Could Fiona Fox get away with writing in such a negative and inflammatory way about patients with diagnosed mental health disorders? Note the contrast between FF's writing about ME patients and about mental health and risk (she is talking about stories that link mental health with violence).
From pages 11 and 12 of the SMC's 'Review of the first three years of the mental health research function at the Science Media Centre'
https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/...arch-function-at-the-Science-Media-Centre.pdf
'Helping researchers to use breaking news stories about mental health to get their messages across'
'When an area is in the headlines, the SMC sees this as an opportunity for researchers to have their voices heard. Mental health problems often hit the headlines for the wrong reasons and coverage can be very negative.'
The SMC has encouraged mental health researchers to engage with the media when their area hits the headlines. For example, when the spotlight was on the actions of Anders Brievik in Norway, the SMC brought together experts from the University of Oxford and West London Mental Health Trust to brief journalists on the role of forensic psychiatry. They explained why psychiatrists need multiple sources of information and lots of time to diagnose, why it is almost impossible to fake a mental illness to avoid prison and gave background to re-offending rates after someone has been in hospital versus prison. The briefing contributed to feature pieces in the Daily Mail'
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Action point: the SMC uses its expertise more often to help support and encourage researchers to engage with high profile, negative stories about mental health problems'
'Breaking news stories often focus on risk and mental health problems – particularly after a violent incident carried out by someone with psychosis. As well as responding directly to negative stories running in the media, the SMC has also worked behind the scenes giving journalists access to information about risk of those with mental health problems.
We have done this most successfully in press briefings on research looking at risk, for example we have run two press briefings on research by Dr Seena Fazel from the University of Oxford. The first was about how much of the increased risk of violence of those with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder is due to substance abuse. The second looked at the way treating adult ADHD can reduce violent crime. Both briefings were well attended by journalists and got good media coverage. Feedback from journalists was that the research challenged their perceptions of the area.
We should continue to look for opportunities to highlight research that challenges perceptions about risk and mental health. In addition, there may be opportunities to feed into training schemes for new journalists to give them context about this area to improve reporting.'
'Action point: the SMC looks for opportunities to challenge perceptions about risk and mental health problems.'
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