The media, who influance the publics attitudes towards issues such as the mental health stigma, have the ability to determind individuals perceptions and opinions on important matters due to the way they present the information. For example if the media were trying to create a barrier between those with mental illnesses and those without this could easily be done by only publishing negative stories reguarding the situation.
The Press Complaints Commission
The press complaints commission (PCC), which is a regulatory independent body for British magazines and newspapers, it the editors code of practise. It acts as a self regulation serive and deals soley with complains and the content of magazines and newspapers. The main aim of the PCC is to protects the rights of individuals of the general public, therefore if an individual were to be unhappy about the information being publicised the PCC would become involved in the situation. The PCC quote 'We proactively advertise our services and reach out to people who may be in need of our help. We aim to promote high standards by developing clear guidance and practical principles through our rulings, and offering training and advice to editors and journalists' (1) However, although they aim to protect the public they also have the need to give the press appropriate freedom with their publications.
The PCC, who enforce the Editors Code of Practise, consists of 17 members. 10 of which have no connection to the magazine or newspaper industry, the other 7 would be serving as editors. This would give a balance when discussing appropriate actions about cases because of the fact there would be two different judgements occuring rather than a biased one. The Code which, indicates the editors shoul...
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...romote the diminishement of the mental health stigma. There are an aray of charities avaliable, such as Mind, Place2Be, SANE and Rethink to name just a few. These charities offer support to the families and individuals who are suffering from mental health illnesses, many offer to provide practical help in order to change the individuals lives for the better. These charities can help individuals whith mental illness return to a normal life as well as aid them with their medication management. Although the charities are avaliable to help the individuals with the management, the most essentail aspect which they provide is being there for the individual.
References
(1) - http://www.pcc.org.uk/AboutthePCC/WhatisthePCC.html
(2)http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/stephen-fry-my-battle-with-mental-illness-416386.html - Visited 31/1/14
Trager, Robert, J. R. (2010). The Law of Journalism & Mass Communication. Washington D.C.: CQ Press.
Without the media, people would be drastically less informed and conscientious about major issues in the world around us. In some cases, however, the way the media portrays an issue can twist one's perception, leaving an assumption instead of a factual concept. Mental illness is one of the biggest concepts that the media has distorted due to the majority of portrayals the media presents. Mental health is extremely important and plays a key role in every individual's life. Yet it also has millions of misconceptions.
Self-censorship is perhaps what is most ominous in these cases, journalists and editors do not keep track of notes that could affect business interests, the newspaper owners or their relative...
Voices That Must Be Heard! 2003. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the Independent Press Association. 14 September 2003 <http://www.indypressny.org>.
The stigma is created by the lack of knowledge, narrow-minded attitudes, and the acts of judgment against people who have a mental illness. The stigma results in extensive consequences for the individuals being affected. The stigma ends up becoming worse than the mental illness itself because it prevents individuals from seeking help during the early stages of the mental illness. There is even a vast availability of mental-health treatments that are effective, yet the majority of people experiencing problems related to mental-health does not seek help. 28% of the adult population of the United States have a diagnosable mental condition and only 8% seek treatment. These statistics help prove that stigma is one of the main reasons for individuals not willing to seek help. The individual fears being stigmatized. They fear being rejected by their loved ones and the general public. They do not want to be devalued. The way that individuals with mental illnesses are called “the mentally ill” in the media just makes the stigma even worse. This makes the person feel defined solely by their disability, which is inhumane. The person begins to feel less of a human being. In the media, they are viewed as being dangerous and violent, which results with inhumanity towards the individual. This just increases the negative stereotypes towards individuals with a mental
Mental health can be a sensitive subject to most of society. “In two identical UK public opinion surveys… over 80% [of participants] endors[ed] the statement that ‘most people are embarrassed by mentally ill people’, and about 30% agreeing ‘I am embarrassed by mentally ill persons’” (Byrne 65). People with a mental illness are thought of as including but not limited to: child-like, weak, and even dangerous. This stigma on people with mental illness(es) can have a negative impact on their lives. This stigma can affect their jobs, relationships, treatment, and overall happiness among other things. The stigma surrounding mental illness has been negatively impacting mental health for decades. The public, the media, and people in the mental health
Emily Shaw Snelgrove English 12 03/26/15 Eradicating Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental illness each year (Mental Health Foundation). Though mental illness is so common there is an extreme stigma surrounding it. Unfortunately people dealing with mental illness not only have to deal with an arsenal of serious symptoms, but also with hurtful social and self-stigmas. Names like psycho, nutcase, and freak have been prevalent through society for years. These social stigmas increase the fear and shame in people who may be dealing with mental illness and soon develop into self stigmas such as: “I’m crazy” and “I can’t be helped.” Behaviors such as these reinforce the negative stereotypes that bombard society. Gaining an understanding of why there is a stigma, how inaccurate stereotypes are debilitating to the function of those with mental illnesses, and how recognizing social and self-stigma surrounding mental illness will be the first steps to eradicate this problem. People with mental disorders or illnesses are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crimes. However in newspapers and during media coverage violent criminals are often labeled psychos, maniacs, or schizophrenics. Media, television, and music often dramatize and portray people with mental illnesses inaccurately (Polatis.) “TV shows can also damage people 's perspective of mental illness by only showing the most extreme cases. When you do that with mental illness, you’re creating a stigma that stays with people because people don’t know what the illness is”(Polatis). At this current time when the media is so prevalent in society people’s opinions easily result from depiction displayed on T.V. or in gossip magazine...
