HIV/AIDS in News â Journalists as Catalysts - United Nations ...

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18 HIV/AIDS in News – Journalists as Catalysts The largest number of stories was on awareness-raising efforts, particularly by celebrities. The other topic of media interest was spread of the epidemic, including statistics and data on the number of infections Table 1: Number of Publications Tracked for the Study English The Deccan Herald The Times of India The Hindu The New Indian Express Vijay Times The Economic Times Kannada Kannada Prabha Prajavani Vijaya Karnataka Udayavani Samyuktha Karnataka Suryodaya Sudha (Magazine) Taranga (Magazine) 85 news items 82 news items * These papers were scanned for a longer period from Jan-June 2005 English and Kannada press have projected them in the correct manner, actively hunting for more stories of this nature will help to erase the stigma and discrimination they face. Positioning Most news items on HIV/AIDS were published in the inside pages of the papers and 12 appeared in supplements. There were 13 items on the front page. These included a report on infections in the BSF and launch of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project in Karnataka. The largest number of stories related to HIV/AIDS was on awareness-raising efforts, particularly by celebrities. The other topic of media interest was spread of the epidemic, including statistics and data on the number of infections. This was closely followed by human interest stories on people living with HIV/AIDS. They were inspirational personal accounts and articles on the rights of HIV positive people, like stamp scam kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi. Frame of reference While the frame of reference of 57% of the stories was national, 41% dealt with the state-level situation of HIV/AIDS, 38% with the global situation, and 16% and 15% stories respectively carried community and individual responses to the epidemic. It follows from this that just 12% of the stories included multiple perspectives of various parties involved, an indicator of subtle discrimination against those actually affected. In the Kannada press in particular people’s voices were rarely heard. For instance, an otherwise well-researched feature in Udayavani examined the social, economic and legal impact of HIV/AIDS but was devoid of comments from people affected by the virus. The story was generated entirely through data and the author’s own understand-
Karnataka 19 ing of the issue. This was the case with another story too in the newspaper that made a case for ‘A healthy society making for a progressive nation’. It cited American efforts at handling the epidemic and included the controversy about HIV/AIDS figures but made no effort to get the perspective of infected persons. Overt bias Apart from this, the Karnataka press has very little overt stigma or victimisation of those affected by HIV/AIDS. Obvious elements of bias were seen in 2.4% of the stories in the survey. Also, almost all the stories were factually correct in their information on the virus. While the issue of maintaining confidentiality did not come up in 56% of the stories, 25% of the remaining proportion of stories did take care not to reveal publicly the identity of people affected by HIV/AIDS while 20% were quite lax in the matter. Headline and story mismatch In 16% of the cases the headline did not match the rest of the story, as in an article in The New Indian Express titled, “NCC cadets to work on HIV front,” and another in Vijay Times headlined, “Kalam for joint venture to develop anti HIV/AIDS vaccine”. In both cases news relating to the virus was little more than a one-line mention in the article while the headline gave it disproportionate attention. In one case, an article in The Hindu was titled misleadingly, “HIV infection is more among non-literate pregnant women.” It made a judgemental association that was in fact not borne out by the copy. A headline in Samyuktha Karnataka titled, “AIDS making India afraid,” was also misleading. It was an unnecessary inference, as the story only dealt with the figures of HIV affected people in different states and said that the numbers are increasing because of lack of awareness among uneducated people in particular. It was one of the eight headlines in the Kannada press that did not match the story. The Karnataka press has very little overt stigma or victimisation of those affected by HIV/AIDS. In 16% of the cases the headline did not match the rest of the story Creating an alarm Ten per cent of the stories created a sense of alarm about the epidemic, with the English press having more such cases. An equal proportion of stories had alarmist headlines. These include, “Community efforts keep dreaded virus at bay,” and ‘HIV/AIDS spreading at an alarming rate in state,” as well as, “Is India sitting on AIDS time bomb?”. The tone of most stories (64%) was neutral. A significant section of stories - 25% - could be classified as positive. These include personal accounts of affected women overcoming prejudice. About eight per cent of the stories did have a negative tone. A number of stories blamed the spread of the virus on sex workers and truck drivers (3% each), classified as the most high-risk groups and reservoirs of infection. A small proportion of stories associated the virus with extramarital sex and multiple partners
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Page 5 and 6: Contents Foreword VII SECTION 1 - T
Page 7: Message The United Nations Developm
Page 11: Section I The Media Study
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Page 63 and 64: Tracking Changes 53 Tracking Change
Page 65 and 66: Removing the HIV Stigma 55 discrimi
Page 67 and 68: Removing the HIV Stigma 57 go uncha
Page 69 and 70: Removing the HIV Stigma 59 Stigma a
Page 71 and 72: India’s Response to the HIV Epide
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The Cost of the HIV Epidemic 69 The
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The Cost of the HIV Epidemic 71 Mos
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The Cost of the HIV Epidemic 73 ed.
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The Cost of the HIV Epidemic 75 Whi
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Time for Women to be Seen and Heard
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Finding the Way Out of the Needle M
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Children Show the Way 89 HIV positi
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Children Show the Way 91 of the TV
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Children Show the Way 93 Impact of
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Seeking the Right Prescription 95 S
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Seeking the Right Prescription 97 t
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Seeking the Right Prescription 99 p
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Seeking the Right Prescription 101
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Standing Up for Their Rights 103 St
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Standing Up for Their Rights 105 Pr
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Standing Up for Their Rights 107 In
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Standing Up for Their Rights 109 cr
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Positive Voices 111 Manoj Pardesi r
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Positive Voices 113 He feels the me
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Positive Voices 115 The fear of not
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Positive Voices 117 social and deve
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Positive Voices 119 “Look at HIV/
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Section III Useful Information
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Population Foundation of India
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