Media reports on dementia: Quality and type of messages in Australian media

Aim: To analyse changes in the quantity and quality of media reporting about dementia in Australian media between two time periods. Methods: A media retrieval service collected all news items related to dementia. Quality ratings based on previously developed criteria were made for a stratified random sample of items 1129 items for 2000/2001 and 1606 for 2006/2007. Nine items of quality were assessed. A summary score for quality was constructed. The content of the sampled media items was also coded. Results: Overall, the mean total quality score for dementia-related items significantly improved over the study period. There were very large improvements in quality of reporting of sensationalism, language and provision of information about help services and some small deterioration in quality for medical terminology and illness versus person. Conclusions: A very positive finding here is that generally the quality of reporting dementia has improved over the period studied.