Covering the Epidemic:
AIDS in the News Media, 1985-1996

A Content Analysis

---

TYPICAL NEWS WEEKS

• Characteristics of Coverage During Typical News Weeks
• Changes in Coverage over Time for Typical News Weeks
• Print vs. Broadcast Coverage During Typical News Weeks
• Comparing Newspapers' Coverage During Typical News Weeks
• Comparing TV Networks' Coverage During Typical News Weeks

Characteristics of Coverage During Typical News Weeks

Of the 1,853 AIDS stories examined during Typical News Weeks, 785 (42%) had AIDS as the primary topic. AIDS-focused stories were generally treated as hard news, but relatively few were positioned by the national media with the top news stories of the day. On network TV's evening news programs, these stories most often appeared in the "middle third" of the broadcast (51%) rather than the "top third" (21%) or "bottom third" (28%). In newspapers, AIDS-focused reporting was more often found in the National/International section than the Style/Life/Entertainment section (33% vs. 23%); but only 4% made the front page.

In terms of length, Typical News Weeks newspaper stories tended to be brief. Six in 10 (59%) amounted to less than 400 words, including over a third (37%) that were no more than 150 words. The largest number (51%) of AIDS-focused television stories during Typical News Weeks ranged from just over one minute to two and one-half minutes in length; one in three (33%) broadcast stories, however, were extremely brief, no more than 30 seconds in length.

Although the disease has had devastating effects in Africa and other places outside the United States, AIDS was only rarely reported as an international story -- an overwhelming percentage (97%) of all stories were filed with U.S. datelines. Only 24 AIDS-focused stories with non-U.S. datelines were identified over the course of the 26 Typical News Weeks.

During Typical News Weeks, stories focused on AIDS most often fell into two categories, about equal in size: News Event coverage (29%) and researched Backgrounders (27%). The most likely recurring leads to appear during Typical News Weeks were the Fashion/Arts/Entertainment Industry's Response to AIDS (8%) and the Release of Research Findings (7%). The topic most likely to be addressed by newspaper stories as either the principal or secondary subject, was Prevention/Protection (20%), followed by Treatment (13%), Transmission (13%) and Research (13%).

There was no single leading categorical newsmaker for AIDS-focused stories in Typical News Weeks. Three very different groups share the top spot: Celebrities (15%), the Scientific/Medical community (14%), and State/Local Officials (14%). No real "villains" developed in the media's coverage of AIDS. More than four of five of stories (84%) during Typical News Weeks were evaluated as either neutral or positive in tone toward the Principal Newsmaker.

When dealing with a controversial topic, the media sometimes defaults to covering it as a political issue. But this clearly did not happen in the case of AIDS. Only 3% of all Typical News Weeks stories concentrated on the impact of the AIDS crisis on the political process. In contrast, nearly two of three (64%) focused on the impact of AIDS on various groups or communities, including one in four stories (25%) that dealt with the disease's impact on the lives of all HIV-positive individuals. The media studied also did not overemphasize the more confrontational aspects of these stories; for example, Typical News Weeks stories were more likely to report on the conditions created by the disease than the conflicts associated with it (46% vs. 31%).

The media did not shirk from conveying to the news audience what medical science had learned about AIDS. During Typical News Weeks, almost half (47%) of all AIDS-focused stories raised the question of HIV/AIDS abatement, addressing both Treatment and Prevention. News stories examining Treatment issues, including drug therapies, tended to be optimistic in tone (optimistic=44% vs. pessimistic=23%), while the tone was more mixed for stories examining AIDS Prevention, including vaccines, (optimistic=37% vs. pessimistic=30%).

Further demonstrating the media's role in keeping the public informed about AIDS issues, about half (48%) of all AIDS-focused Typical News Week stories contained information that would educate readers or views about either policy or consumer issues. About one in five (19%) of these stories had a policy issue debate central to the reporting.

Changes in Coverage over Time for Typical News Weeks

Over the past decade, AIDS-focused stories during Typical News Weeks became shorter in length, more likely to appear in the "soft news" sections of newspapers and network newscasts, and more likely to deal with the celebrity-related aspects of AIDS. In three of the four years between 1985 and 1988, at least 27% of all AIDS-focused newspaper stories were 700 words or more. But only in one of the following six years did the percentage of longer AIDS-focused stories approach this level (1993=26%). In three of the last four years studied (1992-95), 62% or more of all AIDS-focused newspaper stories were short articles or bullet items of less than 400 words.

The media devoted a larger portion of its AIDS coverage to informing people about how the disease spreads and what they can do to protect themselves during the first half of the study's time frame. The percentage of stories covering AIDS Prevention as the primary or secondary topic peaked at 31% in 1987. For stories covering AIDS Transmission, the peak occurred in 1990 (21%).

Media coverage in these two areas during the mid- to late 1980s may have contributed to improved public awareness and knowledge about AIDS. According to national Gallup surveys, by 1989 nearly all adults were aware that AIDS can be transmitted by shared needles (98%), homosexual intercourse (96%) and heterosexual intercourse (95%). The proportion of adults who believed someone could contract AIDS by being sneezed or coughed on, as high as 25% in 1987, dropped to 14% by 1989.

As public understanding of the medical aspects of AIDS improved, media coverage shifted. Stories devoted to AIDS fundraising never accounted for more than 6% of each year's coverage prior to 1988; but between 1989 and 1994, the proportion of AIDS-focused stories covering some aspect of AIDS charities and fundraising during a given year more than doubled to 14% or more. Celebrity-related activities, which had never scored more than 9% as a primary or secondary topic during Typical News Weeks from 1985-92, reached 18% in 1993; and 22% in 1995, the last full year of coverage analyzed.

