Georgian Media Coverage of HIV/AIDS issues, stigma and discrimination

A tendency towards sensational media coverage of issues related to HIV/AIDS has increased in recent years.  Reports include such sensitive subjects as HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, but tend to abuse human rights to privacy, to encourage stigmatization and discrimination and to use incorrect terminology. Addressing the issues of terminology through education was the aim of the project “Developing Curriculum on HIV/AIDS Reporting: Stigma and Discrimination.” The goal was to develop a curriculum and textbook for university students to integrate the subject into the overall university curricula.

“The idea for this project occurred simultaneously to me and Mr. Mamuka Jibuti, Dean of the Public Health Faculty at the State Medical University, when we attended a higher education quality control workshop in Budapest. Thus the project was carried out jointly between doctors and the media,” stated Professor Dali Osepashvili, at the Media and Mass Communications Department of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Tbilisi State University.
A one-year HIV Prevention Project was launched with financial assistance of USAID in January, 2011, and the result is a textbook entitled Reporting HIV/AID and Drug Abuse Issues in Media, published in January 2012. The book was developed with the involvement of professors from three leading media schools of Georgia (Tbilisi State University, Caucasus Media School and Georgian Institute of Public Affairs) as well as public health professionals. Dali Osepashvili, represented TSU and wrote chapters on The Role of Media in Covering HIV/AIDS Issues and How to Report Problems of HIV Infection.
The two-part textbook is designed for teachers and students. The first part is a theoretical explanation of stigma and discrimination and the role media plays when covering HIV/AIDS and drug abuse issues.  The second part includes case studies and analyses of materials from Georgian print and broadcast media. This part also includes case studies and exercises for teachers and students. The textbook was successfully tested and starting with the spring semester 2012, was included in the University curricula and integrated into several educational courses.
In the process of developing the textbook, Professor Dali Osepashvili analyzed several dozen publications, including 35 articles from the newspapers Rezonansi, 24 Hours, Alia, Sakartvelos Respublica, Versia, and 7 Dghe, published between 2005 and 2010. Methodologies applied were content analysis and quantitative analysis, in line with UN recommendations and principles of ethics and recommendations developed by the World Health Organization for journalists specializing in reporting health issues. Based on analyses, Professor Osepashvili drew up reports and presented them at an international scientific conference dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Dimitri Uznadze, held at Tbilisi State University.  She also presented them at the Third International Conference for Academic Disciplines held at Harvard University in May, 2012.

The main questions posed by the research were:
-How often do Georgian media report on this topic?
-How do they report it?
-What are common mistakes made by Georgian journalists in covering the topics?
-Do they respect the rights of people with HIV/AIDS?
-How are stigma and discrimination evident in reports?

The research showed that the topic of HIV/AIDS appeared in the media agenda mainly on December 1, World AIDS Day, or on other AIDS awareness days. Thus, the frequency of coverage is very low and basically coincides with some awareness event. One of key findings is that Georgian media do not observe the confidentiality of identity or information on infected and deceased persons, thereby grossly violating human rights. Family members and relatives of infected and deceased persons thus also become victims of stigma and discrimination.
In addition, the research showed that when covering HIV/AIDS issues, Georgian journalists make many mistakes. The most glaring is the tendency to sensationalist coverage, using terms like “plague”, “lethal disease,” “incurable illness” “severe illness” “AIDS victim” , etc when speaking of the issue, thereby reinforcing stereotypes that a zero-positive person is necessarily doomed to die. This leads to alarm, stigmatization and discrimination.
Sometimes terms are confused and used incorrectly.  In almost every article there are references to the “AIDS virus,” “AIDS- infected,” “contracting AIDS,” instead of speaking of HIV-positive, zero-positive aspects of the virus.
Only 42% of the publications were neutral, while the language and manner of writing in the other media were unsatisfactory. Balanced and multiple-source-based publications are virtually absent. One can often find either very statistical data in articles which lack any human interest to make the public aware that concrete people are concerned, or the materials are over-subjective and alarmist.
To avoid such mistakes, Professor Osepashvili believes that it is necessary:
-To observe balanced reporting and not limit print or broadcast materials to statistics and opinions of doctors alone; journalists must observe the principle of using three sources in reporting, to make their materials sound reliable and gain the trust of their audiences. In addition to doctors or a medical approach, journalists must also use psychologists, sociologists, human rights defenders and members of families of the patients as sources of information;
-To ensure that journalists allow patients or member of their families to give information, and to tell tangible stories of concrete people to arouse interest and compassion among the audience.  At the same time journalists must honor ethical principles and protect the confidentiality of the sources by concealing identities, e.g. blurring faces or disguising voices of those who tell their stories.  This will prevent families from being stigmatized.
-That journalists apply appropriate terminology and a neutral tone in reporting so as not to reinforce stereotypes about incurability.  This will spare patients and their relatives from stigma and discrimination, but will also contribute to more probability for HIV-testing to be carried out by the public.