HEADLINE HATCHET JOB

Headline Hatchet Job
By Andy Malekoff © 2007

Early in December, 2007 there were several news stories about a man with a long history of mental illness who took hostages in Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign office in New Hampshire. A headline on the front pages of the New York Post read: LOONY SEIZES HOSTAGES IN HILLARY’S OFFICE. For two consecutive days the New York Daily News printed headlines that read: WACKO BOMBS AT HILL’S OFFICE and NUT’S LIFE FROM HELL.

By now you know that the headlines were referring to an individual with a known history of serious mental illness. Had there been no such history then the derisive terms “loony,” “wacko,” and “nut” would have been a way of highlighting the lunacy of a desperate criminal act versus employing insulting stereotypes to label an individual with a mental illness. Although these headlines are about one man’s criminal act, the effect of the language in the headlines is to discredit all individuals with mental illness.

So, you may be wondering, what is the big deal? Or, you may be thinking that you are reading another tired diatribe promoting political correctness. After all, the man did do something undeniably crazy. Nevertheless, although juicy headlines sell newspapers, there is collateral damage when stigmatizing language about individuals with mental illness is used. The headline writers cannot hide behind the crime. Language that appears in the headlines of popular newspapers does influence people’s perceptions, attitudes and behavior. In this case they promote an undesirable stereotype and reinforce discrimination. The headline writers who write such headlines are the equivalent of schoolyard bullies except, in this case, the schoolyard is the entire New York metropolitan area and beyond, and the headline writers are more sinister and have more sway than the typical schoolyard bully.

Stigma experts Bruce Link and Jo C. Phelan from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, offer insights on how stigma evolves. First, human differences are labeled and assigned undesirable characteristics that lead to negative stereotypes. Labeled persons are then put in distinct categories in order to separate “us” from “them.” Finally, labeled persons lose status, and experience discrimination that leads to unequal outcomes.

Many individuals suffering with mental illnesses - children, teenagers and adults alike - have long histories of being at the butt end of cruel and stigmatizing taunts and jokes. Most people with physical illnesses, on the other hand, are beneficiaries of widespread understanding, sympathy and support. This is the reality despite the fact that neuro-imaging studies show physical changes in the brain are associated to mental disorders. Headlines that use terms like “loony” and “wacko” reinforce the notion that mental Illness is a sure sign of dangerous and irrational behavior, versus a disease with a biological basis. Headlines that employ such language also reinforce the idea that mental illness is something that is “all in one’s head” and can be controlled only if one has the moral fiber to do so.

It is shameful that the editors of major metropolitan newspapers choose to exploit isolated criminal acts to promote negative stereotypes and reinforce stigma in people with mental illness. Clearly, simply telling the truth and informing readers about a desperate criminal act is less important to them than taking the opportunity to exploit and discredit people suffering with mental illness, through malicious name calling that reinforces fear, mistrust and stigma.

This article was originally published in the Anton Community Newspapers, Long Island, NY.