title: Newspaper coverage of mental illness in England 2008-2011.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Better newspaper coverage of mental health-related issues is a target for the Time to Change (TTC) anti-stigma programme in England, whose population impact may be influenced by how far concurrent media coverage perpetuates stigma and discrimination.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare English newspaper coverage of mental health-related topics each year of the TTC social marketing campaign (2009-2011) with baseline coverage in 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  Content analysis was performed on articles in 27 local and national newspapers on two randomly chosen days each month.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant increase in the proportion of anti-stigmatising articles between 2008 and 2011. There was no concomitant proportional decrease in stigmatising articles, and the contribution of mixed or neutral elements decreased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings provide promising results on improvements in press reporting of mental illness during the TTC programme in 2009-2011, and a basis for guidance to newspaper journalists and editors on reporting mental illness.
authors.affiliation: Health Service and Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: Amalia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thornicroft
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goulden
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shefer
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rhydderch
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thornicroft
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D057545:Social Stigma; D013240:Stereotyping