HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers

The nature of HIV/Aids media coverage has been widely criticised, mainly by interest groups. This has resulted in constructive, though somewhat fragmented, guidelines on ethically acceptable, accountable HIV/Aids reporting. In this article the analysed and systematically summarised guidelines (Swan...

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Main Authors: Thalyta Swanepoel, Lynette Lynette, Johannes Froneman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2022-10-01
Series:Communicare
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1715
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author Thalyta Swanepoel
Lynette Lynette
Johannes Froneman
author_facet Thalyta Swanepoel
Lynette Lynette
Johannes Froneman
author_sort Thalyta Swanepoel
collection DOAJ
description The nature of HIV/Aids media coverage has been widely criticised, mainly by interest groups. This has resulted in constructive, though somewhat fragmented, guidelines on ethically acceptable, accountable HIV/Aids reporting. In this article the analysed and systematically summarised guidelines (Swanepoel, 2005:77-137) are used to evaluate HIV/Aids reporting in three South African Sunday papers. It was found that these newspapers partially meet the interest group criteria. They raise awareness satisfactorily, but agenda setting could be improved. Although there is comprehensive coverage of HIV/Aids issues, critical, in-depth reporting is lacking. Furthermore, there is an exaggerated focus on HIV/Aids politics, and too little on relevant scientific and social issues. A lack of alternative angles and a tendency towards sensationalism are noticeable. The three papers often emphasise the “victim image”, and fail to use HIV/Aids-sensitive language consistently. In respect of accuracy, there are deficiencies in the use of news source
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2022-10-01
publisher University of Johannesburg
record_format Article
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spelling doaj-art-a9468cc3e1a74c12be2b0ca5c5461ca02025-01-20T08:52:55ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0126110.36615/jcsa.v26i1.1715HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapersThalyta Swanepoel0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3588-8604Lynette Lynette 1Johannes Froneman2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1680-4313Northwest UniversityNorthwest UniversityNorthwest University The nature of HIV/Aids media coverage has been widely criticised, mainly by interest groups. This has resulted in constructive, though somewhat fragmented, guidelines on ethically acceptable, accountable HIV/Aids reporting. In this article the analysed and systematically summarised guidelines (Swanepoel, 2005:77-137) are used to evaluate HIV/Aids reporting in three South African Sunday papers. It was found that these newspapers partially meet the interest group criteria. They raise awareness satisfactorily, but agenda setting could be improved. Although there is comprehensive coverage of HIV/Aids issues, critical, in-depth reporting is lacking. Furthermore, there is an exaggerated focus on HIV/Aids politics, and too little on relevant scientific and social issues. A lack of alternative angles and a tendency towards sensationalism are noticeable. The three papers often emphasise the “victim image”, and fail to use HIV/Aids-sensitive language consistently. In respect of accuracy, there are deficiencies in the use of news source https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1715HIV/Aidsmedia coverageguidelinesethically acceptableaccountable HIV/Aids reporting
spellingShingle Thalyta Swanepoel
Lynette Lynette
Johannes Froneman
HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
Communicare
HIV/Aids
media coverage
guidelines
ethically acceptable
accountable HIV/Aids reporting
title HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
title_full HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
title_fullStr HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
title_full_unstemmed HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
title_short HIV/Aids reporting in three South African newspapers
title_sort hiv aids reporting in three south african newspapers
topic HIV/Aids
media coverage
guidelines
ethically acceptable
accountable HIV/Aids reporting
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1715
work_keys_str_mv AT thalytaswanepoel hivaidsreportinginthreesouthafricannewspapers
AT lynettelynette hivaidsreportinginthreesouthafricannewspapers
AT johannesfroneman hivaidsreportinginthreesouthafricannewspapers