Media and the African Context of the Social Construction of HIV/AIDS

Hughes, Skye; Malila, Ikanyeng S.

doi:10.4324/9780203357859-9

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“…The relationship between media coverage and public opinion, and the role of media language and content in shaping public attitudes, discussions, responsesincluding towards HIV/AIDS -has been repeatedly documented and discussed (Beamish, 2002;Hughes & Malila, 1999;Kitzinger, 1993Kitzinger, , 1995Lupton, 1994;Schindlamayr, 2001;Williams, 1999, among others). Lupton (1994:9), for example, concludes that "the way in which the phenomenon of AIDS has been represented in the entertainment and news mass media has played an important role in the development of shared cultural meanings about AIDS" 4 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

'But where are our moral heroes?' An analysis of South African press reporting on children affected by HIV/AIDS

Meintjes¹,

Bray²

2005

African Journal of AIDS Research

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Messages conveyed both explicitly and implicitly in the media play an important role in shaping the public's understanding of issues, as well as in shaping associated policy, programmes and popular responses to these issues. This paper applies discourse analysis to a series of articles about children affected by HIV/AIDS published in 2002/2003 in the English-language South African press. The analysis reveals layers of moral messaging present in the reporting, the cumulative effect of which is the communication of a series of moral judgements about who is and who is not performing appropriate roles in relation to children. Discourses of moral transgression, specifically on the part of African parents and 'families' for failing in their moral responsibilities towards their children, coalesce with discourses on anticipated moral decay among (previously innocent) children who lack their due care. A need for moral regeneration among South Africans (but implicitly black South Africans) contrasts with accolades for (usually white), middle-class individuals, who, it is implied, have gone beyond their moral duty to respond. The article argues that in each instance the particular moralism is questionable in light of both empirical evidence and the principles of human dignity that underlie the South African constitution. Children - and particularly 'AIDS orphans' - are often presented in the press as either quintessential, innocent victims of the epidemic or as potential delinquents. While journalists' intentions are likely to be positive when representing children in these ways, the paper argues that this approach is employed at a cost, both to the public's knowledge and attitudes around the impact of HIV/AIDS, and, more importantly, to the lives of children affected by the epidemic.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%