HIV/AIDS makes Sowetan front page
I was pleasantly surprised to see that HIV/AIDS made it onto the front page of the Sowetan today (January 27). Why surprised? Well, I just didn't think they did that.
The story is about a woman who believes that her husband has deliberately infected her with HIV. According to her, he has become abusive, threatening to kill her, and has had a series of extramarital affairs. She's also layed a charge of attempted murder against him, but under current law, a prosecution is very unlikely..
I remember hosting a discussion forum at the Sowetan last year during which Thabo Leshilo, the Sowetan's editor, told us that as soon as HIV/AIDS goes onto the front page, circulation drops. Implication: HIV/AIDS doesn't sell newspapers and if it doesn't sell newspapers, then it doesn't belong on the front page. I know I'm simplifying things here - this goes much deeper into a debate about increasing commercial pressure on media in this country versus the social responsibility of reporting on an issue that is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing us.
A master's student in the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project has recently completed her research report on news media coverage of HIV/AIDS. Her argument, from a development perspective, is that news media are always going to be constrained by commercial pressures. That's the reality. News values will continue to guide our decisions about what makes news. But while reporting the news, there are opportunities to report accurately and creatively, give context or history to a particular event or press release. So selling newspapers doesn't necessarily preclude us all the time from covering HIV/AIDS. A senior journalist who the student interviewed has a unique, and I think, interesting, way of looking at it:
“Well, it is not our duty to publish important stories. Our duty is to make important stories interesting. People think we publish everything to sell the newspaper; I mean anyone who thinks so is [wrong]. We know what’s going to sell and what is not going to sell. What is important … we hoped to grab readers, to inform readers and add to the prestige of [the newspaper], most of all add to the knowledge of HIV/AIDS.”
Obviously different newspapers have different editorial policies on HIV/AIDS. Well, “policy” may be a bit strong, but at least some sort of an ethos. I'm glad to see that the Sowetan decided that this story was worthwhile for some or other reason. (I'd love to know the reason, but I couldn't get hold of the reporters this morning.)
The story was also fairly well handled for the most part. That said, it pushed elements of excitement and drama hard: “HIV-infected woman claims: MY HUBBY SPREADS AIDS” screams the headline. Sigh.
Also, apparently the source had just taken an overdose of sleeping pills before she phoned her story through to the Sowetan and the reporters “dashed to where she said she was and found her unconscious” and clearly saved the day, so to speak. There's also this little caveat at the end of the article:
Last Friday she laid a charge of assault against her husband and opened a case of attempted murder against him, alleging he had deliberately infected her with HIV.
Yesterday she said the prosecutor had told her there was “very little chance” that Jabulani would be arrested and convicted on the attempted murder charge.
This doesn't give us a very good idea of why there is a little chance of a conviction, or what the South African law says about these kinds of cases or any real analysis of this development in the story. Perhaps that's for a follow-up article and I'm being too fussy.
But, mostly, the article is quite good. The reporters use correct terminology and non-stigmatisitng and sensitive language. It's the little things that count. A phrase explaining that HIV is “the virus that causes Aids” seems insignificant, but this signals to the reader that there is a difference between being HIV-positive and having AIDS, which is an important distinction to make. The reporters set the scene in 100 words or so, but then allow the source to tell her own story, giving voice to the ordinary and the everyday (yes, it does sadden me that a story of how a wife is abused, whose baby dies and believes that her husband may have knowingly infected her is, in fact, mundanely everyday.)
All in a front page story!
So, congratulations to the Sowetan for having the courage to run this as a lead story despite it probably making readers feel a bit queasy. We hope your circulation doesn't take a knock. And please, let's take on the challenge of making important stories interesting. Now that's good journalism! - Natalie Ridgard