There are two factors that seriously impede Americans' understanding of HIV/AIDS: They don't understand science, and they don't like to talk about sex.
That was among the observations made by a panel of journalist-activists speaking Aug. 21 about reporting on HIV/AIDS at the annual convention of the National Lesbian & gay Journalists Association, held at the Palmer House Hilton. The panel, part of the LGBT Media Summit, was moderated by Mark S. King, who writes the blog My Fabulous Disease.
Jeff Berry of Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ), who edits the magazine Positively Aware, said the fundamentals of how information about HIV/AIDS is distributed has changed. In the early days of the AIDS crisis, HIV-positive individuals found ways to share information and felt like they were empowering themselves when they did it.
"With the dawn of the Internet, it's very different for an organization like ours," he added. "People don't need those support groups as much."
But the unmoderated nature of the Internet allows for the rampant spread of misinformation, and that very often leads to those falsehoods being widely circulated. Among the stories that were misinterpreted by mainstream media were the World Health Organization's recommendation of PrEP, which was often reported as a suggestion that all gay men should use it, and confusion over the results of the iPrEx OLE study, which suggested that PrEP was 99 percent effective if it was taken 4 or more times a week.
"In mainstream media, they totally get it wrong," said King.
Writer Kellee Terrell of bet.com, among other outlets, laid some of the blame at the feet of "Gay, Inc," organizations that are usually some of the first to be consulted when a mainstream news outlet needs information pertaining to the LGBT community. She worked for GLAAD several years ago, and said that organization officials were reluctant to take up issues associated with HIV/AIDS. She said she was told, "We don't do AIDS here."
"We need to take back our power from organizations that are not responsive to our needs," added Johnathan Briggs, vice-president at Public Relations, Inc., who was previously with AIDS Foundation of Chicago, and before that had reported for the Chicago Tribune, among many news outlets. "We've got to find ways to latch onto the things people are talking about."
Berry said Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis ( PrEP ), Treatment as Prevention ( TasP ) strategies and HIV criminalization laws are three of the most pertinent issues journalists should be focusing on now. Each of these issues are difficult, he added, especially PrEP, since much of its discussion does center on condomless sex. "It's about sex—it's about pleasurable sex—but the conversations need to happen."
"It's all these things straight people don't like to talk about," noted Terrell. "… There's not enough understanding to overcome fear."
Briggs said journalists need to cultivate "messengers" to help accurately disseminate the news about HIV/AIDS, suggesting they both cultivate ties with AIDS organizations, for example, and find work colleagues who can help advocate in the newsroom for more probing work about the infection.
"We've all covered the same topics 10 times," Berry said of himself and his panelists. "Feel free to steal topics from us."