The Commission has a panel of 17 people who make the decisions, to stop bias decisions being made only 7 of the 17 people on the panel are involved in with the press industry this keeps decision making unbiased as possible and with such a mixed panel they can offer a wider opinion on cases.
Over the years journalists have been jailed for failing to reveal confidential sources to the court despite being guided by code of ethics. Journalist should only reveal their confidential sources to the court if the information may harm national security or disclose is necessary to show the innocence of an accused. If a journalist reveals confidential sources without reason the result will be breach of confidentiality and limited flow of information to journalist. In this essay will discuss the definition of confidentiality and its ethical considerations. Will also address several reason for contempt of court for confidential. Lastly will examine the reform strategies over the years. These will be supported with relevant cases.
According to Ward, “global media ethics has a responsibility to present information in a way that supports multiple views and helps groups understand the issues that affect our global concerns.” (Ward, n.d.). Journalists should see themselves as part of a larger collective and as representatives of the world citizens. Objectivity in journalism should be accurate, balanced, and relevant with cross-cultural perspective. Journalists must report and disseminate information with impartiality and honesty, they also need to be cognoscente to the impact their news reporting will have on the people involved as well as the world at large. According to The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, “Journalism serves justice, democracy, and public enlightenment and ethical news gatherers should strive for free exchange of information that is accurate, fair, and thorough”. (Lehrman & Wagner, 2015). Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Wasserman suggests media outlets are encouraging people to engage in online rage and rudeness. (Wasserman, 2015). Many newspapers are unwilling to implement an online strategy to preside over conversations and encourage honesty, civility, and respect. Currently many online news sites have no rules in place to facilitate ideas, communication, and the global
Policymaking is a political process which is affected by various social and economic factors (Hofferbert, 1974) and media systems play an integral role in shaping the social context in which policies are developed. Through the media, citizens learn how government policies will affect them, and governments gain feedback on their policies and programs. Media systems act as the primary channels between those who might want to influence policy and the policymakers '' controlling the scope of political discourse and regulating the flow of information. Textbook policymaking follows an orderly sequence where problems are identified, solutions devised, policies adopted, implemented, and lastly evaluated (Mazamanian & Sabatier, 1989). In reality, the policy process is more fluid, where policies are formed through the struggle of ideas of various advocacy coalitions (Sabatier, 1991) in what has been described as a policy primeval soup (Kingdon, 1995). The policies, on which the media focuses can, and often does, play an important part in determining the focal issues for policymakers.
Mass media “references to people with mental health problems found more than four in ten articles in the press used derogatory terms about mental health and nearly half of press coverage related mental illness to violence and crime” (Esseler, 244). This is causing for people to look down upon the mention of mental illnesses and many times ignore the importance of confronting this issue. Therefore the importance of removing this stigmatization is crucial. Education allows to make more informed decisions and then changing the perception of mental illness can lead towards policy changes toward the improvement of mental health (Sakellari,
In terms of methodology, the content analysis was traditionally utilized in the communication field as Krippendorff states (2004). Since content analysis of press coverage with regard to a specific topic need to collect all press articles pertaining to the theme and it is unnecessary to expand the set of texts by snowballing (Krippendorff, 2004), this essay employs a census. In this study, some UK quality newspapers which have a large circulation and have been sold nationwide are selected. They are Dairy Telegraph (n=15), Financial Times (n=49), The Guardian (n=131), The Independent (n=21) and The Times (n=55) (See Table 1). Conversely, tabloid papers in the UK are exclude...
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient. Similarly, priming works by repeatedly exposing certain issues to public. As the issues get more exposure, the individual will be more likely to recall or retain the information in their minds. This paper will discuss these three factors played out systemically by media and how our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them.
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.