Media Coverage of HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa More Positive Over Last Decade, Panel Says

Media coverage of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa has changed over the past decade from a "focus on fear" to "stories of hope," according to a Nelson Mandela Foundation panel discussion held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Feb. 1, the SAPA/SABC News reports. There also has been a shift in the language and imagery of reporting on HIV/AIDS, with stories moving away from language such as "victims" and "killer disease" and instead using language such as "people living with AIDS" and "AIDS pandemic," panel member and PANOS Institute researcher Johanna Heneveld said, according to the SAPA/SABC News. She added that media coverage is "probably the most powerful tool to take HIV/AIDS away from being seen as a remote disease through to the daily reality it is in our society." In addition, surveys in eight South African Development Community countries show that there have been "massiv[e]" increases in media coverage of the pandemic, which has resulted in "clea[r]" changes in individual behavior and perception of the disease, according to the SAPA/SABC News. However, the discussion was "held against a background of wide criticism" of HIV/AIDS coverage in South African newspapers and how some journalists "grapp[e] with complex issues of how best to treat" the pandemic, the SAPA/SABC News reports (SAPA/SABC News, 2/1).