(see Figure 6: Major Newsmakers 1985-1996)

Underscoring the growing presence of celebrities in media coverage of AIDS, this group was the highest-ranking category of AIDS newsmakers these same two years. One in four (25%) AIDS-focused stories during Typical News Weeks in 1993 and 1995 featured celebrities as the Principal Newsmaker. The percentage of stories featuring members of the Scientific/Medical community, which stood at 29% in 1988, fell to 23% in 1989, and never again reached 15% for Typical News Weeks.

Major Newsmaker tone was more likely to be neutral/ambiguous as time went on. In 1985, only four in 10 (42%) of all Major Newsmaker coverage was neutral/ambiguous, a similar percentage (41%) were positive, and a far smaller percentage (17%) was critical of the Major Newsmaker. After 1988, at least half of all Major Newsmaker coverage was neutral/ambiguous; and in two of those years, (1989 and 1994) that category grew to include a full seven in 10 (70%) of all AIDS-focused stories.

Print vs. Broadcast Coverage During Typical News Weeks

Network television news programs gave precedence to breaking or recent news in their AIDS reporting (News Events=67% vs. Backgrounders=26%), while newspapers' coverage was more evenly divided between breaking news and researched items (News Events=26% vs. Backgrounders=29%). This difference is probably a reflection of the severe space limitations inherent in a 30 minute television news program that includes commercial advertising.

(see Figure 7: AIDS Leads Used: Print Vs. Broadcast 1985-1996)

Print stories during Typical News Weeks gave more attention to fundraising & charities (print=11% vs. broadcast=2%) and, to a lesser extent, celebrities (print=9% vs. broadcast=5%) as a primary topic. Perhaps the most noteworthy difference between print and broadcast coverage of AIDS during Typical News Weeks is television's greater tendency to cover the medical or scientific aspects of the story. Research findings or AZT drug therapies were more often the recurring lead of AIDS reporting on television: (print=9% vs. broadcast=16%).

Television news was also more likely to feature a member of the Scientific/Medical community (print=14% vs. broadcast=23%), or a federal agency, such as the Centers for Disease Control (print=7% vs. broadcast=16%) as the story's Major Newsmaker. In addition, a larger share of television coverage during Typical News Weeks examined the conditions resulting from the HIV/AIDS crisis (print=44% vs. broadcast=58%), including medical conditions specifically (print=9% vs. broadcast=19%). Newspaper and network TV news stories were about equally likely to deal with conflict resulting from the AIDS crisis in their reporting (print=31% vs. broadcast=33%).

Comparing Newspapers' Coverage During Typical News Weeks

NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS: The national newspapers studied differed in some aspects of their AIDS reporting during Typical News Weeks. The New York Times was less likely to focus on celebrity-related coverage during Typical News Weeks; only 11% of its stories featured celebrities as Major Newsmakers, less than either The Washington Post (18%) or USA Today (20%). Both The Times (17%) and The Post (15%) were more likely than USA Today (9%) to feature members of the Scientific/Medical community as Major Newsmakers. The Washington Post was no more likely than the other national papers to concentrate on traditional Washington newsmakers: the share of its AIDS stories featuring Presidential Administrations, Congress and Federal Agencies (16%) was not significantly different from that of The Times (15%) or USA Today (13%).

More long stories of 700 words or more, appeared in The Times than The Post: (37% vs. 25%). Consistent with its overall format, seven in 10 (72%) USA Today stories were less than 150 words; a similar number (71%) of the newspaper's AIDS-focused stories were classified as bullet items.

REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS: During Typical News Weeks, The San Francisco Chronicle ran a total of 97 stories focused on AIDS, while The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran 67 stories. Most of this 30-story difference can be explained by the amount of AIDS coverage found in Local/Regional sections of the two papers. Over the Typical News Weeks studied, The Chronicle ran 23 more stories in the local section than The Post-Dispatch (28 vs. 5). As expected, there was more local news to report about the epidemic in the Bay Area than in greater St. Louis. Aside from the local angle, however, there were other differences in way these two regional papers covered AIDS during Typical News Weeks. The San Francisco paper gave the story more of a hard news treatment. Over half (58%) of all non-local pieces carried by The Chronicle during Typical News Weeks appeared either on Page One or in the National/International section, compared with fewer than half (44%) of non-local pieces in The Post-Dispatch. Consistent with its more soft news approach, a third (34%) of the St. Louis paper's non-local items appeared in the Style/Life section, compared with a quarter (25%) of those in the San Francisco paper.

In addition to providing more local coverage and more serious news, The Chronicle's coverage was also more politically oriented. In total, 16% of the newspaper's AIDS-focused stories during Typical News Weeks had politics as the Principal News Topic, compared with only 5% of stories in The Post-Dispatch.

Comparing TV Networks' Coverage During Typical News Weeks

CBS ran fewer news items focused on AIDS than its competitors during Typical News Weeks. In total, CBS ran 8 stories, compared with ABC's 18 stories and NBC's 17 stories. The major difference, was in the number of brief news items. The CBS Evening News ran only one news item less than 30 seconds in length during Typical News Weeks, compared with seven items on ABC World News Tonight and six items on the NBC Nightly News. In the number of stories exceeding one minute in length, CBS (7) came closer to its competitors, ABC (10) and NBC (11).

Return to top Covering the Epidemic: AIDS in the News Media, 1985-1996: Press Release | Survey | Chart Pack | Fact Sheet Index | Next Fact Sheet