*EPF108 07/19/2004
Media Coverage is a Tool in Global AIDS Campaign
(U.S.-supported programs improve AIDS reporting in Africa) (780)

By charlene porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Bangkok, Thailand -- The U.S. government, international organizations and corporate media giants are all working to shape the message about HIV/AIDS to build greater awareness, end discrimination and mobilize society to address the epidemic.

This week at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, the U.N.-backed Global Media AIDS Initiative announced new public education efforts in Russia, India, China, Indonesia and the United States.

The campaigns involve a variety of important global media players: Viacom, MTV, Star India and China Central Television.

"The coming together of media organizations to harness their collective power to the fight against AIDS is one of the most important partnerships forged to date," said Peter Piot, the executive director of the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS in a press release. "The media has the unparalleled ability to save millions of lives by providing them with vital life saving information on AIDS and creating a supporting environment for social change."

Since 2002, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been funding media development programs in Kenya and Nigeria to help journalists improve their reporting on the epidemic and help stimulate more informed public discussion.

USAID's partner in this project is Internews, a media development organization that first formed to help improve news outlets in newly independent states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The organization moved into the HIV/AIDS issue in Africa when it became apparent that media could become a key channel to address the epidemic and spread prevention messages.

With USAID funding, Internews is working to train journalists to create broader and deeper understanding of the AIDS epidemic. Ceci Fadope, a journalist now working in the Internews media development program, says the organization is attempting to advance the media's approach to HIV/AIDS beyond basic awareness, "looking at more in-depth pieces, more investigative pieces and looking at more informative pieces, that are more knowledge-based."

In Nigeria, where Fadope is working, Ministry of Health surveys indicated that basic awareness of HIV was broad, but shallow. The general public did not have a full understanding of the virus and the means of transmission.

"Catchy phrases in public service announcements weren����t doing it. Billboard ads weren't quite doing it," Fadope said in a Washington File interview conducted at the Impact Center, the site of the XV International AIDS Conference. "People needed a little more in-depth information, which is what journalists bring to the table."

Fadope is encouraging journalists to spark a broader social discussion about the virus and the disease. To do that, some taboos must be broken.

"We're bringing sexuality issues to the front," Fadope said. "In countries where we work, like Nigeria, some parts (of the country) you can't use the word condom. We're trying to crack open those closed areas."

Fadope has worked with about 120 Nigerian journalists since the program began in early 2003. As a result of her work, she says that reporting on HIV/AIDS issues has become more sophisticated, evolving from basic reporting on events, statistics and official statements to more in-depth and nuanced stories about the epidemic, its victims and its social implications.

"We're now looking specifically at what are the conditions of orphans and vulnerable children; how transmission happens; what happens to the baby who has HIV through his or her mother; we're looking at how poverty intersects with HIV," Fadope said. "The approach is now not reporting statistics, not reporting events, but touching people, connecting people with the information that really makes a difference."

Beyond the effort to create greater depth in African journalism, Fadope says Internews "Local Voices" project also works to build greater awareness and sensitivity to AIDS issues in the entertainment side of media, working with radio disc jockeys who often set community standards in the perception of the epidemic particularly among the young. Internews is also involving popular local musicians in performances to build greater awareness.

Internews is "using music, using DJs, using the radio and using accurate balanced HIV/AIDS information to target young people in a peer education process," Fadope said.

Besides improving the quality of information about the epidemic, Fadope said the USAID-funded media development efforts are also working to diminish social stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. She says Internews-trained journalists are doing more to give voice to people living with HIV, "getting them to tell their stories, knowing that other people can learn something from what they have to share ... that is very, very empowering."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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