Powerful Elites Generate Fear - Essay Example

The view that powerful elites generate fear does not adequately explain the complexities within the news reporting of AIDS in Britain. AIDS/HIV still remains a plague of civilization with more than 40 million people living with this horrible diagnosis in our time. The threat is that the number of people diagnosed with AIDS can reach 80 million in five years if effective treatment is not discovered as more and more people are getting infected in developing countries in our time. And though the virus itself was localized and described decades ago no effective cure against it has been offered yet and people are offered the therapy that can only postpone immune system decline. Most often African countries are affected by real epidemic, and the epicenter of the world most dangerous disease is located in Sahara Desert region where a half of population of the world is living at the moment. This information does not seem shocking for anyone in the world anymore because AIDS was covered in media substantially and effectively since the time of its discovery. It is well-known that a frightening and repulsive image of AIDS was created with the help of accurate metaphors and definitions (Cullen, 2003). Nevertheless, the question if the image of AIDS was constructed adequately to the severity of the epidemic or media has spread certain panic among readers remains actual and urgent, and Britain represents a particular interest for this study because real epidemic has never reached the island. The UK as well as many other countries of the world faces the complexities within the news reporting of AIDS, and the fact that powerful elites generate fear does not adequately explain them. In order to examine this question newsroom practices in Britain on reporting were studies closely. First of all it is necessary to outline the history of the disease, its symptoms and consequences to understand how media should cover AIDS/HIV to create normal feedback from its auditory. UNESCO states that media as well as medical institutions and common people have to aim to reduce the quantity of people contracting HIV and relieve moral and physical pressure of those who are fighting with the disease. This is an established ethical principle when dealing with HIV and AIDS (Foreman, 2003). The first reporting of AIDS by media goes back to 1982 when several alarming articles were published in different American medical journals telling about this unknown mysterious disease. Much concern was expressed about it already due to high mortality of young healthy individuals and it was defined as threating and dangerous for public. But nobody could even imagine the degree of panic the disease will create in several years. Though AIDS itself appeared in 1981, a year earlier, when a number of homosexual young men were diagnosed with Pneumocystis Carinii and a very extraordinary type of cancer accompanied by rapid immune system decline. In a year it became clear that a new disease requires a new name and in 1982 doctors started using the term Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome for it (Lupton, 1994). This was also the period when authors started referring to the disease as the one which strikes homosexuals only and this minority of people which were stigmatized before, became the object of persecution in press even greater (Watney, 1997). It is also necessary to differentiate between HIV and AIDS taking into account that these stages of disease are characterized by different symptoms and different treatment that is why they are covered in media in different ways. HIV is a Human Immunodeficiency Virus which means that a human immune system is infected and cannot work properly. A person with HIV is potentially dangerous to the surrounding only in case if he is not aware of his virus. Though it is possible to learn about your health condition with the help of a simple test in reality many people neglect it. And them if HIV impairs immune system substantially, AIDS is developed which is a final stage of HIV development. Therefore when describing HIV and AIDS many journalists in UK still remain inattentive to the differences and perceiving two stages as one. Nevertheless, it was proved that a person with HIV will not necessarily develop AIDS and though the person with HIV has better chances to survival media does not make accent on it in the UK (Beharrel, 1998). The attention to the disease is not equal throughout the world in modern world. Today Western countries do not pay as much attention to AIDS/HIV as in 80s and 90s considering that they have probably survived through the peak of epidemic. It is partially true because AIDS was proclaimed dangerous a decade ago in Europe and America and today the greatest burden of the plague lies on African and Asian countries. That is why sometimes it is believed that the place of living defines interest to this disease which is a serious disadvantage of AIDS coverage. African countries, Eastern European countries, Asian countries urgently need journalists who not only shed light on the threat of epidemics but can also provide people with reasonable, honest, and adequate reporting. Moreover, journalists in those countries should concentrate on educating people with the most important information regarding HIV/AIDS. So the role of media shifts from mere informing to preventing horrible consequences of AIDS. But in this paper the main accent is made on British press where the epidemic of AIDS is not as threating as in those countries but still it is possible to suggest that borrowing some tools utilized by world journalists would be beneficial (Lupton, 1992). Compared to the rest of the world the United Kingdom does not face the epidemic as only 98.00 of people are diagnosed with either HIV or AIDS, however there are those who are unaware of their diagnosis. The quantity of people infected with the disease has nevertheless increased in the recent decades as well as the quantity of all patients infected with sexually transmitted diseases but still around 8.000 of people are diagnosed each year. Nevertheless, little attention is paid to HIV/AIDS today compared to the first years when the disease was first diagnosed on the island (Miller & Beharrell, 1998). Nevertheless when media decides to shed light on the problem eventually it turns out that the coverage of the disease is in many cases is distorted and biased inflicting redundant panic among people. Analyzing the coverage of AIDS and HIV in media in Britain it is possible to distinguish several patterns according to which media worked with the disease. In the very beginning of 1990s when only first information about the disease appeared in media the main accent was made on homosexuals and drug addicts as those transmitting the disease. Media received a perfect chance to find villains and offenders and link social vices to the new disease, and in the beginning AIDS was defined as “gay pneumonia” by some journalists (Seale, 2002). Nevertheless, as more and more information about AIDS/HIV was appearing media acknowledged the threat for wider circle of people informing that even people of heterosexual orientation can get easily infected. Eventually, the media got accustomed to the disease and started referring to it as to another severe disease. During each stage media created certain amount of stereotypes, myths, and metaphors which characterized the attitude of the government and health institutions to the disease (Cullen, 2000). Downs, one of the media theorists, defined this pattern in certain phenomena description as the cycle which is built upon the rise of attention, its gradual decline and eventual decline of interest (Downs, 1972). Political attitude to the disease was in sync with media or it is possible to say that media coverage submitted to political attitude to HIV/AIDS. From the beginning of 1981 the disease was gradually gaining the attention of politics and the fluctuations were made from the bottom of the society not from the up. Gay communities, medical institutions were directing public attention to this issue and then it was noticed by the authorities. From 1986 the threat of AIDS became more real and the issue became a top priority in political circles. Some layers of society became the objects of control and speculation, and the overall situation was defined as emergent. AIDS was not the problem of Health Department any more, it was a concern of all departments generally. The third stage began when the interest as well as the quantity of cases of HIV contraction started to decline. This stage is characterized by gradual normalization of the political interest with the rejection of the possibility of epidemic. It started in 1988 when AIDS has become a general concern of Health Department and continues up to these days (Berridge & Strong, 2010). First and foremost negative aspect connected with news reporting of AIDS goes back to the appearance of the disease. According to Seal, AIDS offered a perfect opportunity to substitute syphilis in demonstrating the risks and the threats of uncontrolled sexuality. Taking into account that it became possible to join drug addicts to the circle of those who can become victims of AIDS, the disease received extensive media popularity. Nevertheless, during first two years of media coverage in Britain AIDS was most often described with a term “gay plague”(2002). According to Watney all the compassion and sympathy of public was directed to young female and children who contracted HIV occasionally while gay male got surrounded by alienation and hysteria (1997). And thus it turned out that the victims of AIDS had to fight against prejudices first and spare their psychic energy on restoration of personal socially acceptable image. Media people became active participants of creating the image of a villain, the one sexually promiscuous, irresponsible, and socially unreliable people. In such a way media people got involved into creation of media story that at some points had unexpected effects: apart from blaming the villains it was promoting healthy lifestyle (2002). Analyzing the media of first years in Britain it is possible to trace direct distinction in construction of the image of a guilty person with AIDS and an innocent one. To get HIV through non-sexual contacts provoked questions and sympathy while getting HIV through sexual intercourse was blamed and persecuted in British media. Thus, “Daily Express” story telling about a schoolboy who contracted AIDS was titled as “Why must the innocent suffer?” which was responded shorty by the journalist of “Sunday Telegraph” who noted that there were “innocent” ways of getting HIV (1998). Therefore, AIDS in the first years of its appearance lacked substantial information that is why it became possible to connect it with immoral way of life and marginal existence. Despite the fact that later it was discovered that the routes of HIV transmission are not limited to sexual intercourse and needles utilization, this first impression remained strong. Another negative myth that appeared during the first stage of ignorance regarding HIV/AIDS was the possibility of contracting the virus easily. British press offered that it is possible to get HIV from contact with almost all contaminated products, objects of daily usage and simple routines. Consequently, such simple things as the usage of towels in swimming pools, kissing, shaking hands, hugging, drinking from the bottle were covered with stereotypes and fear (Seale, 2002). When media people received proves that HIV can be easily isolated in saliva it provoked a new and fresh impulse of hysteria as papers with the headlines, such as “The Kiss of Death” became common. And social panic spread to the new areas of public interaction: restaurants, cafes, dental clinics. Apart of the fact that the number of those who contracted HIV was exaggerated in press these new facts only added to the atmosphere of fear out of dark unknowing (Harrabin et al., 2003). Why this fear was generated and who controlled it? This question was raised numerous times in journalistic circles because the panic that was created so spontaneously due to the lack of the verified medical data was spreading inadequately in 1980s and caused stigmatization of homosexuals and unreliable information appearance. The panic was partially intentional as the threat was really significant and in order to make the public notice powerful elites were using fear as a tool (Krapf, 1988). According to Soames-Jobs, “a large number of health promotion campaigns are based on a simple strategy: get behind people with a big stick (lots of threat and fear) in the hope this will drive them in the desired direction.” This how it worked with AIDS: having realized that potential harm to public health can be enormous it was decided to scare public with probable complications. The possibility to link AIDS to immoral lifestyle gave new impact in the disease coverage. In traditional and educated British society homosexuality and drug addiction were always persecuted and oppressed and this new mystic disease gave chance to the authority to show how these vices can be punished. However, there was a positive twist in all AIDS media campaign. In initial media campaign the accent was made on fatal outcome of the disease while further reporting of the disease was directed on telling how it is possible to live with HIV. That was the period when the information became more reliable and less emotional (Fitzpatrick, 2001). For the first time media received a chance to discuss such a private issues as sexual orientation, contraception, and sexual relationships openly. As a result people started using more condoms in fear to contract HIV and became more picky in their sexual partners. The fear was also generated from the bottom of social machine as well as the initiative for preventive measures because communities tended to gather more info ad produce more adequate actions. Therefore it is possible to conclude that reporting HIV and AIDS in media has always been problematic due to the severity of this disease and lack of medical information about it. As AIDS appeared only several decades ago and its first victims were African and homosexuals the disease was doomed to be covered with mysticism and conspiracy. Before the virus was isolated and doctors started distinguishing between HIV and AIDS the disease got covered with a number of myths and prejudices. On the early stage of reporting authorities found it possible to link AIDS to immoral behavior as most victims were young homosexuals. Previous stigmatization of gays and the possibility to find villains made media detect guilty and blame them for their marginal way of life. It was rather difficult for the media to accept the fact that HIV could also be contracted through blood and when it finally occured the label of “gay plague” was attached to AIDS. During the second stage of AIDS reporting in Britain the disease became a part of internal policy and many myths, such as possibility of get HIV though kissing, hugging or drinking from a common cup, were destroyed. The fear raised by media initiated by elites led to the possibility of sexual relationships open discussion and attention to contraception. Thus, when speaking about AIDS, it is possible to say that the hysteria created around it was fabricated to a great extent nevertheless it played its role: helped to avoid epidemic and raise the awareness of public. Though the stigmatization of homosexuals in terms of AIDS has reduced today the main pressure id directed to those living with HIV. References Allan, S (2002) Bodies at risk: News coverage of AIDS (pp 121-139) in Media, science and risk Buckingham: OU Press Beharrell, P (1998) News variations (pp.46-67) in Miller, D., Kitzinger, J., Williams, K and Beharrell, P. The circuit of mass communication London: Sage Berridge, V. & Strong, P. (2010). AIDS Policies in the United Kingdom: A Preliminary Analysis. University of California. Retrieved from http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft9b69p35n&chunk.id=d0e8019&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e8019&brand=ucpress Critcher, C. (2003) Unhealthy preoccupations in Moral panics and the media Buckingham: OU Press Cullen, T. (2003). HIV/AIDS: 20 years of press coverage, Australian Studies in Journalism 12 Downs, A. (1972). Up and Down with ecology”, The Public Interest, (28): 38-50. Foreman, M. (2003). Ethical guide to reporting HIV, UNESCO Official Website. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/publications/media_aids/chapter_2.pdf Harrabin, R., Coote, A., and Allen, J (2003) Health in the News: Risk, reporting and media influence London: Kingsfund Fitzpatrick, M. (2001). Health scares and moral panics (pp.13-34) in The Tyranny of Health: Doctors and the regulation of lifestyle London: Routledge Lupton, D (1994). Moral threats and dangerous desire: Aids in the news media London: Taylor and Francis Lupton, D. (1992) From complacency to panic: AIDS and heterosexuals in the Australian press, July 1986 to June 1988 Health Education Research: Theory and Practice Vol.7.No.1.pp.9-20 Karpf, A. (1988) Moral Panics and miracle cures (pp. 135-149) in Karpf Doctoring the media: The Reporting of health and medicine London: Routledge Miller, D and Beharrell, P. (1998) Aids and television news (pp.68-90) in Miller, D., Kitzinger, J., Williams, K and Beharrell, P. The circuit of mass communication London: Sage Seale, C. (2002). Danger, fear and insecurity in Media and health London: Sage Seale, C. (2002). Villains and Freaks in Media and health London: Sage Watney, S. (1997) Moral panics in Policing desire: Pornography Aids and the media (3rd ed) London: Cassell Watney, S. (1997). Aids and the press in Policing desire: Pornography Aids and the media (3rd ed) London: Cassell Watney, S. (1997). Aids on television in Policing desire: Pornography Aids and the media (3rd ed) London: Cassell Read More