Published: 18 March 2013
Region: Worldwide
The Associated Press has introduced its guidance on how to use information about mental illness in coverage. The main recommendation says “not to describe an individual as mentally ill unless it is clearly pertinent to a story and the diagnosis is properly sourced”.
The new entry on mental illness was added to the Associated Press Stylebook in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 children and 7 adults dead. In the coverage of the shooting was much speculation about the mental health of the shooter. AP spokesperson confirmed that the news agency reacted by issuing the guidelines and with the purpose of avoiding the mistakes made in the reports on the shooting in December, reports Poynter.
In its guidance on how to handle information about mental illness in news coverage, the AP Stylebook recommends that reporters do not assume that mental illness is a factor in a violent crime. As studies reveal, most people with mental illness are not violent and most people who behave violently are not affected by mental illness. When reporting about violent crimes, uncorroborated statements by witnesses should be avoided. On the contrary, “comments should always be attributed to someone who has knowledge of the person’s history and can authoritatively speak to its relevance to the incident”, the guideline says.
The new entry also suggests that journalists always verify symptoms and diagnoses, and avoid denigrating terms, such as crazy, nuts, and deranged.
“Mental illness is a general condition. Specific disorders are types of mental illness and should be used whenever possible,” the new entry continues.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) expressed support for the AP’s approach saying that NAB will encourage network partners and newsroom personnel at all radio and television stations to adopt the suggested guidelines.”
Earlier Previously AP caused some controversy over same-sex marriage language and by dropping the usage of a word ‘homophobia’ from its Stylebook.
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