Framing responsibility for depression: how U.S. news media attribute causal and problem-solving responsibilities when covering a major public health problem

This paper analyzes how major U.S. print and broadcast news media framed depression causal and problem-solving responsibilities at individual and societal levels over the past three decades. Results from the content analysis showed that the media placed more causal and problem-solving responsibilities on individuals than the society. However, references to societal solutions increased moderately over time. Organizational differences emerged in news attribution of responsibilities, as print media presented more individual-level causes while broadcast media focused more on solutions at both individual and societal levels. Additionally, local newspapers put more problem-solving responsibilities on individuals than national newspapers, while a cable news channel allocated more time to the discussion of overall depression responsibilities than network TV. Findings are discussed in the context of cultural orientations, organizational constraints, changing practice and trends in health news reporting, and the broader political/social environment in which the news media operate. Practical implications for health journalism, mental health communication and advocacy, and public health policy-making are discussed.     

‘You're Like Yourself': Multimodal Literacies in a Reading Support Class

This article explores the experiences and literacy practices of an adolescent boy enrolled in an academic support class, in which students received an open-ended invitation to respond to S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders with the software programme Comic Life. In constructing this ‘telling case', we highlight how traditional print literacies associated with English instruction can construct school as a ‘contradictory symbolic space' for many students, but also how the introduction of the multimodalities can provide opportunities for adolescents to experience in-school literacies as social, performative and creative. We argue for re-envisioning literacy curricula and assessment not only to incorporate multimodalities, but also to provide students with instruction in writing conventions and practice with print in ways that serve larger purposes beyond remediation and test preparation. We posit the possibility for ‘complementary symbolic spaces' that are connected to the landscape of adolescent literacies that students traverse outside school and to students' desires to communicate, create and reach others within a range of discourse communities.