ANALYSIS: Daily Sun’s shock & horror slant leads to re-stigmatisation
Kim Johnson
9 March 2012
The Daily Sun’s prioritisation of HIV-related stories is once again in evidence given last week Friday’s (2 March 2012) blaring front page headline, “AIDS pastor raped me!”. But the tabloid’s penchant for slanting stories towards shock has produced a stigmatising and unproductive HIV-related story.
The article in the ‘people’s paper’ tells the story of a woman allegedly raped by a church pastor, which resulted in her becoming pregnant and acquiring HIV. The woman also claims that the pastor is now on the run with and having sex with her 16-year-old daughter.
While the article does have the saving grace of a sensitive, non-identifying picture of the woman and her youngest daughter, it does little to balance the damage that the article does through re-stigmatising HIV.
The article’s use of the term “AIDS” is a convention that no longer applies in an era where antiretroviral treatment (ART) can control HIV infection and prevent people living with HIV from developing AIDS.
Essentially the use of the term “AIDS” and images of wasted bodies with faces like grinning skulls no longer represent what living with HIV is really like.
But the Daily Sun’s use of the term and their tone of shock and horror evokes fear and alarm and essentially gives the impression that HIV equals inescapable death and destruction; denying that anyone living with the virus could live a normal happy life.
The fact that the pastor also tells people living with HIV not to seek treatment and that he can cure the virus using his penis indicates that The Daily Sun has also missed an opportunity to conscientise its massive readership.
In this particular case the Daily Sun could have used this story to inform readers that they should only trust HIV-related information that comes from legitimate and reliable sources, in this case medical professionals and not religious leaders.
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