Media portrayal of HIV/AIDS

The portrayal of HIV and AIDS in the media refers to events and trends in the discussion of HIV and AIDS in mass media.

The condition which was later to be called AIDS was first noticed as something strange and different in June 1981 when the Centers for Disease Control reported that five gay men in Los Angeles all died from a similar rare set of disease symptoms. Within two months 100 more gay men had died, and there was public awareness from medical publication that some new disease existed. How and when various media outlets throughout the world published this information varies, as has subsequent and contemporary reporting and depiction of HIV and AIDS in the media.

United States

In government

In 1983 the United States Public Health Service defined AIDS as its "number one priority"^[1] and US secretary of Health Margaret Heckler said that it was her "top priority".^[2] In contrast, US President Ronald Reagan was elected to office in 1980 and held it until 1989, and in that time, he only gave a single speech mentioning the word "AIDS" and this was in 1987. Reagan's silence was interpreted by many as a profound lack of personal concern for victims of the worst infectious disease to emerge since the 1918 flu pandemic.^[3] In 1989 Reagan's personal doctor gave an interview in which he stated that "Mr. Reagan did not realize how serious the epidemic was until July 1985, when he saw a news report that Mr. Hudson, who later died of the disease, was seeking treatment for AIDS."^[4]

Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson was a high-profile Hollywood actor who died on 2 October 1985 from AIDS.

Earlier that year the AIDS Project Los Angeles began arranging a benefit called the Commitment to Life dinner which had the goal of raising $1 million to fund a cure for AIDS. Originally the event been scheduled in the small Century Plaza Hotel ballroom, but in July 1985 Hudson announced that he had AIDS and endorsed the event, greatly increasing notoriety of the event and necessitating a change in venue to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel. On 19 September 1985 many top Hollywood personalities including Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley attended performances by Carol Burnett, Sammy Davis Jr., Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper, Diahann Carroll and others.^[5]

Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson was a celebrity athlete in America who announced on 7 November 1991 that he had HIV. This announcement raised awareness among black people^{[citation needed]} that HIV was a problem and it also highlighted that HIV could be transmitted through heterosexual sex.

Johnson's announcement resulted in a surge of Americans getting tested for HIV.^[6] A national conversation began when millions of people who had previously considered AIDS to be outside of their concern suddenly regarded the disease as a threat because a healthy male and public idol had contracted the infection.^[7]

Pedro Zamora

Pedro Zamora was a Cuban American gay male who contracted HIV as a teenager, became an HIV activist, was a feature of MTV's television show the Real World, then died of AIDS at age 22 in 1994.^[8] He is notable as being a major public figure who contracted HIV and whose everyday life was well-documented in mass media. In 1993 he testified to the United States Congress on his experience, and stated that "If you want to reach me as a young gay man — especially a young gay man of color — then you need to give me information in a language and vocabulary I can understand and relate to." He is credited as being a particularly effective spokesperson for raising awareness about HIV in the Latino community.

Brazil

In Brazil a campaign was developed to counteract local Catholic leaders' assertion that condoms are permeable to HIV. The ad poster depicted a condom inflated with water and containing a goldfish and displaying a message which translates as, "nothing gets through a condom."^[9]

Singer Kelly Key was a spokesperson to highschool age young adults in a campaign in which she said, "Show how you've grown up. This Carnaval, use condoms."^[9]

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began an international discussion about fairness of pricing of HIV drugs when he signed a license allowing Brazil's purchase of generic Efavirenz against the wishes of the patent holder. The move marked an escalation in disagreement over drug pricing and was portrayed in the media as a victory for victims of HIV and expropriation of intellectual property by the pharmaceutical industry.^[10]

Germany

28-year old Singer Nadja Benaissa of the hit band No Angels was convicted in 2010 of causing grievous bodily harm and attempting bodily harm by being HIV positive and having sex without disclosing her status.^[11]

Benaissa was accused of having had sex a total of five times with three men when she was between the ages of 16-20 between 2000 and 2004. She admitted not informing them of her HIV status. One man later became infected with HIV. In court testimony court, one of the men said "We had sex between five and seven times, about three of those were unprotected."^[12]

The case prompted an international discussion about HIV.^[13]

Japan

In 1988 Noriyasu Akase appeared in an interview televised by NHK becoming the first person in Japan to publicly announce being HIV positive.^[14]

By 1994 only a total of 4 people nationwide had admitted publicly that they were infected.^[14]

Philippines

Dolzura Cortez was the first Philippine person to publicly announce that she had HIV; Sarah Jane Salazar was the second.^[15] Both of them had biographical movies made about them.^[16]

In 1994 the Philippines government began its first major program to combat the spread of HIV. Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin spent much of that year denouncing the program in general and targeted Department of Health Secretary Juan Flavier by naming him an "agent of Satan" to hundreds of thousands of people for his condom promotion program.^[17] The church system also organized public burnings of boxes of condoms.^[18]

Kenya

In 1990 the director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute announced that with a drug called Kemron he had cured many AIDS patients of HIV. Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi supported this claim whereupon the research received international scrutiny and was determined by all experts to be without merit.^[19]

Thailand

In the late 1980s Thai senator Mechai Viravaidya inaugurated a highly visible condom distribution campaign. At the same time the Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun supported public health with an sex education program which included requiring radio stations to run AIDS-education ads hourly.^[20]

Burma

Burma is a world center for heroin production and is under military rule with a high level of censorship. Information about HIV is not encouraged by the government and there are few other media outlets.^{[citation needed]}

The generals managing the government were slow to recognized HIV in the country. AIDS counseling and treatment is almost nonexistent. Condoms were banned in Burma until 1993.^[21]

References