When the media are the targets

'The voices told me to do it,'" said Sean Michael Campbell, 30, who witnesses say "shattered 10 first-floor windows at The Modesto Bee with grapefruit-sized rocks as frightened employees sat in their offices Thursday afternoon." Luckily nobody was hurt.

Members of the media often report on such incidences, but it is not uncommon for them to also be targets. When TAC did a survey on threats by people with mental illnesses to radio and television stations in 1999, several responding stations commented on the volume of such communications:

"Phone calls from these clearly suffering from mental illness are routine—averaging perhaps 10 a week." - Television station in Texas

"I am in HR and this is a daily part of my job—dealing with people who hear voices and suffer from various mental illnesses." - Television station in Oregon