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Media under reporting health issues
Federation of African Media Women of Zimbabwe (FAMWZ)
July 23, 2004

The media forms a critical component in informing, shaping and influencing societal values, perceptions and attitudes towards literally any subject. Thus in many global, international and local forums, the role of the media has always been underscored especially when the world at large is faced with challenges of the AIDS pandemic. The World Health Report 2004 – Changing History underscores the need for the media to be comprehensively involved in the fights against the pandemic. The report calls for a comprehensive HIV/AIDS strategy that links prevention, care and long term support and this includes advocacy and inclusion by the media. The report also indicates that media is considered as a strategic resource in shaping and influencing public attitudes and perceptions through providing information through targeted communication channels and accessible means.

The FAMWZ experience
The issues that FAMWZ raises are mainly based on direct interaction and experiences with journalists both at formal (training sessions, assessments and analyses, ) and informal levels (network meetings, interpersonal dialogue) as well as analysing the work that these practitioners produce around HIV/AIDS.

In 2002, FAMWZ initiated a Gender, Human Rights and HIV/AIDS training project for journalists. This project allowed us interact and understand journalists’ concerns, perceptions around HIV/AIDS more closely. It also gave us avenues through which we could interrogate even the various backgrounds of these journalists and how issues are couched around these and the newsroom cultures that they create, experience and live in for the most part of their daily existence.

Initial analysis and indicators point to the fact that there is still more that the media do, be helped to do and capacitated to do in relation to HIV/AIDS and health-related issues coverage. 

Institutional point of view
FAMWZ has consistently found that standards at most journalism institutions are consistently dwindling. This has a direct impact on the calibre of journalists produced by these institutions. Also, because of lack of specialisation and mainstreaming, issues such as gender and HIV/AIDS do not feature in the training of journalists in journalism colleges in Zimbabwe. 

Health issues are regarded as purely technical and not directly touching the lives of the journalists or those of their audiences. Consequently, attempts at covering the HIV/AIDS story remain mundane, sometimes aloof, sometimes technical as a result of journalists extracting verbatim from speeches, statements or encyclopaedias.

The AIDS story is regarded as no longer hot or selling – in this sense the media is consistently guilty of seeing HIV/AIDS from a purely financial perspective. Editors and journalists alike often remark that "AIDS does not sell the paper" and will only cover AIDS issues if there is controversy, for instance, when top management embezzle AIDS funds etc. However, it is important to note that while this coverage is very important, most reporters will not go beyond the scandal to investigate the wider impact, for instance, how financial mismanagement will impact on the beneficiaries on the said funds and on the lives of those affected. 

Newsrooms have failed to appreciate the significance of critical issues such as gender and HIV/AIDS-related issues in the news cycle and the need to encourage and train staff to be all inclusive. A case in point is that when FAMWZ invites journalists to discussions or training sessions, it is uncommon to hear an Editor or reporter remark,

Editors regard coverage of HIV/AIDS issues as a waste of space since they believe that AIDS is oversubscribed. It is most common to hear the comment that

Journalists
HIV/AIDS stories are mainly a public relations gimmick for Ministers/ organisations and individuals. Most journalists cover a conference because of the high profile individuals present and not because of the interest in the subject, for instance, many a story on HIV/AIDS will focus precisely on a minister’s speech and will not be critical enough to look at the impact of the content of the speech on those affected or infected by HIV/AIDS.

Most HIV/AIDS stories tend to be event-based or driven by particular high profile figures. Hardly can one find an analytical piece in the newspaper unless is there has been an event (such as a launch, commemoration, etc) or a high profile figure has said something that interests the media but not necessarily of interest to the public which they purport to serve. For instance, HIV/AIDS stories take centre stage during World AIDS day or when the Minister of Health makes a speech or when an NGO launches a campaign where the journalists are invited to witness the event. (c. f most press headlines around HIV/AIDS focus on events/profiles/scandals) Sadly, over-emphasis on high profile figures or events leads to inadequate analysis of key issues which make those figures/events significant.

Some coverage, even though well intended has negative consequences – (c.f story on patriarchy blamed for spread of HIV/AIDS by Jealousy Mawarire of the Tribune) - in this instance, the journalists tries to address the ills of patriarchy and how such institutionalised practices lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, the journalist distances himself from the blame and ascribes it as having come from women only and thus reinforces the stereotypes that he is trying to dispel.

Experience has also shown that journalists have not moved beyond the fatalistic notion that accompanied the pandemic in the 80s. it is therefore uncommon to see negative stereotyping in terminology such as ‘dying of AIDS’, ‘AIDS victims’ and all the other gender-related stereotypes such as prostitutes etc (c.f For instance the debate of prostitutes vs commercial sex workers and how improper it would be to use the later term in terms of that paper’s house style and the practical considerations associated with commercial sex work from a patriarchal point of view).

Some journalists are under the impression that they do AIDS Service Organisations (ASOs) a favour by covering AIDS issues – this stems from the misconception that HIV/AIDS belongs to NGOs and that news around HIV/AIDS is static. Hence if one were to ask some journalists to revisit some research or development around HIV/AIDS, they would ask;

This partly stems from a lack of knowledge as well as most journalists’ unwillingness to explore the ‘alternative’ angle in the coverage of HIV/AIDS issues.

Some journalists also believe that news is made by known individuals/high profile persons and not the ordinary women and men in the townships and streets. Most are hesitant to write the story of HIV/AIDS from the perspective of the infected or the affected unless they believe that the story is extra-ordinary or is riddled with scandal. However, even coverage of these is minimal and reinforces stereotypes such as that women are to blame for the pandemic, etc

Successes/ failures of the media in the fight against HIV/AIDS
While coverage of HIV/AIDS by the media has slightly increased, it however still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the quality of coverage. FAMWZ notices that most HIV/AIDS coverage is reactive rather than proactive, that is, it is responsive to actions/events of agents. While this may be regarded as part of an advocacy agenda, it leaves a lot to be desired in so far as lack of analysis and complimentary pro-activity is concerned. 

However, also from a FAMWZ point of view, lack of writing and analysis skills and health reporting skills has immensely contributed journalists being unable to effectively cover and write on HIV/AIDS issues. 

Conclusion
It is FAMWZ’ recommendation that efforts at capacitating journalists around coverage of HIV/AIDS is critical if the fight against HIV/AIDS is to be comprehensive. It is too much to expect journalists to mainstream issues around the pandemic when no concrete steps have been taken to empower them in that direction. (N.B Journalists are almost obsessed with writing on politics because the institutions that taught them journalism practice also taught them that politics was important.) The onus is now on us as civic society and developmental agents to continuously build the capacity of journalists in this area until it ceases to be foreign subject and becomes an acceptable anecdote in all their writings. To this end, FAMWZ, through it Gender and HIV/AIDS project is working towards achieving this goal. FAMWZ is however mindful that the results of this endeavour will not be immediate, but have to be gradual and sometimes, like the teething process, painful. However, we are positive that the desired results will be achieved and only then will we begin to talk about the meaningful contribution of the media around the challenges posed by the epidemic.

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