Characteristics of Coverage During Major Event Weeks During Major Event Weeks, AIDS-focused stories were much more likely to receive prominent play by the media. Of the 1,284 stories analyzed during Major Event Weeks, six in 10 (788, or 61%) were principally focused on AIDS related topics. By comparison, only about four in 10 (42%) stories analyzed for Typical News Weeks were so focused. A total of 49 Page One stories were run during the eight Major Event Weeks, compared with only 32 front page stories over the course of 26 Typical News Weeks. Similarly, during Major Event Weeks, more than one-half (57%) of network TV news stories focused on AIDS were in the top-third of the broadcast, compared with less than one-fourth (21%) of such stories run during Typical News Weeks. A total of 15 lead stories about AIDS were run on network evening news during Major Event Weeks (eight for Magic Johnson Week I alone), compared with only one lead story during all the Typical News Weeks combined.
AIDS coverage made its way into every section of the newspaper during Major Event Weeks. The biggest increase in coverage over Typical News Weeks is seen in Sports, not surprising given that athletes figured in four of the eight major events. A total of 182 newspaper stories focused on AIDS ran in the Sports pages during Major Event Weeks compared with only 44 during Typical News Weeks (+138). Most of these Sports stories were run during Magic Johnson Week I (100), with the remainder split about evenly among the Arthur Ashe (27), Magic Johnson Week II (24) and Tommy Morrison (31) weeks. AIDS essentially made its debut as a Sports story after Magic Johnson's announcement in 1991. The study encountered only three Sports stories, in total, that were principally focused on AIDS in the years between 1985 and 1990.
Two other sections of newspapers also had more AIDS-focused pieces during the eight Major Event Weeks than over the course of 26 Typical News Weeks: Page One (49 vs.32, +17) and the Editorial/OP-ED section (54 vs. 34, +20). In contrast, the two newspaper sections least likely to expand their AIDS-focused coverage in Major Event Weeks were the National/International pages (180 articles vs. 250 for Typical News Weeks, -70) and the Style/Life (150 vs. 77, -73).
AIDS-focused stories run on Major Event Weeks were longer, on average, than those run on Typical News Weeks. More than half (53%) of all newspaper stories during Major Event Weeks, compared with four in 10 (41%) during Typical News Weeks, were 400 words or more. Almost a third (31%) of Major Event Week newspaper stories exceeded 700 words. The Major Event Weeks most associated with longer newspaper stories were Arthur Ashe (700 words of more=35%) and Magic Johnson Week II (34%). Television also tended to devote more time to the average AIDS story during Major Event Weeks. More than seven in 10 (72%) TV stories aired during these weeks, as compared to 65% in Typical News Weeks, exceeded one minute. One in 10 (11%) stories during Major News Weeks were longer than two and one-half minutes. Most longer AIDS stories on network TV news were broadcast in one of the two Magic Johnson weeks (7 of the 12 stories over two and one-half minutes).
During Major Event Weeks, AIDS-focused stories were more likely to be classified as News Event coverage than researched Backgrounders (38% vs. 26%). For one Major Event Week, however -- Arthur Ashe -- this pattern was reversed, with Backgrounders outnumbering News Event pieces. "Think pieces" also accounted for a larger share of AIDS stories run on Major Event Weeks: 13% of all AIDS-focused stories during these eight weeks were either Commentary/Opinion or Editorials, compared with only 4% of those run during Typical News Weeks.
The large majority (68%) of AIDS news stories run during Major Event Weeks had recurring leads or "Big Stories" associated with them. But only during one week -- Magic Johnson Week I -- were a majority (59%) of AIDS stories directly related to the recurring lead of the week's big story. In fact, Magic Johnson Week I registered twice as high (or higher) on this measure as any other Major Event Week, with one exception -- Magic Johnson Week II (42%). This is but one indication of the extent to which Johnson personally dominated media coverage when he was in the spotlight.
(see Figure 8: Predominance of Big Story/Recurring Lead)
In establishing a Principal News Topic, the press most often concentrated on activities of Celebrities (25%). Prevention/Protection ranks a distant second as the primary focus of about one story in 10 (12%). Given the high the volume of coverage during Major Event Weeks, however, this figure translates into 58 stories primarily about Prevention, more than the total number of Prevention stories (42) run over the course of 26 Typical News Weeks.
The media addressed different AIDS education topics, including Transmission, Treatment and Testing as well as Prevention/Protection, in their coverage depending on the nature of the Major Event. As shown in Figure 9, AIDS-focused stories put the most emphasis on Transmission during the Florida Family week, when the degree to which the infected youths threatened community health was at issue. Transmission was also the major AIDS education topic during the Rock Hudson week, but probably for a different reason -- the public's knowledge was very limited at the time. Prevention/Protection was the principal focus of the largest share of stories during Magic Johnson Week I, as this case of someone who reported being infected through unprotected heterosexual intercourse created a demand for more information about safe(r) sex.
(see Figure 9: Coverage of AIDS Education Topics)
While Treatment was always secondary to other AIDS education topics, it scored highest as a principal topic during the two Magic Johnson weeks and the Florida family week. Both involved HIV-positive individuals who had not yet developed any AIDS symptoms. The topic of AIDS testing came to the forefront during the Kim Bergalis and Tommy Morrison weeks, the former a case where testing of health care workers was at issue and the latter a case of involving mandatory AIDS testing for professional athletes.
