InterPress News Service (IPS) - Wednesday, June 24, 1998
Anthony Mukwita

Using morbid terms and sensational headlines like "Sex thrills and AIDS kills", the media has managed to turn off a large majority of readers who need AIDS awareness and education.

These were the views of Southern African media managers who analysed the media's coverage of AIDS during an ongoing workshop at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The month-long workshop on media management ends on Jun. 30. According to leading Rhodes University psychologist Kevin Kelly, the choice of words used by the media when reporting on AIDS and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) will often determine whether the readership ignores or reads the story.

"If you report on HIV/AIDS as a cancer, you are immediately warning them (readers) of some danger, like if they come across a person with the disease, they may get it and die too," Kelly said, adding that "chances of such a reader remembering what they read are very minimal."

Aurora Stally, Information Officer of the Zimbabwe-based Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Services (SAFAIDS), agrees that the media has not always played a positive role in reporting on HIV/AIDS.

"It is true that the media has been instilling fear in people when reporting on HIV/AIDS. This is probably largely because of the perception that AIDS is a killer disease, a scourge or a plague," she said.

"You know all sorts of negative words have been associated with it, and that won't do any good if we want to get the message through to the people who could benefit from it," Stally added.

Danielle Babooram of a Catholic publication in Mauritius said she believes that messages through the media like "use condoms when having sex", are a little bit too hopeful. The choice one chooses to ensure that they don't get the virus is best left to the individual, and should not be preached through the media, Babooram added.

"Publicity on AIDS, when necessary," Babooram said, "should show the true picture of the situation, but this does not mean it should be gloomy and bleak, spelling death.

"Medical terms must also be simplified and thoroughly explained in the language the intended readership understands, because they will definitely not read something they do not understand, nor will they waste time to ask," she continued.

A seemingly radical view, however, came from one of the participants who said telling the story as it is, was the only way to communicate effectively. "If you start telling people that HIV/AIDS may kill you but if you use a condom chances are that you may survive, or if you stick to one partner you may survive," this sends a lot of mix messages, the journalist said.

"Tell them that AIDS kills, period. Give them the facts to justify your warning and you have done your job."

Kelly however, suggested that as a start to an effective communication method when tackling HIV/AIDS related issues, journalists should make a deliberate attempt to identify target groups whom they can use as models for a particular community.

He also said that journalists should avoid taking a moral stance when writing about the disease. "Words like, 'save our innocent children from AIDS"', should not be used, Kelly said.

"The more one strips off from the moral concept, the closer one will get to the readership. People actually like to read a story that is dripping with sex, than one which talks about abstinence. This has been proven in studies," the psychologist said.

Kelly also pointed out the danger of generalising an audience, urging journalists to use the theory of Media Diffusion, which he explained as the use "of opinion leaders in a community".

"Get 20 percent of these kinds of people to disseminate the information through, and the rest of the community will follow. As a result, you most likely will be able to capture at least 80 percent of a readership who will understand what you are talking about," Kelly said. "You don't just lump the information on a diverse people and hope they pick up something." (end/ips/am/pm/98)

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