HIV

1
HIV AIDS in the media

• Lilian Chigona
• Panos Southern Africa

2
Panos Institute Southern Africa

• Part of a global network of 8 Panos institutes
• Agenda-Amplifying marginalised voices
• Articulating voices of most affected
• How? Communication ie media work, assessments, in
  depth studies
• Belief- The media have potential to contribute
  to reducing the rates of HIV infection, the
  levels of stigma and advocate for favourable
  conditions for plwh.

3
Continued Need for Information

• Radio and television, newspapers are cited by
  many people as key sources for information about
  HIV AIDS
• Journalists can contribute a great deal to
  effective communication for change of attitudes,
  behaviour, policy, practice etc
• Panos has worked on media capacity building for
  years

4
JLWH-The concept

• Why JLWH? The media left out, Mildred story
• JLWH contribution to AIDS Response-There are
  challenges with the way the media have reported
  on HIV and AIDS
• Sensationalism
• Lack of depth
• Human interest
• AIDS fatigue
• Engaging JLWH can significantly solve the problem

5
HIV and the Media

• HIV and AIDS affect the media externally and
  professionally
• The target clients
• News and feature stories carried
• HIV and AIDS affect the media internally and
  personally
• Infected media personnel
• Affected media personnel
• Who cares for these?
• Journalists need to put on their own mask first

6
Personal Impacts

• Anxiety, self-stigma, external stigma
• Fear-unknown fear preventing people from
  accessing services
• Fear of dialogue in the newsroom
• Fear of general public

7
The Disabling Fear of how Others Might React

• I remember sitting in the news room and hearing
  my colleagues talk negatively about HIV and
  AIDSthe whole time, I thought no, I cant tell
  them The more I kept it to myself, the more it
  ate me up inside
• I do remember the silent tears falling down my
  face and the feeling of fear. -JLWH from
  Zimbabwe
• The fear was not that I might die but the fear of
  what if people found out. What if my
  colleagues find out? what will my friends say? My
  family? What if I lose weight how will I
  explain it to people? What if someone
  recognizes me at the HIV clinic? What if they
  find out at work?

8
Setting up of the Network of JLWH

• Lusaka Meeting
• Country level mobilisation
• Progress in countries like Malawi, Zim, Zambia
• Support from HIVOS-experience in Swaziland

9
Potential Impact of JLWH

• Improving service uptake among fellow journalists
  and general population
• Improving quality of reporting on HIV and
  AIDS-use of proper/acceptable language, human
  interest, sensitivity, etc
• Reducing HIV and AIDS-related stigma

10
What journalists Need

• Understand the epidemic
• Know and deal with the drivers-for journos, for
  the general public
• Fight stigma and discrimination
• Champion the concerns of vulnerable groups
• Keep issues on top of agenda work against AIDS
  fatigue and complacency
• Feature marginalized groups disabled,
  prisoners, elderly, MSM, CSW, children who are
  HIV positive

11
The PSAfs Mildred Mpundu Fund

• Supports community media in Zambia to develop
  workplace policies and programmes
• ensures access to treatment, services and
  referral for those who are affected and/or
  infected
• addresses stigma and discrimination
• Ensure that HIV and AIDS programme are sensitive
  and more indepth

12
Journalists need a Workplace Policy

• Most workplaces have a policy however
• The environment is not favourable for service
  uptake
• Stigma is still very high in newsrooms
• JLWH join the crowd by using stigmatising
  statements so that they do not raise attention
• Journalists end up accessing services when it is
  too late

13
Conclusion

• Concern with HIV and AIDS will make one a better
  journalist who uses appropriate language and
  reports from a personal interest angle
• Liberation of our media from fear of HIV and
  AIDS will automatically liberate others Prof. MJ
  Kelly