‘We want to deliver good talent’: investigating the media-related practices of Australian mental health organisations

This article explores the media-related practices of Australian mental health organisations by drawing upon interviews with people whose role was either the CEO, Director, or communications and media manager of the organisation. The findings suggest that organisations have become increasingly sophisticated in their media and communication activities. Participants discussed practices such as packaging stories to accommodate news values and journalists’ routines, strategically using digital and social media, providing media training, and facilitating contact between journalists and people with lived experience. Participants also identified challenges, including a tension between being in the media for the purposes of advancing advocacy objectives and for branding the organisation. The analysis is informed by research into the mediatisation of organisations, journalists’ experiences reporting on mental health issues and Mad Studies scholarship, which provides a critical lens through which to think about the practices of organisations, journalists and other actors in the mental health field.