A story about a remote possibility
Among American newsrooms, NPR is a leader in covering mental health. Between its health sections, Goats and Soda team and partnership with Kaiser Health News, NPR provides its audience with many opportunities to consume stories about mental health services and research.
An audience member raised concerns recently about an August story intended to clarify information on the new 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline that has been floating around on social media. The story addressed a question: Can a person who calls the hotline find themselves involuntarily committed to a treatment center or hospital?
We looked closely at the web story and talked to the journalist behind the report. We wanted to explore whether focusing on something that might happen rarely is responsible explanatory journalism, or a deterrent to those who want to call and seek help.
This is an important question for journalists as they figure out what to do with misinformation. If people believe something is much more common than it actually is, concluded that the more often people hear information, even wrong or distorted information, the more likely they are to believe it is true.
