Reporting on Depression
November 16th 2006 03:59
The news that Marcus Trescothick will be returning to England without facing a ball in the up-coming Ashes series is a shame; the news that he is suffering from depression a tragedy. Unfortunately, though the coverage of his illness and his departure from Australia has been sub-par.
One of the first Australian reports came from Channel Nine’s (it seems I’m always getting stuck into them, sorry guys!) Christine Ahern. In her report she said that “Trescothick’s wife also suffers from post-natal depression”. The “also” being the bane of that particular sentence. While this might reasonably be described as relatively minor and an honest mistake, it is, nevertheless, of concern. Why is it that depression, and other mental health issues, are still so taboo? Why is it that reporters have to tippy-toe around the issues, in a way that they no long have to with, say, cancer? Of greater concern, however, is the treatment of the story by the English cricket team itself. The press release apparently cited “a stress-related illness”. English coach Duncan Fletcher seemed to have that old attitude of “pull up your socks, you’ll be right” and “stiff-upper lip”.
Is it that we still can’t discern between the clinical depression that affects some members of the community and the disappointment, or sadness, that affects us all from time to time? Let’s hope the recent spate of footballers who’ve publicly announced their battles with depression goes some way to raising awareness of the issue. If we can all now talk about cancer so openly, and if the various cancer charities around the world have got such a high profile, then why can’t the same be true of depression? It is time to wake up: depression is an illness and it should be treated with the legitimacy it deserves.
One of the first Australian reports came from Channel Nine’s (it seems I’m always getting stuck into them, sorry guys!) Christine Ahern. In her report she said that “Trescothick’s wife also suffers from post-natal depression”. The “also” being the bane of that particular sentence. While this might reasonably be described as relatively minor and an honest mistake, it is, nevertheless, of concern. Why is it that depression, and other mental health issues, are still so taboo? Why is it that reporters have to tippy-toe around the issues, in a way that they no long have to with, say, cancer? Of greater concern, however, is the treatment of the story by the English cricket team itself. The press release apparently cited “a stress-related illness”. English coach Duncan Fletcher seemed to have that old attitude of “pull up your socks, you’ll be right” and “stiff-upper lip”.
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Comment by Stuart
Mediated
I'm enjoying going through your blog here, I did a media degree in uni so I know the tricks of the trade that you dislike all too well. Thus far you've been presenting some great articles, have you read Noam Chomsky's essay Manufacturing Consent? Very similar stuff.
I fear that the media is caught in a trap, namely the brevity trap. They have very little time to compose a story, and very little time for an audience to digest a story. Thus they have to rely on techniques, labels and generalisations to get their point across.
This is fine for the dead set simple stories with no controversy whatsoever. However anything remotely subtle, or even worse, controversial, and we see the ugly side of these pressures.
The other example I always refer to was the coverage of the Cronulla riots. "Australian youths clashed with those of Middle Eastern Descent". Is this to mean Lebanese Australians are precluded from being Australia?
Unfortunately it's all part of the nature of the beast.
But keep up the good blogging