Negative Reporting of Media is a reason for increase in Mental illness and

Suicides

Research has demonstrated that the media has an important role to play in
informing and influencing community attitudes to mental illness and people
affected by mental illness. A summary of findings from a critical review of the
national and international literature is provided below.

The media is an important source of information for many people about

mental health and mental illness
A German study found that the media is the most important source of
information for many people on mental health and illness and that
negative media reports were more commonly recalled than positive ones.
A number of American studies also found that the media is an important
source of information about mental health issues.

Mental illness tends to be portrayed negatively in news media, with

coverage promoting negative images and stereotypes
An Australian study found that electronic and print media coverage often
reflects and perpetuates the myths and misunderstandings associated
with mental illness.
A study of newspaper items on mental illness in a New Zealand
newspaper in 1997 found that mental illness was portrayed negatively and
that people with a mental illness were portrayed as a danger and a threat
to the community.

Courts are an important source of information for media stories involving

mental illness
Australian research has shown that the most problematic type of news
coverage about mental illness results from information collected at court or
from the police. Many of these stories focus on violence and relate to
specific and relatively rare circumstances. Audiences, however, are likely
to make generalizations about people with a mental illness as a result.

Negative reporting of mental illness has a direct effect on attitudes

Individuals citing the media as the most important source of their
information had more negative attitudes towards mental illness.
Media accounts of mental illness that instill fear have a greater influence
on public opinion than direct contact with people who have mental illness.
 A number of studies demonstrated that exposure to negative stories, both
fictional and non-fictional, had a direct effect on attitudes which was not
altered by subsequent exposure to positive stories.
A German study found that students who read negative articles about
mental illness express more negative attitudes toward people with a
mental illness.

Negative portrayal impacts directly on people living with a mental illness

Three quarters of consumers of mental health services in a UK study felt
that media coverage was unfair, unbalanced or very negative, while 50%
believed media portrayal of mental health issues had a negative effect on
their mental health.
A survey by SANE Australia found that 95% of consumers believed that
negative portrayals of mental illness had an effect on them and 80%
reported that the effect was negative. Consumers described direct effects
including distress, perceptions of stigma and self-stigma.