Excuse Our Ignorance

BuzzFeed is an online news and entertainment website with editions worldwide. The website publishes daily content including breaking news, current topical affairs as well as trending discussions and specific category and community stories. In 2013, the website gave users the ability to submit their own content. This happens to have been very popular for individuals to openly share content relatable to mental health.

By BuzzFeed [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

BuzzFeed is a prominent news site shared across many social media platforms, particularly Facebook. With the ability for users to submit to the community section of the site many personal insights can be shared about mental health. It also establishes a platform for important content to be shared virally. BuzzFeed also reports on some of the more challenging subjects of mental health that mainstream media might not be so quick to publish.

From a question I asked on Twitter it appears that Facebook, primarily where Buzzfeeed links are circulated, is a popular social media platform to use to open up about and discuss mental health.

A Screenshot form my twitter feed @BreakThe_Mould

Whilst mental health has been a prominent topic of 2015 the news is also continuously reporting on other events and important stories happening locally and globally. It can therefore, be easy for mental health stories to be pushed aside and quickly forgotten about. However, with the internet as a tremendous part of our daily lives, allowing individuals to self-publish material either via microblogging or submitting content through websites such as BuzzFeed; topics such as mental health can be kept prominent by the public with the help of these online aids.

BuzzFeed can help to keep subjects the public find important within the news sphere due to the ability to share content across their social media platforms. Our increased user-time on sites such as BuzzFeed, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr only increase the positive exposure to important topics, particularly mental health.

Take a look at this Storify highlighting more of the benefits of BuzzFees and The Huffington Post.

As social media has become a huge part of our everyday lives and the majority of us have accounts on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Each of these sites has gained millions of users worldwide.

By User:ZyMOS [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The uses of social media vary greatly, businesses have accounts to connect with their consumers and potential consumers, individuals may use the sites to update friends and family about their day to day lives, others might share news articles and other content they find interesting. Many of these people are involved in communities outside of social media however, social media platforms allows these communities to connect online as well as offline. They are an expression of people's identity, Tumblr especially.

There are many microbloggers on Tumblr who identify themselves as having mental health disorders and are more often than not on a varied scale of severity, they are an online community nonetheless.

Tumblr has become a place for those who are suffering with mental illness to reach out to one another, share content relatable to their lives and seek ways to improve their feelings and take steps for proactive change. It provides a support in addition to what the NHS can currently offer and eradicates some of the lonely feelings that many suffers of mental health feel.

Microblogging on Tumblr is also an excellent way for communities to get involved in current topics featured within mainstream news. Individuals involved in the community can develop the topic, discuss and progress the conversation adding insight and opinion. Platforms such as Twitter allow users to reply to the original user posting the content and consequently spark discussions as well as reaching out further into a community of people interested in adding to the conversation. I have previously discussed the benefits that Twitter can have. I personally found it very cathartic to share my story and battle with depression and anxiety through microblogging.

Have you shared your own personal experience via microblogging? How did you find it? Do you think that using social media platforms benefits discussing mental health issues in our society?

With such a variety of news outlets available at the touch of your finger tips and across so many different media platforms, it's important for readers and curators to pick out the best and most relevant content.

Tabled for public domain reuse. Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NHS.svg

When using a platform such as Storify it is obvious how important such an inventive tool can effectively be used for curating relevant and interesting content. Allowing audiences to engage with the vast majority of news and reactions about a topic that has been popular. In one Storify, I reflect on 2015 and mental health news. During this process it was picking important articles and tweets from throughout the year giving an accurate reflection of the news and events. This was imperative to allow you, the audience, to have read truthful and an accurate understanding.

As I searched for important news that symbolised each milestone throughout the year, it became apparent that this timeline would highlight to the reader any positive or negative changes as well as the overarching themes, challenges and outcomes faced by the NHS when dealing with mental health patients in 2015.

It was a piece to set the tone and look at how we as a country are dealing with mental health. By highlighting the unfortunate negatives and some of the incredible positives it allows understanding of what we have achieved in 2015 and what needs to be focused on for 2016. As well as what changes we, as the general public should be fighting for.

Also on Storify a post about how powerful Twitter can be in the mental health news allowed me to understand the importance of being ethical with the tweets I was including within the Storify content. Whilst I had an ethical mind to the story I was creating and the content I was using, it was very important to me to showcase how personal, raw and emotional tweets had such an impact. It is important to spread effective awareness with such personal, raw and emotional tweets giving people an insight and understanding to the topic that they may not of had before.

I concluded that including tweets that discussed one individuals admittance to a psychiatric ward were still very personal accounts and under an ethical practice I deemed this to still be a little close to the line to include in this Storify. However, in hindsight Storify is an amazing news platform as it allows journalists to use such raw and personal tweets within their news story to highlight how important the platform is at allowing personal expression and insight that news stories previously couldn't.

Storify, is also a great tool for reporting on events and people's reaction to them. Here I created a Storify of Twitter's reaction to Professor Green's Suicide and me documentary on BBC 3. It was very important to showcase people's reactions to the content and leave the reader with a sense of understanding to how the public felt about such a documentary and it was refreshing to see such positive and supportive reactions.

Another Storify I created curated content about mental health on the platforms BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post. Storify was great for this as it allowed me to showcase how important Twitter is in spreading the word about content as well as sharing with the audience some really interesting posts.

Created by: Samantha Clayson.

