MFI gives the “2010 Worst Media Coverage of Mental Health Award” to reporter Joseph Brean from Canada’s National Post. During mental health month in May 2010, Brean horribly mis-covered the international PsychOUT conference of psychiatric survivors activists and allies, who gathered from five nations to resist psychiatric human rights violations. In December 2010, Brean capped off his angry year with a biased article lashing out at critics of mental health system human rights violations.
December 2010:
Reporter Joseph Brean Wins the 2010 “Worst Media Coverage of Mental Health Award” from MindFreedom International.
For a second time this year, Brean has written another biased crusading article attacking critics of the psychiatric industry, published in the major Canadian newspaper National Post.
You may read Brean’s most recent angry 18 December article, “Mental block: Opposers of Mad Pride protest anti-psychiatrist,” here:
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/Mental+Block/3996581/story.html
The National Post published several letters critical of Brean’s December 2010 piece here.
This is the second time in 2010 Brean has aimed his barely-disguised editorials against critics of the mental health industry. BELOW is MindFreedom’s coverage of Brean’s May 2010 attack on a conference of mental health consumer and psychiatric survivor activists, and allies.
May 2010:
May is considered “Mental Health Month.”
MindFreedom awards the Worst Mental Health Media Award to Joseph Brean of Canada’s National Post.
Action: So that others may easily find out about Brean’s bias, please LINK your blog, web site, forum, etc. to this web page!
Your Gateway to Joseph Brean’s Unfair Reporting in National Post
by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
May was supposed to be “Mental Health Month.” May ought to be “Media Bias About Mental Health Month,” because we have quite an example.
The PsychOUT conference in Toronto from May 7 to 8, 2010, with a protest on May 9, was powerful. I was privileged to be invited to be one of the keynoters and had a wonderful time.
The event also won mainstream national media coverage, but the front-page article by Joseph Brean of the National Post was awful, biased, unprofessional, and insulting. Incredibly, Brean even called one of the psychiatric survivor participants a “crackpot” in his article, without any quotes or attribution.
I’m proud that lots of people quickly united to resist this example of big corporate media bias.
First, let’s start below with four of the letters by PsychOUT activists that were published in the National Post in response to Joseph Brean’s article.
Then you can read Brean’s actual article and decide for yourself.
You’ll also find other information about the biased reporting of Joe Brean.
Action: Please link your blog, web site, etc., to this web page, to help people learn about this media bias, especially Joseph Brean’s unprofessionalism.
NATIONAL POST published letters, 11 May 2010 – “Letters of the Day”
Letter by Don Weitz:
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3011127
Letter by David Oaks:
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3011131
Letter by Geoffrey Reaume:
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=3011134
Letter by Mark Federman:
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3011135
The offensive article by Joseph Brean about the conference, published 8 May 2010:
http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3001214
Click here for an open statement from MindFreedom International to Joe Brean, with his response.
Kevin M. From People First Radio provided some audio coverage:
Two audioclips from the conference:
http://www.columbiancentresociety.com/pfr.php
An overview of the conference:
http://www.columbiancentresociety.com/prfcontent/201_may_13_2010_sm.mp3
An interview with Bonnie Burstow about her antipsychiatry “attrition” model:
http://www.columbiancentresociety.com/prfcontent/202_may_20_2010_sm.mp3
And again, MindFreedom’s portal to coverage of PsychOut is here:
https://mindfreedom.org/as/act/inter/coalition-against-psychiatric-assault/psychout-news
Document Actions