Reporting Mental Health: a discourse analysis of mental health-related news in two Australian newspapers

This article reports the findings of an analysis of mental health-related news items in two Australian newspapers-one with a national readership, the other being more regionally orientated-over 1 year. The study employs both descriptive and interpretative methods in analyzing how messages about mental health and illness, mental health policy, psychiatry, mental health nursing and other mental health-related topics, are constructed and conveyed in the print media. Which stories are carried both nationally and regionally? How are these framed? Which points of view get canvassed? Which social and political interests are ignored or under-represented?