Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - July 25, 2005
Reesha Chibba
According to the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/Aids and the World Health Organisation, currently there are more than 60-million HIV/Aids-infected people worldwide.
In South Africa, the Journ-AIDS website, recently launched by the University of the Witwatersrand's HIV/Aids and the Media Project, aims to assist journalists writing about HIV/Aids.
The site is a resource for people reporting on the pandemic, inspired by a variety of academic research, government reports and top-class journalism.
It also boasts an impressive quantity of updated information on HIV/Aids, including a contacts database, fact sheets, tips on reporting and ethics, and a Journ-Aids blog.
Natalie Ridgard, research coordinator of the HIV/Aids and the Media Project, told the Mail & Guardian Online the site is not only aimed at journalists, but also other organisations and interested parties, including journalism students.
"The website basically provides a HIV/Aids resource for journalists on the web. We want the web to be a reliable key resource [providing] challenging and thought-provoking [information]," she said.
Ridgard feels that journalists experience many "constraints" when reporting on HIV/Aids and that accuracy is important when reporting on the pandemic.
"HIV/Aids coverage is usually event-based or politically based," she added.
The HIV/Aids and the Media Project regularly updates the website.
Tara Turkington, a lecturer in the department of journalism at the University of Witwatersrand, was employed by the HIV/Aids and the Media Project to develop the website.
She told the M&G Online: "It's a base of resources for people who want to report on HIV/Aids. It's updated and it's current and it's the stuff journalists need to know on Aids. It helps journalists report better [on the pandemic]."
Turkington added that she would like to see feedback on the site from users who would like coverage of a specific topic, or more in-depth information on a specific issue.
"We want to offer a good service. As the pandemic develops, the stories surrounding HIV develop and get more complex and challenging," she said.
The HIV/Aids and the Media Project, jointly managed by the perinatal HIV research unit and the journalism programme at the University of the Witwatersrand, launched the website two weeks ago on Tuesday.
Frans Kruger, the editor of Journalism.co.za, from which Journ-AIDS is linked, said: "We hope a lot of people would come and use it. One hopes people will be encouraged to think quite carefully [of HIV/Aids] before they put pen to paper, so to speak."
He said accuracy is an issue with regards to HIV/Aids reporting because it's such a complicated matter.
"[The website] hopes to stimulate journalists to think about HIV/Aids and give them some resources."
Kerry Cullinan, a journalist for Health-e news service, a project of Health Systems Trust, told the M&G Online: "I think the Journ-AIDS website is a very good basic starting point for journalists who want to look seriously at HIV/Aids. The archive of documents is particularly useful."
Cullinan hopes to see more practical tools such as "consent forms for journalists wanting to interview adults and children with HIV, as well as more on the political controversies relating to the Aids denialists".
In order for the site to remain topical, the information has to be updated on a daily basis, she said.
Journ-AIDS website: http://www.journalism.co.za/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2553
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