Media monitoring research of social work stories

The media monitoring research is part of Community Care’s Stand Up Now for Social Work campaign to improve public perceptions of the profession. We are calling for:

● The media to portray social workers in an accurate and balanced way.

● The government to support and promote respect for the social work profession.

● Employers to promote positive images of social work and support staff to tell of their successes.

The research

The media monitoring research is an analysis of all relevant articles including the words “social work” or “social worker” “social services” that appeared between 1 Jan 2009 and 31 March 2009 in 15 national newspapers (including Scottish and Welsh editions). The newspapers included were: The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Mail on Sunday, The News of the World, The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Mirror, The Observer, The Independent on Sunday and The Sunday Times.

What you can do

The research shows that social workers’ views and experiences are underrepresented. We call on you to act now:

1 Write to newspaper letters pages to correct inaccurate stories.

2 Contact the Press Complaints Commission if the paper’s response is not adequate.

3 Secure your director’s support to talk to the media about your successes.

4 Take part in Community Care’s positive images series

5 Visit to see what else you can do.