AEGiS-07IAC: From complacency to panic: the representation of AIDS risk to heterosexuals in the Australian press.

7th International AIDS Conference

Florence, Italy — June 16-21, 1991

From complacency to panic: the representation of AIDS risk to heterosexuals in the Australian press.

Int Conf AIDS 1991 Jun 16-21; 7:452 (abstract no. W.D.4257)
Lupton D; Department of Public Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

OBJECTIVE: This study analyses the way in which the Australian press reported the threat of AIDS to heterosexuals over a period when the Australian government ran campaigns to persuade the 'general population' that they were at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

METHODS: Every article which mentioned HIV/AIDS in an Australian newspaper or magazine available to the lay public was examined for the period July 1986 to June 1988. The number of articles per month were recorded and the major narrative themes identified.

RESULTS: 8976 referring to AIDS were published in the Australian press during this period. AIDS received an unprecedented amount of attention in the months following the 'Grim Reaper' campaign: eg. the number of articles printed in the first half of 1987 (3440) was over 2.5 times that of the preceding six months (1341). The focus of articles turned in early 1987 from an almost exclusive emphasis upon homosexual men and AIDS to a panic-stricken coverage of the threat posed by AIDS to sexually active heterosexuals. The increase in articles published, and their changed focus, coincided with a dramatic rise in the number of heterosexuals seeking HIV tests in this period. Predominant narrative themes were: all sexually active Australians are at risk from AIDS; the sexual revolution is over; condoms are lifesavers.

CONCLUSIONS: This period marked a turning point in the way the Australian press reported AIDS. Coverage of AIDS closely followed the agenda of the Federal government in warning sexually active heterosexuals that AIDS was relevant to them. The disease was no longer portrayed as being confined to homosexual men and intravenous drug users, and alarmist statements were often made of the threat posed by AIDS to the general population.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Heterosexuality, Risk, Newspapers, Condoms, Homosexuality, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, HIV, Risk Factors, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Public Opinion, Panic, Risk-Taking, HIV-1, HIV Antibodies, Human, Male, ICA7
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