Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mental health advocates criticize reporting on funding cuts

Washington State Coalition for Mental Health Reporting

Mental health advocates say news stories of social service budge cuts are unfairly stereotyping people who suffer from mental illness.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-943167.mp3

They say a case in point is a recent cover of The Stranger, which included the headline "How a decimated state budget equals more unmedicated loons with hatchets."

The story laid out in detail the troubled mental history of the man accused of killing someone with a hatchet and pointed out the importance of funding for mental health services.

But University of Washington professor Sue Lockett John sees a problem with this type of reporting even if it’s well intentioned.

"Messages like this are very damaging to people who are living with mental illness because it sort of lumps them into this pool where they don’t belong," she said.

Rather than scary and dangerous, Sue Lockett John says the vast majority of people with mental illness can function well and do recover with treatment.

Lockett John is part of the Washington State Coalition for Mental Health Reporting.

In addition to chiding newspapers and broadcasters for stereotyping people living with mental illness, the coalition has criticized the Service Employees Union (SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW) for its recent campaign to save state funding for mental health programs.  A white paper released by the union featured headlines such as “Grandmother in Shooting Spree Battled Schizophrenia.”

The Coalition to Improve Mental Health reporting says the case for mental health funding should be made without demonizing the people who benefit from that funding.

Paula is a former host, reporter and producer who retired from KNKX in 2021. She joined the station in 1989 as All Things Considered host and covered the Law and Justice beat for 15 years. Paula grew up in Idaho and, prior to KNKX, worked in public radio and television in Boise, San Francisco and upstate New York.