It's a pleasure to report that the National Alliance on Mental Illness has awarded Dina Fine Maron, a NEWSWEEK intern, their 2009 Outstanding Media Award for News Reporting. Maron, a 2008 graduate of Brandeis University, won for "TV's Split Personality," her insightful piece detailing how mental illnesses are portrayed in pop culture.
We could go on and on about how much we like this article - it embodied the spirit of Human Condition before Human Condition even existed - but since NAMI went to the trouble to write up such a nice tribute to Maron's work, we'll post that instead (and encourage you all to check out her story):
"TV’s Split Personality” represents some of the best reporting NAMI has seen about television entertainment and its impact on stigma—or public education—surrounding mental illness. Using Showtime’s “The United States of Tara” as the immediate story, the article put the show in perspective relative to a longer history of events and analyzed succinctly ongoing, competing concerns. It informed not only the general public, but also many of us in the mental health community who already have experience and strong opinions with such issues."
Congratulations, Dina!
