Covering mental and behavioural health can be challenging for journalists, as stories can fall into many traps, including stereotyping, misrepresenting the nature of the illness and the process of recovery, or using unsuitable language.
In a workshop at the offices of WHYY, Philadelphia’s NPR station, speakers including journalists from the New Yorker, the New York Times and ProPublica shared tips for covering mental health. Check out five recommendations from the day in this article on Nieman Storyboard.
Their advice centres around being mindful of how you describe the symptoms of an illness and of the characters you choose to portray it, as well as the reasons why a solutions approach could benefit your coverage.
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