Publications

November 2006

Voice and Visibility: Frontline perspectives on how the global news media reports on HIV/AIDS

(Full report in PDF format)

INTRODUCTION

Twenty-five years since the first news stories on HIV surfaced, media outlets are still struggling to report news on HIV/AIDS accurately, with depth and sensitivity – especially in developing countries that are most affected by HIV.

Television news coverage on HIV/AIDS in many countries is growing, but in many places it is largely limited to announcements and events. Talk radio discussions and newspaper articles often portray people living with HIV as statistics, victims, or unfit citizens – rather than as human beings with life, hope and dignity. In addition, the frequency of news reporting on HIV/AIDS in most countries does not reflect the scale and breadth of the epidemic.

Photo: Aselm Okolo/Internews Despite issues of trust, more than half of PLHIV respondents have participated in phone-in shows on radio and television. Wali Ado Rano (pictured here) is openly HIV-positive and has a popular on-air radio call-in show on Freedom FM in Kano, Nigeria. His weekly show has a wide listening audience and has changed the way HIV/AIDS is discussed in Kano.

Over the past five to ten years, people on the front lines in HIV prevention, care and treatment, and people most affected by HIV/AIDS, agree that coverage has improved slowly. But the gaps in reporting are noticeable and there is significant room for improvement in the way the news of HIV/AIDS is treated.

To evaluate perceptions on how the news media reports on HIV/AIDS, Internews Network, with partners Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) undertook two global online surveys, asking people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) and leaders of HIV/AIDS programs around the world about their views on the scope and quality of local news coverage on HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS program managers and PLHIV are the most aware of and most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and have a unique sensitivity to how HIV/AIDS is depicted in the media. The purposes of the surveys were to:

1. Document the perceptions of PLHIV and HIV/AIDS program managers on news media coverage of HIV/AIDS. 2. Investigate the working relationship between PLHIV, HIV/AIDS program managers and the media. 3. Complement existing studies (single country and regional) on HIV/AIDS and the media. 4. Gather informed suggestions for program development.

This report analyzes responses of more than 130 PLHIV leaders and 200 HIV/AIDS program managers from more than 44 countries. Half of the PLHIV respondents identified themselves as HIV/AIDS activists, a third said they were non-governmental (NGO) staff members, and 20 percent were leaders of HIV/AIDS support groups. The HIV/AIDS program managers surveyed represent a wide range of roles: health experts for community-based organizations, NGO leaders, HIV specialists in the private sector, medical care providers, United Nations employees, government health services, and local authorities working in HIV/AIDS prevention, health communications and advocacy. More than 60 percent were between 25 and 45 years old and respondents were closely balanced between male and female.

The study focuses on local news media, including radio and television, newspapers and magazines.¹

The survey was administered as a web-based questionnaire and included both open and closed questions to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. The surveys were conducted in English, French, Spanish and Russian. PLHIV perceptions were supplemented by focus groups in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Ukraine, and in-depth interviews with key PLHIV leaders in Kenya.

This study summarizes the findings of the two surveys with full effort to reflect respondents’ own words. The findings also echo those of two previous studies: the first by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) which concluded that “standards for reporting on the sensitive issue (of HIV/AIDS) are improving, but there is still much room for improvement”; the second by the Southern African Editors Forum, which found that “HIV and AIDS constitute only 3% of total coverage in the (Southern African) region and that ‘people with HIV comprise a mere 5% of news sources on the topic.'"²

CONCLUSION

This summary presents good news and bad news. Most respondents report improvements over the past decade in the accuracy, depth and sensitivity of local media coverage of HIV/AIDS. However, PLHIV still struggle with stigmatizing media coverage and program managers see too few stories on HIV/AIDS being told with accuracy, depth, local relevance and insufficient frequency. All respondents urge the news media to expand its coverage of HIV/AIDS to include more participatory media formats (such as live call-in programs and talk shows) as well as news stories that accurately highlight the voices of PLHIV.

Survey respondents acknowledge that the most well-intentioned journalists face their own challenges in the form of a lack of resources and lack of sufficient interest by their editors and owners. In developing countries, a lack of resources is of particular concern and negatively affects the quality of reporting evidenced in the poor survey ratings for local media’s coverage of HIV/AIDS.

To bring about change, more attention and resources need to go toward developing mutual skills and building understanding and trust between news media professionals and those working in and affected by HIV/AIDS. With coordinated programming between the PLHIV, NGOs, HIV/AIDS program managers and the media, the news coverage of the pandemic can move toward more accurate, informative and empowering reporting.