program Evaluation, University of Melbourne, and the School of Professional Communication, University of Canberra EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary This quantitative study examined the extent and nature of media reporting and portrayal of suicide, and mental health and illness, in Australia, based on data gathered for the Media Monitoring Project. The results of this study are intended to provide a baseline picture that will inform future strategies to optimise media reporting of suicide and mental health and illness. Method The Media Monitoring Project collected media items over a 12-month period that began on 1 March 2000, with the assistance of a media retrieval service known as Media Monitors. Media Monitors retrieved all items related to suicide and mental health and illness from all national daily newspapers and Victorian suburban and regional papers, and news and current affairs items related to suicide and mental health and illness from all television and radio networks. For this study, trained coders extracted identifying and descriptive information for all items, and made quality ratings for a randomly selected 10% of items. The quality ratings were based on criteria outlined in Achieving the Balance: A Resource Kit for Australian Media Professionals for the Reporting and Portrayal of Suicide and Mental Illnesses (Penrose-Wall et al, 1999), developed by the federal Department of Health and Aged Care. Key findings The extent of media reporting of suicide and mental health and illness The study found that reporting of both suicide and mental health and illness was extensive, retrieving 17 151 items (3762 on suicide alone, 12 338 on mental health and illness alone, and 1051 on suicide and mental health and illness in combination). Radio items outnumbered newspaper and television items in all cases. For all media, the extent of reporting varied by month,