AEGiS-07IAC: Pediatric AIDS and the print media: "innocent victims" and forgotten populations.

7th International AIDS Conference


Florence, Italy — June 16-21, 1991

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Pediatric AIDS and the print media: "innocent victims" and forgotten populations.

Int Conf AIDS 1991 Jun 16-21; 7:455 (abstract no. W.D.4270)
Klass PE; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston City Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

OBJECTIVE: To examine popular perceptions of pediatric HIV disease, I looked at coverage in the print media, using the explication of individual texts, broader thematic analysis, and quantitative surveys of the literature; I also drew on my own experience writing for The New York Times.

METHODS: Textual and semiotic analysis was applied to a wide variety of popular media accounts. Texts and pictures were scrutized for (1) overt information conveyed on medical, epidemiologic, and psychosocial aspects of the epidemic and for (2) thematic subtexts and hidden messages. Trends were identified and specific styles of addressing pediatric HIV infection were delineated. The annual volume of media reports on this subject was quantified through newspaper and periodical indices, and broken down into categories including school attendance issues, individual patient stories, and medical research news; comparative weights of media attention were assessed by number of words, number of articles, and relative prominence of articles.

RESULTS: A number of journalistic approaches were identified, including (1) the sentimental idealization of the so-called "innocent victim," (2) the HIV-infected child as photo opportunity (numerous celebrities are photographed cradling infected babies), and (3) detailed accounts of the illness of white middle class children infected by transfusion. Hidden messages commonly concerned the risk of infection for children not in risk groups. There was a relative dearth of information on medical research. In prose and photographs, the true epidemiologic population of HIV is underrepresented.

DISCUSSION: The coverage of this epidemic by the popular media reflects societal attitudes toward children, and toward HIV infection, but does not necessarily always reflect the epidemic itself.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Mass Media, HIV Infections, Newspapers, New York, Child, Human, Infant, ICA7KWDaegis,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,massmedia,hivinfections,newspapers,newyork,child,human,infant,ica7
910616
WD4270

Copyright © 1991 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.