Wesb1301

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6 August 2008from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Venue: SBR3

XVII International AIDS Conference3-8 August 2008 | Mexico City

Skills Building Session

Professional Media Coverage:Culture, Gender and Human Rights

in HIV and AIDS Reporting

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Workshop Objectives

To increase awareness of what comprises culturally relevant, human rights-based and gender sensitive reporting.

To build knowledge on how to report effectively on HIV and AIDS.

To identify the importance of language in reporting on HIV and AIDS.

To build media professionals’ capacity for reporting on HIV and AIDS.

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Workshop Facilitators

Mr Andrew RadolfUNESCO Office in San Jose

Ms Mia MilanInternews

Mr Chris MallourisGlobal Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS,GNP+

Ms Ainhoa JaureguibeitiaUNESCO Headquarters, Culture Sector

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Perspectives on how the global media news reports

on HIV and AIDS

SESSION I

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Analysis

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FINDINGS:

• Coverage: Room for improvement concerning the scope and quality of HIV and AIDS coverage in the media.

• Language: The language used to report on HIV and AIDS is still perceived to be stigmatizing – portraying people living with HIV as passive victims, or in some cases even criminalizing them.

• Conflict of interest: The goals of the media and HIV activists are perceived by some to be in opposition.

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RECOMMENDATIONS:

More investigative stories about social issues related to HIV and AIDS

More stories about people living with HIV and AIDS in order to give a face and a voice to the disease

Increased focus on positive living within the portrayals of people living with HIV

More specialist health reporters

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Placing Concepts: Culturally Appropriate,

Gender Responsive and Human Rights-Based

Reporting

SESSION II

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Santé

здоровье

صحه

Health

Salud

Different Definitions of Health

健康

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Why Culture Matters…?

Important to understand how culture influences

the discussion, prevention and treatment of illness

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Culture has a vital influence on health:

Determines how health-related

decisions are made

It shapes definitions of illness


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What are some examples of the relationship between culture and health when covering HIV and AIDS?

Sex Education

Gender Roles

Community versus Individual values


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Culture is often portrayed as an obstacle

to healthy behaviours

but in fact

Culture is usually the key to encouraging

positive behaviour changes.


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Impossible to recognize every social and cultural factor impacting the epidemic

Gender

HumanRights

Culture

Education

Politics

Economics

Law

Health

HIV and AIDS epidemic

Culture

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BUT building a general awareness of these can make reporting more accurate, balanced and relevant to your audience.


Gender

HumanRights

Culture

Education

Politics

Economics

Law

Health


Culture

Media

Media

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Need to supplement knowledge of

the basic facts about

the epidemic

Challenge for journalistsreporting on HIV and AIDS is to balance

between


Gender

HumanRights

Culture

Education

Politics

Economics

Law

Health


Culture

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Gender Responsive ….?

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The term “Gender” is often confused with ‘Sex’:

‘SEX’The biological and physiological

characteristics that define someone as a man or woman

Gender - What do we mean?

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Gender - What do we mean?

To mark the difference in your writing, you can use ‘male’ and ‘female’ for sex categories,

and ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ for gender categories [1].

[1] World Health Organisation (WHO), “What do we mean by “sex” and “gender”?”

http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/index.html

Gender Culturally constructed roles assigned

to men and women influencing what behaviours, activities and

attributes are acceptable for each sex.

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Gender and the Pandemic

Gender inequality

is currently both

fuelling and intensifying

the impact of the HIV epidemic.

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For example, gender norms can influence:

• Access to education and information

• Sexual practice and risk behaviours

• How violence among genders is condoned

Gender and the Pandemic

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Integrating a Gender Perspective in your work

Everyone has personal opinions, biases and stereotypes

that can easily influence a person's work

Gender biases and prejudices within reporting

and amongst media practitioners can seriously jeopardize

the quality and accuracy of reporting.

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Introducing a gender perspective into the media is important

because it helps journalists and editors to understand how:

Attitudes, Prejudices, Biases, and Socialization

come out within reporting

Gender Perspective

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Gender Responsive Reporting

Gaining an understanding of how gender is impacting the epidemic as a necessarybasis for reporting on the epidemic.

Two Gender Dimensions within HIV and AIDS reporting:

Adding a gender perspective to the reporting process:• Who gets covered?• From what perspective?• What stereotypes are

communicated?• Does the coverage reveal gender

inequality that reinforces or upholds traditional values and attitudes that diminish one’s rights?

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Human Rights-Based …

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Human rights-based approach (HRBA)

Human rights express recognition and respect for human dignity:

they are universal and belong equally to all human beings

Human rights consist of:

economic, social and cultural rights

civil and political rights

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Linkages: HRBA, HIV and AIDS

• They impact not only the physical health of individuals, but also their social identity and condition.

• Extremely high levels of stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV and AIDS.

What is different

about HIV and AIDS?

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The spread of HIV and AIDS is disproportionately high among groups

already experiencing a lack of human rights protection,

social and economic discrimination, and/or are marginalized by their legal status. [1]

Linkages: HRBA, HIV and AIDS

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, Young People in Action Kit”

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=35997&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, 2001.

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When Human Rights are Denied:

• Lack of access to information can lead to misinformation and risky behaviors

• Medicines to protect the right to life and the right to health can be difficult to access and afford

• Discrimination and denial of the right to employment is more likely to occur

• There is often a loss of privacy, confidentiality and dignity

• Increased likelihood that people will NOT seek counseling, testing, treatment and support

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Gender

HumanRights

Education

PoliticsEconomics

Law

Health


Media

Culture

Media

Where to go from here…?

Wesb1301

Health & Medicine

Transcript of Wesb1301