Media and the AIDS reality

IT is a well known fact that HIV/AIDS is a devastating virus, that knocks the bottom out of economies, plays havoc with the lives of those it claims - an estimated 3.86 million in India alone. It has serious ramifications that go beyond the health sector to include development, depredation, vulnerability and scores of other ills. The question before the editors and senior media people who attended National Consultation on HIV/AIDS and the Media, jointly conducted by UNDP Regional-SSWA and the Centre for Media Advocacy and Research, (CFAR), in New Delhi last week, was whether the media's attempts to remove the myths and misconceptions that cloud the disease and place it in the context of development and peoples lives had been significant and adequate.

The consensus among the journalists was that ethical guidelines ought to be evolved for both reporters and copy editors and that trained and specialist writers alone should cover the HIV beat. Journalists could be put through an intensive training before they write. The tone of the deliberations was set by Dr. Nirmala Lakshman, Joint Editor of The Hindu. In her inaugural address she spoke of the need for the media to partner the work being done by governments and NGOs and to see whether "our preoccupation with a different kind of journalism deters us from bringing these issues to centrestage."

The positive groups, however, had their own experience of how the issue should be centrestaged with sensitised and focussed handling of the concerns of the affected, rather than just dealing with the virus per se. Ashok Pillai, perhaps the best known face among them, referred to a sample survey recently conducted by the Indian Network of Positive People to stress on the concerns of the affected: Of how the stigma and discrimination created by exaggerated, and often outdated, statistics, understatements and sensationalised reports resulted in the affected shying away from the media for fear that they would lose what little support they had if they disclosed their status. He also spoke of how respondent after respondent had wondered why the media rarely came to their rescue by focussing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of HIV/AIDS. Particularly harmful him was the use of wrong terminology, especially when phrases like "AIDS patient" and "terminal stage" were used for those leading full and useful lives.

The findings of the media monitoring done by the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR), however, was that while the coverage may fall short of the expectations and needs of the affected, there was no denying that when looked at quantitatively, it was significant with a fair share of compelling copy that attempted to instil a sense of immediacy, commitment and responsibility. But while that may be so, the monitoring also revealed a felt need for reshaping the prevailing news gathering and reporting processes so as to enable and encourage the kind of informed writing and perceptions that this issue requires.

The editors were of the opinion that this was an issue that should be reported without bias to any particular community or way of life. Facts and details should be checked and rechecked because any distortion, misinterpretation, breach of confidentiality or sensationalism could result in untold harm to the affected. Mr. D.N. Bezboruah, Editor of the Sentinel, lamented that the charges often made against the media of "false, inaccurate, uninformed and insensitive reporting" was in fact valid. "There is much the media can do about the kind of positive, correct, sensitive reporting that reflects there is feeling behind it he said." Mr. Chandan Mitra, Editor of the Pioneer, felt that the focus should be on individuals and "the human dimension of the issue" and cautioned against "obfuscating the issue by talking about larger issues like, poverty, malnutrition and ignorance, which cannot really be resolved in the near future, rather than the specific problem."

But, it was also repeatedly stressed that reportage cannot be simplified to a lack of expertise, insight or perceptions. Mr. Oindrila Mukherjee of the Statesman, spoke of how she was convinced of the success of the innovative Sonagachi project, a collective of commercial sex workers, but was unable to either showcase it as an unqualified success or counter the criticism that was being levelled against it from other quarters because of the non-availability of any impact assessment data. Similarly, Ms. Sathya Saran, Editor of Femina, talked of how she was keen to target her young readership and share information on different aspects of sexual health but was unable to do it because of the lack of empirical data and the fact that women's groups thought of her magazine as anti-women and one that catered only to bimbos. Meanwhile, Ms. Kalpana Jain of The Times of India, Delhi, while agreeing that the media did tend to sensationalise and even exploit the traumas of the affected for the sake of good copy, said that during extensive travels across the country, she had found that "these traumas" were in fact a reality as was the phenomena of AIDS victims. What is worse, many of them were not only confronting the inevitable but were also suffering for no fault of theirs. Even when confronted with the possibility that they could have been infected by their partners, they seem to accept their fates with stoic resignation.

Participants also brought up the many limitations they had to cope with while dealing with this issue. Of deadlines that left them no time for research or to check details and procure informed consent, and of the rush, especially among television channels, to be the first to flash the news which made it well nigh impossible to maintain confidentiality. Unfortunate misinterpretations by those translating for them, was also seen as a problem as was the paucity of updated statistics and the reluctance of officials and those in the know to reveal details.

Earlier, Mr. Swarup Sarkar, head of the inter-country team for South-Asia of the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS, (UNAIDS), spoke of how 20 years into the epidemic, "Not many seem to realise that this is going to be the biggest killer of the adult population in the country over the next ten years, perhaps more than all the wars that we had fought put together." According to him there are pockets where the epidemic is of African proportions - where prevalence is over two percent - a fact that is rarely highlighted. What is worse, we know that those who have information and choices can protect themselves from exposure and the most vulnerable are those whose choices are limited. Yet, as Ms. Barbara Brar of the United Nations Development Programme pointed out, nothing was being done to "generate the conditions in which people are empowered to protect themselves from infection and the effected are empowered to live with dignity in society."

The raison d'etre, Sarkar felt, was under-funding by donors, under-spending by governments and the fact that India appears to be unconvinced and unconcerned of the many ramifications of the epidemic. How else could you explain the fact that though the Prime Minister, in his Independence Day speech, had described HIV/AIDS as one of the three most important issues confronting the nation, no Indian leader will be present when world leaders meet at U.N. General Assembly Special Services (UNGASS) later this month to discuss the worst epidemic in 400 years?

SHYAMALA SHIVESHWARKAR

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THE United Nations General Assembly is holding a special session on HIV/AIDS at the highest political level between June 25 and June 27 in New York. The special session's focus will be on intensifying international action and to mobilise resources to fight the epidemic. At the session, governments are expected to adopt a Declaration of Commitment , setting targets and timetables to fight the accelerating epidemic.

UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan and government delegations will address various issues relating to AIDS, including incresing resources for treatment, the importance of political leadership to deal with the issues thrown up by the disease, preventing new infections and access to affordable and accessible care.

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