Following public outcry and calls for better journalism from mentalhealth charities, The Sun newspaper has printed a correction of its front pageheadline from earlier in the week which read “1,200 killed by mentalpatients”.
The story claimed that 1,200 people had been killed by ‘mental patients’in the last ten years but mental health charities emphasised how the statisticwas highly disputable.
In its correction the newspaper said “The Sun recognises that thevast majority of people with mental health problems pose no threat to anybodyand are much more likely to take their own life or self-harm than be a risk toothers.”
Psychology teacher Rhiannon Lockley’s Change.org petition askingfor the correction had over 80,000 signatures.