Inter Press Service - Friday, November 27, 1998
Dev Raj

The four-day, U.N children's agency, UNICEF, sponsored workshop at Manesar last week called "Young People's Voices on AIDS" explored possibilities of building youth-media partnerships as a means of containing the spread of HIV now shifting its focus to South Asia.

"Reports by journalists can only be a part of the whole ambit of communication strategies - just media alone cannot be of much help," said Sadhna Mohan, till recently editor of the bi- monthly 'Nexus'.

Published by the New Delhi-based Population Services International (PSI), 'Nexus' commissions journalists to write articles in mass circulation newspapers and magazines which are then reprinted in the bi-monthly.

Mohan said in her experience she found that the media - in India at any rate - resisted being fed with too much information and likes to make its own stories which may not always meet desired goals.

"Journalists naturally resist stories that are motivated although few would turn down a well-documented and authenticated story - but the end result could still be unpredictable," she said.

A young HIV-positive person who requested that his name is not published, complained about the insensitive handling of HIV- related issues. "Too often victims are made to look like monsters who deserved what they got," he said. "Journalists need to be reoriented to the problem of HIV especially in a country like India where positive people have little by way of a support system - in fact they are up against a hostile medical community," he said in Manesar, outside Delhi.

According to Jullana Andrigueto, a journalist with the Brazilian news agency 'ANDI' media practitioners in her country had to be educated on subjects like human rights and the righers, several participants said.

Mohan referred to the recent dispute between the health correspondent of 'The Times of India', a leading newspaper, and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) over figures cited by the paper as the actual prevalence of HIV in this country.

"There is a tendency to inflate and exaggerate figure simply for the sake of high-profile coverage," she said.

HIV remains invisible in India because the environment is simply not conducive for victims to go public and this in turn affects reporting or the ability of reporters to put across coherent messages, Mohan said.

If the media is to play the kind of role it is expected to then there has to be steady stream of interesting information which is also reliable - this has been missing so far, she said. (END/IPS/rdr/an/98)
981127
IP981106

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1998. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 1998. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .