African Media Expert to Confront Information Challenge at Mexico AIDS Gathering [Part 5 of 5] | Voice of America - English
The seventeenth international HIV/AIDS conference is set to begin in Mexico City on Sunday (7-4-2008). The gathering will once again focus the globe?s attention on a disease that has so far claimed more than two million lives, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Experts say at least 33 million people are currently living with HIV. In Mexico, journalists will be confronted with the task of covering an event attended by thousands of people, with masses of information disseminated.
?The challenges facing the world?s media in Mexico Citywill be massive, and I?m not trying to be melodramatic,? says Mia Malan, aninternational media trainer who?s instructed journalists all over the globe,including in Kenya, Nigeria, India and Czech Republic, on reporting onHIV/AIDS. She says most reporters covering the Mexico conferencewill have to maintain a ?delicate balance? between covering the controversialissues that could arise, and providing their readers, listeners and viewerswith ?public service information? that could protect them against contractingHIV/AIDS. ?There?ve been several studies that have shown that healthcorrespondents that specialize in HIV reporting do tend to provide more of apublic service and become AIDS activists themselves in many ways, and report onHIV in a very different way from general reporters,? Malan tells VOA. She?salso a doctoral student in media studies at the University of Stellenbosch inher home country, South Africa. The focus of her intensive research is themedia?s coverage of HIV/AIDS. At previous international conferences, says Malan, a lotof attention has focused on South Africa, mainly because of President ThaboMbeki?s controversial opinion that HIV doesn?t cause AIDS and health ministerManto Tshabalala-Msimang?s contentious belief that certain foods, such asgarlic, are better at prolonging HIV-positive peoples lives than antiretroviraldrugs. Malan explains that while both Mbeki?s andTshabalala-Msimang?s ?almost comical? viewpoints provided the world media with?sexy copy,? they also had the ?negative effect? of swaying the media?sattention away from more positive developments in the HIV/AIDS sector. ?There were so many studies on microbicides and malecircumcision as a preventative measure. And many of those studies were carriedout in South Africa, but were not reported on as a result of (the media)focusing on (the South African president and his health minister) who weredoing all the wrong things at the conferences.? Malan continues, ?It?s very important for reporters tobear in mind when reporting on a conference of this magnitude to use theopportunity to educate the public about new developments and not to becomecompletely distracted by controversies that may erupt ? although these obviouslyalso need to be covered.? Thousands of activists will attend the Mexico City event,and Malan expects them to ?set the agenda to a large degree regarding what themedia does and doesn?t cover.? She says the international HIV/AIDS advocacymovement is ?very different? from other ?drumbeating? activist organizations inthe world. ?We?re talking about sophisticated people here - doctors,lawyers, scientists. Not your usual run-of-the-mill activists. They?reextremely knowledgeable, and very, very influential. Yet, at the same time,they also know how and when to be militant,? she states. ?In Mexico City, theywill do all they can to focus the media?s attention on issues that are mostimportant to them?.? Malan expects South Africa?s Treatment Action Campaign,which she describes as the ?largest AIDS activist organization in Africa, andone of the largest and most influential in the entire world? to once again beprominent in Mexico, and to therefore feature in many international newsreports. At previous events, she explains, the TAC ?actually bargedin on many press conferences that they felt didn?t raise the issues that shouldhave been raised, and they would disrupt events that they felt didn?t addressthe issues. Those sorts of things definitely catch the attention of the media.? But Malan emphasizes that organizations such as the TAC,aide from focusing attention on HIV/AIDS, provide an invaluable public service. ?When the South African health minister made controversialstatements against antiretroviral drugs in Toronto, and the Bangkok conferencein 2004, the TAC was extremely fast to react and get journalists together toeducate them about why those statements were wrong. As a result, the publiceventually received the correct information about the drugs.? In Mexico City, Malan will be a member of a United Nationspanel on AIDS, culture, human rights and the media. She says that the media hasin recent years increasingly portrayed the disease as a human rights issue. ?AIDS is all about human rights. It?s about basic rights,like the right to access to medicine that can make you live longer, the rightto access to land in the case of many cultures in Africa of widows that getdisinherited when they refuse to be inherited by their brothers-in-law; it?sabout the right to dignity and (to) have a life (where) people don?tdiscriminate against you. And that is important. Those stories need to be toldin the media.? She stresses that the human rights aspect of the pandemicis easier for journalists to reflect when the reporters have access to peoplewho are experiencing certain struggles ?first hand.? ?Activist groups and others at the conference, likethey?ve done before, will have people there who are HIV-positive, and havedirect experience in issues, so that these people can be quoted by media tobring the story alive for the public so that they are better able to relate toit, and be moved to action by it,? says Malan. She acknowledges that there?s a ?lot of science? involvedin HIV/AIDS reporting, and that unless journalists have ?scientificbackgrounds,? there?s always a risk that incorrect information could be passedon to the public. ?AIDS is a complex issue. It?s not an issue that you getto understand everything about just from a conference,? Malan comments. ?It?svery important that journalists get educated on (scientific) issues. They musthave access to people who can explain this science to them, and then they mustbe assisted to tell those stories in a simple way that can be absorbed by thepublic. There?s a great need for more training of the media in this regard,especially in developing regions such as Africa.? Another challenge that reporters in Mexico City will face,says Malan, is that of ?HIV/AIDS fatigue? on the part of many internationalnews editors. ?Some people in the media are simply tired of hearingabout the disease. More and more of them are not willing to publish orbroadcast stories about HIV/AIDS, unless these stories are exceptional,? shemaintains.?The challenge forjournalists is to present stories in such a way that editors will use them,while still maintaining accuracy.? Malan says there?ll be an ?incredible amount? ofcompetition between the thousands of journalists who?ll be attending what?sbilled as the largest conference in the world. ?They will all want to get their stories out first, so themedia area will not be a place for the fainthearted,? she smiles knowingly,adding that reporters from developing countries may well be at a disadvantagein this competition. ?Media outlets from countries like the United States oftenhave entire teams of reporters covering this huge event, whereas organizationsfrom places like Africa are extremely fortunate when they have just onejournalist present. So it requires from you (as a reporter from a developingland) to have the skill to see the other stories, the other angles, that wouldmake your stories special.? But, regardless of their backgrounds, all journalists inMexico City will be confronted with ?information overload,? says Malan. ?Reams and reams of press releases will be thrown at them,hundreds of panel discussions, each invitation promising that it?s the bestevent on earth,? she laughs. ?There are so many sessions happening at the sametime, and you?re just one person and you can just be at one place at any giventime, which means that you will necessarily miss other stories. That can bevery nerve-wracking for an inexperienced reporter.? Nevertheless, as a journalist and a trainer, Malan saysshe?s looking forward to the Mexico conference as an opportunity for the mediato prove that it?s at the forefront of the struggle against the mostdevastating disease the world has yet witnessed.