As the public we gain information about the events and affairs happening outside of our immediate world from the news. We can use the news as a reliable source to learn about problems, issues and current topics. The media also have a hefty job of setting the news agenda, what topics are important? What needs to be brought to the attention of the public and politician's?

However, journalism is relied upon to be objective and must also follow rules and regulations of ethical practices. The media, no matter how objective, has a huge impact on informing the publics understanding and their attitudes towards topics such as mental health.

Time To Change's media guidelines write, "when done well, news stories can be a tremendous tool. Well written news stories about mental health can raise awareness, challenge attitudes and help to dispel myths."

They continue to write, "however sensationalist journalism and over playing a risk of violence can promote fear and mistrust. It also widens the gap of understanding about mental health issues."

The use of language is especially important, using stereotypical phrases to describe those suffering with mental illness is inaccurate and also continues to reinforce stigma's attached to mental health issues. A really interesting post discusses why we should be so concerned about the way the media reports on mental health in more detail.

Journalists also face many ethical regulations, for example correctly dealing with sensitivity when reporting on mental illness and topics such as suicide. An interesting case study from the USA in 2010 sees an analysis of the way news outlets reported this particular case of suicide. The review of this particular situation, and like so many others in the UK, sees headlines and reporting increasing sensationalism about suicide cases. Speculation about the cause of suicide is often what becomes sensationalised.

Between 2007 and 2009 a town in Wales, Bridgend, saw 25 people commit suicide. News reporters tried to create a link between the deaths and social media cults. This was a case of extreme sensationalisation and ignited fear in many and leading them to believe the use of social media caused teens and young adults to commit suicide. In this instance the news, in most cases, did not successfully report with objectivity but increased fear amongst many and the story even made it in to vanity fair, amongst other global websites.

Where journalists breach ethical practices there become implications involving the law. The reporting of the Bridgend suicides saw the police critiquing the way the media reported the incidents. It is also concerning to think of Robin Williams suicide in 2014 and the sensationalised way his death was reported in the media. Hannah Osbourne for the International Business Times looked at the reporting of William's suicide in further detail. She also queries the lack of legal support for the families of those who committed suicide in Bridgend.

We should be concerned about the way the media has reported suicide over the years and the lack of changes that have been made to-date. Why are complaints not upheld? Why is suicide reporting so sensationalised and treated with little to no uphold by the law? How is this going to bring about positive change and diminish stereotypes? What is being done to make positive change? It seems the answer to this last question is, unfortunately, very little.

There are many news outlets covering the topic of mental health, reporting the facts and current issues in the area. However, is it just news journalism that can help bring about change in attitudes towards mental health?

All rights reserved to: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredmayfire/9723708930 Licensed for reuse :https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

There is no question that strong news reports bring the topics and issues to the forefront of the public's and politician's minds. Many articles have been focused on reporting important information about mental health. Some address people's experience and the lack of support in the community for those with mental illness, others report on groups in our community most likely to be affected and the help and solutions available and others tackle big questions and areas such as, where we as a society are failing, what can the government be doing, what are they not doing?

As research is slowly produced about a topic like depression, we see the news reporting on the details which, helps those who read the content. But not everyone is dedicated to making the news a part of their daily life. Stories such as this may unfortunately, be missed by those who need to read them most. So what about other media forms?

Television programmes such as documentaries, soaps and dramas continually address themes of depression and other mental illnesses. By incorporating them into the character's story lines and representing a situation that many of the viewers might find themselves in.

One great example to consider is The Big Bang Theory, a television show popular amongst young adults and teenagers. It themes and story lines regularly deal with issues of OCD, social anxiety, ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and Aspergers Syndrome. Hubpages posted a very interesting article back in 2014 addressing the very complex personality of character Sheldon Cooper. Sheldon's character, with all of his complexities, is a truthful representative of real life for many individuals. His character addresses the many difficulties he faces in what might seem to be an everyday task for others, you can read more here.

Other creative medias such as popular soap opera shows have dealt with complex mental illnesses faced everyday by people in our society. Waterloo road, for example, dealt with schizophrenia and Hollyoaks has opened up discussion with regards to depression and schizophrenia. Documentaries also bring the stories we might view in a television show to real life and true experiences.

Whilst programmes such as Eastenders and The Big Bang Theory play out what life might be like for those with mental illnesses. Documentaries allow the audience to understand the very real and non-entertainment focused content, is a reality for many. A recent BBC documentary addresses the very scary and sad reality of suicide. Well known rapper Professor Green opens up about his own experience with suicide when his dad took his own life. This is a very raw documentary but it is incredibly interesting and addresses mental health problems in a way that news journalism does not. You can also see people's reaction on twitter in this Storify.

I think using creative outlets such as television programmes to address mental health, alongside the necessary news reports brings together a very strong foundation on which, we as a society can begin to build successful change upon.

What are you opinions on creating change in attitudes towards mental health? Do you believe that news reporting is enough? Let me know your opinions, I'd love to hear from you.

It's no secret that mental health awareness has become a recurring topic in UK news headlines. We as a society are learning that so many of those in our immediate community suffer from mental illness at some point in their life for various periods of time.

The World Health Organisation, in 2001, reported that mental illness affects one in four, 14 years on where are we now? Many reports and stories, from around the world are claiming that one in four are still affected and more needs to be done to help those suffering.

Photo credit: Rights - © 2011 Andrew Ostrovsky under CC license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/