As would be expected, the leading categorical newsmakers during Major Event Weeks were Celebrities, the focus of four in 10 (39%) AIDS-focused stories. About one in 10 (11%) stories featured members of the Scientific/Medical community. As shown in Figure 10, Celebrities played a larger role as Major Newsmakers during more recent Major Event Weeks. Celebrities were the Major Newsmakers in over one-third (33%) of AIDS stories run during each of the last four Major Event Weeks, Magic Johnson Week I through Tommy Morrison. Only in one of the first four weeks studied -- Ryan White -- did Celebrities play this role to such a degree.
(see Figure 10: Newsmakers In Major Event Weeks)
Only during the Kim Bergalis Week did the Scientific/Medical community score higher than Celebrities as the Major Newsmaker (26% vs. 9%). Of course, this case was the degree to which it dealt directly with health care workers and AIDS. The other story in which the Scientific/Medical community scored high (29%) was Magic Johnson Week II, perhaps because medical experts were called in to answer the question: "Why is it okay for Magic to resume his career now if it wasn't okay in 1991?"
During Major Event Weeks, government officials were only rarely the principal categorical newsmakers in AIDS-focused stories. Overall, Presidential Administrations and Congress played this role in just 6% of stories; state and local officials did so in 8%. The first Major Event Week -- Rock Hudson -- was the only time the media put the spotlight on government officials in their AIDS reporting. During that week, one in six (16%) stories had Presidential Administrations/Congress as the top newsmaker and another one in three (36%) featured state or local officials.
Leading individual newsmakers during Major Event Weeks were consistently the person at the center of the breaking news event. But as illustrated in Figure 11, Magic Johnson (the major individual newsmaker in 38% of AIDS stories during his first week) and Arthur Ashe (39%) played the most dominant role, followed by Ryan White (31%) and Tommy Morrison (29%). Kim Bergalis scored the lowest of all individuals associated with Major Events, at 7%, perhaps because she shared the spotlight with the AMA during her week.
(see Figure 11: AIDS Newsmakers)
Major Newsmaker Tone was only rarely critical during Major Event Weeks: only one in 10 stories (9%) was negative in its examination of the top newsmakers, while three in 10 (30%) were positive. Tone was especially positive during the Arthur Ashe Week, when nearly half (47%) the stories praised the Major Newsmaker.
Major Event Week stories concentrated on the conditions generated by the disease in the majority (61%) of cases. One-quarter (25%) of all stories focused specifically on scientific and medical conditions, equal to all stories concentrated on conflict generated by AIDS issues (24%). The one major exception to this pattern was the Kim Bergalis Week, marked by the controversy over AIDS testing for medical personnel. During this week, as many AIDS-focused stories dealt with the conflicts as the conditions created by disease (50% each).
Almost one-half (48%) of the Major Event Week stories examined the impact of AIDS on Groups/Communities; and another three in 10 (31%) focused on the disease's impact on individuals and families. Fewer still (12%) addressed the impact of AIDS worldwide or on the nation as a whole.
Over the course of Major Event Weeks, the proportion of AIDS-focused stories dealing with the impact of AIDS on specific groups or communities, including those at higher-risk; declined between the mid to late 1980s, but has since seemed to rise again. As seen in Figure 12, seven in 10 stories (70%) during the Rock Hudson Week examined the impact on specific groups, but that number dropped steadily over the next four Major Event Weeks to 36% for Kim Bergalis. Beginning with Magic Johnson Week I, this trend reversed itself, and for the last Major Event Week, Tommy Morrison, scored a 60%.
(see Figure 12: Story Perspective During Major Event Weeks)
Stories that examined the impact of AIDS on the world or nation peaked during 1990-91, when 16% to 22% of stories run during the Ryan White, Kim Bergalis and Magic Johnson Week I looked at the "big picture" in terms of impact. This may reflect the media's response to increasing public awareness that the disease can spread among the public at large, not only among the identified higher-risk groups. Since that time, it would seem, AIDS coverage is again viewing the disease as a problem mainly for certain higher-risk groups.
Major Event Week stories included an examination of AIDS Abatement issues in one-half (49%) of all cases, about the same proportion as Typical News Week stories. Major Event Week stories addressing Treatment issues, like their Typical News Week counterparts, tended to be more positive in their outlook (optimistic=48% vs. pessimistic = 23%), while stories examining AIDS Prevention were more of a mixed bag (optimistic = 22% vs. pessimistic = 23%).
Also similar to Typical News Week stories, less than half (44%) of Major Event Week stories provided either consumer-oriented or policy information or education. Major Event Week stories were somewhat less likely than Typical News Week stories to have a policy issued debate central to the story (15% vs. 19%). Those stories that examined policy issues were considered generally balanced, and only 2% were found to be unfair to one side of the debate.
Rock Hudson's death, the first Major AIDS News Event studied, was the one case where AIDS news coverage was particularly instructive regarding consumer or policy issues. During this week two-thirds (67%) of stories made more than just a passing reference to one of these two areas.
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