LAUSR

The current impressive and always-growing reach of modern media suggests that psychiatrists will necessarily be part of media coverage. To be clear, the authors of this article are very much in favor of mental health clinicians maintaining connection with and becoming even more skilled in the art of media literacy and media outreach, but even in the absence of this opinion, there is not really much of a choice. Media presence is everywhere. With this caveat in mind, this article will summarize how best to engage the new(ish) world of nearconstant media presence. Entire college courses, indeed entire textbooks, are devoted to making sense of modern media. How to define media and how to engage media are two very different subjects. This article will attempt a cursory answer to both of these questions. Of course, much more can be said on these topics. To that end, this essay is also intended to pique the curiosity of readers to further explore this fascinating and, in many ways, as-yet unchartered frontier. This article begins by attempting to define the term “media” in the modern context. This will be followed by a discussion of the presence of media training in medicine and especially psychiatry training, and then to an examination of the effects of these trainings on psychiatric residency program graduates. It is the contention of the authors that psychiatrists in leadership roles can and should actively contribute towards translating psychiatric training practices into higher-quality and more prolific media interactions. Finally, this article offers recommended guidelines for enhanced media engagement. How to Define “the Media”