Rejected petition Ban the use of slanderous terms for mental illness in the media now.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues in this country. This stigma is propagated by the mass media's use of words such as 'lunatic', 'psycho' etc. in their stories. It is not acceptable to publish sexist or racist terms; make it the same for mental health.

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The Sun newspaper, in particular, has published some dangerously misleading headlines. Most recently, perhaps, they chose 'Madman in cockpit' as a suitable summation of the tragic plane crash involving Andreas Lubitz last year. Others, again from the Sun, include 'psycho cabbie' and 'bonkers Bruno'. This language promotes the idea that people suffering with mental illness are either dangerous or are not deserving of respect. This misreporting endangers mental health patients. This has to change.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.

We can't accept your petition because the UK Government and Parliament aren't responsible for the issue you raise. This would be an editorial decision for individual media organisations.

You may wish to make a complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which regulates the UK newspaper industry. You can find out more here:

https://www.ipso.co.uk/IPSO/makeacomplaint.html

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 15 March 2016
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