Introduction: AIDS and contemporary history

Death Makes News: The Social Impact of Disease on Newspaper Coverage

“…Lower volumes of newspaper articles on AIDS after 1987 coincide with the shift in public perceptions from "war against a plague" to "management of a chronic illness" (Bayer 1992;Berridge 1993;Berridge and Strong 1992;Fox 1990Fox , 1992Rothman and Edgar 1992). Also, AIDS advocacy leadership shifted from gay activist groups to professionals in the medical, political, and industrial establishment, whose style is less likely to incite news (Padgug and Oppenheimer 1992).…”

“…Powerful forces for early news attention were its associations with homosexuality, drug abuse, public education on sexual behavior, civil rights of the uninfected, resurgence of right-wing politics, and deregulation of the pharmaceutical industry; its deadly communicative nature; and a very strong public interface with AIDS-related science (Bayer 1997;Berridge 1991Berridge , 1993Burkett 1995;Cohen 1997;Cook and Colby 1992;Des Jarlais 1990;Epstein 1996;Fox 1992;Gostin 1992;Herzlich and Pierret 1989;Kinsella 1989;Lupton 1994;Nelkin 1991;Sontag 1990). As the public gets used to the existence of AIDS and is confident of dedicated research and public health attention, news coverage on AIDS steadies and even declines.…”