Portrayal of mental illness in Indian newspapers: a cross-sectional analysis of online media reports

Background: Media portrayal of mental illness may influence public stigma and service utilization. Aim: This study aims to explore the overall tone and content of the news articles on mental illnesses in India. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on online English and Hindi news portals for articles which made reference to mental illness, published by local and national media sources between September 2019 and August 2020. The search was performed using location and news‑only filters in the “Google” search engine; we used predefined search queries and selection criteria. A previously published checklist was used for the content analysis; it was done by two independent investigators. Results: A total of 273 news reports met inclusion criteria (Hindi n = 164, English n = 109). Results showed that more than half (54.9%) had a positive tone. Nearly a third (30.8%) of these articles were stigmatizing in tone. Persons with mental illness were portrayed as violent, unreliable, and unpredictable. Uses of blanket terms (33.3%) such as mentally ill, mentally unstable, mentally retarded, and stigmatizing photographs (36.9%) were also common. Overall, Hindi media had a significantly better quality of reporting than the English language media. National media reports had a less negative and stigmatizing tone than local articles. Conclusion: There is a need for a concerted attempt to improve the quality of media reporting of mental illness in India.