Media’s impact on AIDS: public opinion, policy, people. Implications for journalists Guy Berger, Rhodes Journalism &

Media’s impact on AIDS: public opinion, policy, people.Implications for journalistsGuy Berger,Rhodes Journalism & Media Studies, 26/11/03

What’s the point of AIDS journalism?: List three impacts it has

What’s up: • A force for change • Place of news • Models of media-people-policymakers • Kinds of influences • Public opinion • Conclusion

South African problem: • Deadly serious epidemic • Popular government & powerful president • Very fixed govt ideas: • HiV not linked to AIDS • Poverty => AIDS • Fear of pharmaceutical companies • Suspicion of ante-retrovirals • Pride about African male sexual practice

Opposition: • Tutu, Mandela, Ndungane • Cosatu, TAC, opposition parties • Canadian prime minister • 5000 doctors • Constitutional court

Five year change process: “Questions still remain about what finally prompted government to open the way for HIV-positive people to get the medical treatment they need.” Business Day

Poll factor: “One possibility is that the crisis that arose as a result of govt inaction, has now had consequences that are impossible to ignore – especially with an election in the offing.”Business Day What was media role in all this?

What can media do? “Without doubt, journalists have the power to shape and influence the way people think and make decisions. “This agenda-setting role has never been more urgent, given the impact of HIV/AIDS on ordinary lives in eastern and southern Africa” Lucy Oriang, Nation, Nairobi.

Specific role of news coverage: Soul City • Gives public accurate info • Helps destigmatise • Gives informed debate on tough qtns • Influences public opinion against behaviour that spreads HIV • Monitors and pressurises govt and business.

Summing up: • No major change in infection rate, • but maybe it would be even worse without the many efforts incl media. • Momentous change in a very stubborn government policy. • Change has also occurred in drug companies’ pricing policies. • Qtn remains: • how do we understand media power – and powerlessness - in all this?

Specific role of news coverage: Cadre • Influences public policy, and therefore the environment within which individuals act. • This is different to communication campaigns which target individual and peer behavioural change. • Journalism complements social marketing. (Wallack & Dorfman, cited by Cadre)

How News works: Cadre • Links AIDS to social conditions and collective action, rather than treat it as a purely/primarily personal issue; • Focuses on opinion leaders & policy makers – i.e. puts responsibility with those in power, not with individuals in the public; • Amplifies voices of civil society; • Effects change in public policy & institutional practice, rather than in personal behaviour.

News is distinctive: Cadre • It does agenda setting and opinion-making rather than simply information-giving. • It is not necessarily government-bashing, but it can be. • “Powerful forces often try to influence the agenda and may pressurise journalists … for eg. … politicians … pharmaceutical companies.”

Strengths & weaknesses: Cadre • Media coverage ensures that HIV-AIDS is seen as an important issue requiring a coherent national polity response. Indeed it has the power to set the agenda in this regard. • But: • Can give sense of helplessness. • Educative role is weak.

Perceived effect: media quotes from Cadre • “It’s very clear that the pressure from the media shamed them into working more quickly” • “Usually, there has to be a groundswell in society. Very occasionally, I think that the media makes the issue, but usually the media is reflecting the reality of what is happening on the ground.”

Summing up: • Journalism is different to social marketing. • It plays in a political arena. • The stakes are about public power and allocation of national resources. As we’ll see, journalism impacts on policy issues via its power in making Public Opinion.

“ Public opinion sets the bounds of the possible – especially as regards the shape of policy and the exercise of power. Qtn: how do orthodoxies change – cf. women’s role, privatisation and liberalisation? Qtn: where does media fit in? That’s why understanding media’s impact is important. ”

THE ACTORS: • the public public opinion • the media • policy people

Give examples of these actors in your universe: • Media • Public • Policy people

Specific players: • media: different platforms, premier outlets, media stars (Oprah) • public: general public, civil society groups incl NGOs, business, global forces, individuals. • policy people: the makers and the implementers. • Qtn: who drives the process?

Five models of how the relationship works: • Liberal democratic • Watchdog model • Bypassing civil society • Manipulation model • The “Toady Times”

1. Liberal democratic model MEDIA COVERAGE 2 3 PUBLIC + OPINION 1 GOVT RESPONDS i.e. The public is the active source of public opinion eg. Aids activists win coverage, affect govt

2. Watchdog model PUBLIC + OPINION 2 MEDIA COVERAGE 1 GOVT RESPONDS 3 i.e. Media coverage is active source of public opinion eg. Exposure of child abuse, Child-headed households

3. Bypassing Civil Society 2 GOVT RESPONDS MEDIA COVERAGE 1 = “PUBLIC OPINION” i.e. Media impacts on govt, irrespectv of real public opinion eg. Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky

4. Manipulation model 2 MEDIA COVERAGE GOVT INITIATES 1 PUBLIC + OPINION 3 i.e. Government is the originator of public opinion eg. Iraq war in US, Info scandal, discredit leader’s rivals

5. “Toady Times” GOVT FLATTERED 2 MEDIA COVERAGE 1 i.e. Media is the originator, circuit incomplete eg. media coverage aims to please govt, ignores public

Overall picture (a): • Policy people infer Public Opinion from media, • and they use media to promote their policies. • Often it is interaction of media & politicians (not the public) that affects govt policy & practice.

