Media as agenda setters : a study of the infected and affected living with HIV/Aids

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The media, in its ongoing task to inform and educate South Africans, seemingly set the agenda in such a way that depicts poor black African people as the only racial group that is affected and infected by HIV/Aids. Photographs of poor black Africans are also used to inform and educate the public about the pandemic. In short, the media has set an agenda that has given HIV/Aids a black African face: vulnerable, helpless and living in squalid conditions. The hypothesis of this research is that it is racial stereotyping of poor black Africans, and that it is perpetuated by the Daily Dispatch and other media.It is also important to note that the voices of the affected and infected are not prominent in news reports about the pandemic. Their stories are either told by the journalists themselves or someone else as a spokesperson. The media must begin to give space to the heroes and heroines who are affected and infected by the HIV/Aids pandemic to tell their stories in their own words.Qualitative content analysis of the Daily Dispatch from 1 to 31 December 2004 was conducted. News stories, photographs, headlines and captions were analysed.This analysis shows that the voices of the affected and infected are still lacking in news reports and that poor black African people are used as the only visuals in HIV/Aids news stories.This study recommends that more attention should be given to upholding and respecting the rights of the affected and infected by the disease. The media should also allow their voices to be heard, not through spokespeople, but from their own mouths.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University