Abstract
BACKGROUND: Media coverage on mental health problems has been found to vary by newspaper type, and stigma disproportionately affects people with mental illness by diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationships between types of UK national newspaper (tabloid vs. broadsheet), illness classification (SMI-severe mental illnesses vs. CMD-common mental disorders), and stigmatising coverage of mental disorders, and whether these relationships changed over the course of the Time to Change anti-stigma programmes in England and Wales. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from a study of UK newspaper coverage of mental illness was performed. Relevant articles from nine UK national newspapers in 2008-11, 2013, 2016 and 2019 were retrieved. A structured coding framework was used for content analysis. The odds an article was stigmatising in a tabloid compared to a broadsheet, and about SMI compared to CMD, were calculated. Coverage of CMD and SMI by newspaper type was compared using the content elements categorised as stigmatising or anti-stigmatising. RESULTS: 2719 articles were included for analysis. Articles in tabloids had 1.32 times higher odds of being stigmatising than articles in broadsheet newspapers (OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12-1.55). Odds of stigmatising coverage was 1.72 times higher for articles on SMI than CMD (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.39-2.13). Different patterns in reporting were observed when results were stratified by years for all analyses. A few significant associations were observed for the portrays of stigmatising elements between tabloid and broadsheet newspapers regarding SMI or CMD. CONCLUSIONS: Tailored interventions are needed for editors and journalists of different newspaper types, to include specific strategies for different diagnoses.