Overall picture (b): • But civil society also has a real role to play as in the first model. • In practice, many situations combine aspects of all five models. Which model/s match/es your medium best? democratic, watchdog, bypassing civil society, manipulation, toady.

Making public opinion 1: • Enthusiastic, one-sided & simplistic treatment in the media = rapid policy change; • Eg. ante-retrovirals • Complexity & debate = slower policy action. • Eg. genetically modified crops • Effect on politicians & policy is cyclical: mobilisation -> action -> maintenance -> fade (as the media intensity declines).

Making public opinion 2: • Some media more influential than others: eg. TV greater on dramatic & short-term events. • But often TV takes its cue from print. • Intermedia agenda-setting power. For example, some titles set “the story” for others. • Note: power of international media and cultural imperialism.

Summing up • Keep triangle of public-media-policymakers in mind; • Note the complexity or simplicity dimension; • Acknowledge cyclical impact; • Remember inter-media influence.

Your influence: a preview Direct, indirect, longterm, etc. Theories: • Audiences make the effects • Indirect identity development • KAP: knowledge & info levels • Stimulus-response effects: emotions • Agenda-setting • Paradigms and frames

1a: Audiences are active Uses & gratificationstheory: Audiences act on media; they make the effects. But: • People do change through media exposure, • Messages are not open-ended, • Reinforcement, rather than change, effect. Still: U&G valid - audiences aren’t pure recipients

1b. Audiences decode Media effects are subject to receiver decoding: • hegemonic, (b) negotiated, (c) oppositional a. “Hegemonic decoding”: Reinforcing influence. You accept the package

1a. Audiences decode cntd. b. “Negotiated decoding”: You accept only part of the package. Question: Why? Answer: Situated & Mediated meaning-making resources. c. “Oppositional decoding”: A “weak effects” approach. Implies a resistance orientation (eg. to white media, govt media).

2. Indirect effects: identities • Media creates new publics-communities, causes changes in politics, alters people’s time allocation. • A “media dense” environment will have greater effect in this area, and especially on identities – on who you are. • Identity is developed through role models, & through the “subjective” positioning needed to participate in a discourse. • Much less the case in most of 3rd World.

3. Knowledge & info effects KAP model • Knowledge and information, • Attitudes, • Practices/behaviour. • Head => heart => hands • But not so simply linear! • Still, knowledge-info are vital elements.

4. S-R: emotional effects Stimulus-response (S-R) theory: • Works on short-term attitudes and opinions • Overly-powerful view. • But true that S-R exists in affective responses: fears, tears, identification, anger, laughter, arousal. Suicides, fashions, riots. • Less-powerful view: S-R is modified by psycho variables, socio variables, 2 step diffusion.

5. Deeper effects • Works on beliefs, values, norms, worldviews • (foundation of attitudes & opinions) More longterm, & relatively powerful: • Agenda-setting effects • Paradigmatic effects.

5a. Agenda-setting effects • Defines what is important. • Affects not what you think, but what you think about. • Plays to advantage of specific forces.

5b. Paradigmatic effects • How you think about the agenda: • i.e. “framing” what has been “primed”. • Thiseffect defines reality & norms. • Defines what is wise, normal, praiseworthy, acceptable, right. • Sets out what is deviant, disgusting, outdated, unacceptable.

5b. Paradigmatic effects cntd • The frame also defines what is taboo, illegitimate, stigmatised. • It often merges with other paradigms: • Eg. Anti-statism => govt AIDS plans are automatically suspect. • Eg. Anti-racism => white sources are suspect. • Eg. Homophobia/xenophobia => The Other is seen as an external threat. • Eg. Sexism => women are there to satisfy men.

Paradigm examples • “Mbeki slammed by health professionals”. • Govt out of line with international mainstream. • Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang described as bloody-minded, petty, obsessed, toady, insensitive, a quack.

Influence: summing up Theories we’ve covered: • Audiences make effects • Identity development • KAP: knowledge as foundation • Stimulus-response effects: emotions • Agenda-setting • Paradigms and frames There is value in all of them. Media interacts with people – singly, jointly – in all these ways

Which effect/s resonate with your AIDS journalism? How? • No effect: Audiences are in charge. • General: Identity development • KAP: knowledge as foundation • Stimulus-response: you arouse emotions • Agenda-setting about what is NB • Paradigms and frames: set norms

Media’s impact on AIDS: public opinion, policy, people. Implications for journalists Guy Berger, Rhodes Journalism &