Media Watch
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IN THE NEWS: Prophylaxis: A right in name only
Research reveals that rape survivors have little access to information about vital HIV prevention.ANALYSIS: The good & the bad: Reporting on rape
An article in last week’s Saturday Star (11 February 2012) highlights the often-neglected issue of HIV as it relates to rape, but missteps in continuously referring to survivors of sexual assault and rape as “victims”.
Reporting on rape and sexual violence is tricky and journalists often fall foul of the many challenges presented by this sensitive subject.
One of the most common mistakes that journalists make is gratuitously probing into the horror aspect of the crime itself, without investigating the causes of rape and the procedures involved in reporting sexual violence and recovering from it.
Surviving the holidays in safe-sex-style means HIV mentions are a must
This week the Sowetan featured an article detailing how to survive the festive season safe-sex-style.
Given that protecting oneself against HIV is a major safe sex priority in South Africa (one only has to look to the most recent statistics released by the Department of Health on Wednesday), any safe sex guide should - along with other issues like unplanned pregnancy and STIs - zero in on HIV and how it can be prevented.
The article begins by drawing parallels between unsafe sex and the excessive alcohol consumption that is more likely to happen when people are letting their hair down over the festive season.
And while the links between a few-too-many and unsafe sex are well documented, the ‘how-to’ (or how-not-to) list, which accompanies the piece, covers everything but the risk of HIV and how to prevent it.
Articles on forced jabs choose sensation over information
Reports of contraceptive injections administered to girls as young as 10 at a primary school in Port Elizabeth, have raised a dull hum throughout the news media.
However reports leave questions around rape and HIV and HIV prevention in general unaddressed.
Sundry articles have also reported that girls at a Port Elizabeth primary school were given the contraceptive injections without their parents consent. The articles have also chosen to focus on the fact that the girls were told that the injections would prevent unwanted pregnancy if they were raped.
While shocking and sensational details such as these are common media fodder, they are often the sole focus, leaving other pertinent questions unaddressed. Specifically questions around whether or not messages about HIV prevention were communicated to the girls are left unconsidered.
The Times offers a valuable platform for discussion
An op-ed piece in Monday’s edition of The Times draws much-needed attention to the role of behaviour change in HIV prevention.
Recent breakthroughs in the science and medicine of HIV treatment and prevention have meant that much of the media’s attention has been fixed firmly on the development of microbicide gels, the advent of pre-exposure prophylaxis (Prep), rollout of medical male circumcision and the accessibility of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
Whilst these are all firm and promising steps towards stemming the spread of the virus, behaviour change remains an important component in addressing and redressing the spread of HIV.
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