The problems of people living with HIV/AIDS are usually discussed twice a year: on December 1, World AIDS Day, and on May 20, the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. Otherwise it is very difficult to stir the public’s interest. This is the conclusion of a recent roundtable discussion held at the Media Reforms Center in Kyiv. This event was not timed to coincide with any particular date. It was held because a major problem has developed in our country: one out of every 100 people is infected with the virus. This statistic calls for a trilateral dialog among HIV/AIDS patients, civic organizations that are helping them, and the mass media.
The roundtable, organized by the HIV/AIDS Resource Center, discussed the role of how the mass media portrays people who are living with this virus. The participants talked about ways to highlight this problem so that it will be more than just dry statistics on “how many people have died, and how many more will die soon,” says Laima Geidar, project coordinator of the Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS projects. According to the Ukrainian Center for AIDS Prevention at the Ministry of Health, 12,491 cases of HIV infection and 743 new cases of AIDS were recorded in 2004, most of them among persons aged between 20 and 39.
“The mass media play a leading role, since they are a tool capable of controlling the expenditure of billions of dollars that Ukraine spends on medicines and equipment,” Ms. Geidar said, adding: “After all, all over the world the mass media were the first to report on government efforts to support people living with AIDS.” The roundtable participants said that most Ukrainian journalists are no different from other people, who are conflicted by various stereotypes and fears, and lack opportunities to gain understanding of certain problems. The discussion of HIV/AIDS issues inevitably involves violating established moral norms, since it touches on questions of unprotected sex, drug abuse, and gay relationships. Stereotypical views of this problem prevent people from providing impartial coverage of these problems. But it is impossible to prevent the spread of the disease without discussing it. Ignorance is no excuse.
It is not so much a question of the numbers of press articles but their quality. The few articles that are published on this topic are a far cry from professionalism, tolerance, and commitment to resolving this global problem. Experts complain that journalists disregard basic rules of ethics in preparing their materials: they do not respect the interviewee’s right to remain anonymous; they use improper definitions, etc. Laima Geidar has pointed out that illustrations of skeletons or photographs of Auschwitz inmates frequently accompany materials on HIV/AIDS. Yuriy Dekhterenko, a lawyer with the national charitable organization All- Ukrainian Network of Persons Living with HIV, says that journalists mostly cover this issue from a sensationalist perspective. Hence, the purpose of articles on this issue is to scare the population into following elementary recommendations in order to prevent the spread of infection. According to Laima Geidar, research suggests that as soon as a journalist begins to scare readers, they become closed to any new information. However, articles that scare readers do not serve any prophylactic purpose and do not impart the necessary knowledge. Researchers claim that scare tactics are effective only for a short time. In their articles journalists are not scaring readers about the disease, but are inciting fears of people who are infected with HIV/AIDS. There have been cases where people have seen televised messages saying that “one person in a hundred has HIV and might be your neighbor,” and then called the helpline, asking how they can identify this one person in a hundred.
The problem of HIV/AIDS is not a medical problem, but a moral and ethical one. And it is journalists who mostly shape the public’s attitude to this disease. However, so far it is very difficult to establish a permanent dialog between people living with HIV/AIDS and society, which is on the other side of the barricades. The absence of media interest results in the absence of a social demand to discuss this problem. We are thus caught in a vicious circle. This situation forces people living with HIV/AIDS to use provocative methods in order to attract the public’s attention. In an especially striking case that received broad media coverage, HIV/AIDS patients in Kaliningrad, Russia, chained themselves to the City Hall building to attract attention to the critical shortage of funds for the treatment of HIV patients.
