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Shift Media Monitor
Tackling stigma and discrimination in media reporting
Mental health issues often feature in the print and broadcast media. Sometimes the coverage helps to share positive messages about mental health and illness, but other times bad reports may spread stigma and discrimination against people with mental health problems.About the Shift Media Monitor service
Shift's Media Monitor service has been designed to help the media to produce a more accurate picture of mental health. It does this by encouraging people to make contact with journalists, editors and programme makers, explaining to them how their coverage of mental health issues makes people feel.We will send out email alerts when someone tells us about an item in the media that they think was particularly good or bad. This could be a TV or radio programme, an article in a newspaper or magazine, or an advertising campaign. People who subscribe to our Shift Media Monitor email alerts service can then decide whether they wish to follow up the alert by giving their views to the people responsible, or take no action.
On these pages, you can also find advice on the most effective ways to have your comments heard, find statistics that may be useful when making a complaint and also read reporting guidelines and codes of practice that help journalists understand what makes good reporting of mental health issues.
Around the World
Shift's Media Monitor covers England. Other countries and nations have similar services.
In Scotland, See Me run the Stigma Stopwatch. In Australasia, Sane Australia run a StigmaWatch service and New Zealand's 'Like Minds' provide a guide to complaining, complete with a Constructive Complaining Resource Kit. People in the United States can use the National Mental Health Association's Stigma Watch or National Alliance on Mental Illness' StigmaBusters.
Shift's Media Monitor covers England. Other countries and nations have similar services.
In Scotland, See Me run the Stigma Stopwatch. In Australasia, Sane Australia run a StigmaWatch service and New Zealand's 'Like Minds' provide a guide to complaining, complete with a Constructive Complaining Resource Kit. People in the United States can use the National Mental Health Association's Stigma Watch or National Alliance on Mental Illness' StigmaBusters.
How you can help
Sign up to receive Shift's free Media Monitor alerts. These will let you know about recent media coverage that people have found particularly positive or negative.
Find out more about Shift's Media Monitor Alerts
When you read your newspapers or magazines, watch TV or listen to the radio, be aware of any items that cover mental health issues in a particularly positive or negative light.
Find out how you can let us know about media coverage that you've found
If you want to make a comment to the people responsible for good or bad coverage of mental health issues, we have some tips and advice for the best ways of getting your message across.
Find out the best ways of getting your comments heard
If you want an idea of what TV and radio programmes are coming that feature mental health themes and issues, the Shift website keeps a list of upcoming programmes. If you know of a programme that we haven't included on our list, let us know.
Find out about upcoming programmes on TV and radio
Shift has published 'What's the Story?', a handbook for journalists and editors that gives useful facts, figures and contacts as well as tips for making sure that reporting is fair, accurate and in line with industry guidelines.
Visit the 'What's the Story?' website for more information
Masthead photo by sparktography from Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons licence.
