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THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN MY GUESSES |
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The local newspaper delivered to my house is The Star Ledger. This is based in Newark, a city in Essex County which is located to the east of Morris County. Having read the paper most days for the past year or two, I have seen a large sample of articles and topics that the paper focuses on. After a Lexis Nexis data base search for articles concerning HIV/AIDS in the past two years, a mere 209 articles surfaced (4). The majority of these 209 articles appeared on page 15 or farther back in the newspapers (4). Few of the articles addressed specific ethnic groups in my area which experienced high rates of HIV/AIDS or whether it was a greater problem for men or women. Many of the articles found that supposedly addressed HIV/AIDS either made mention of the diseases very generally as a health crisis in the United States or did not highlight the epidemic as it affected New Jersey. For example, in an editorial that appeared on page 15 about the role of race in the upcoming election, Hilary Clinton was quoted as saying if, “HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country” (5). She says this because she is speaking to the fact that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in some African American communities and she, “showing solidarity with her black Americans” (5). While this is not particular to HIV/AIDS in my area and I thus did not make the connection before I researched the numbers, I now see that this is very pertinent to Morris County. This is because the HIV/AIDS rate for African Americans in Morris County is well above the national rate for African Americans (tables 6 and 7). Other articles that appeared did not directly concern HIV/AIDS but focused on other diseases which were affected by AIDS. In an article entitled “Coping with a Rare and Often Silent Danger” by Amy Ellis Nut, a staff writer, AIDS was mentioned as a causing factor for the rise in tuberculosis in the United States (6). I remember seeing this particular article, crammed on page 19, when it was published in March of 2007 and after reading it, I felt more fearful about TB than I did about AIDS. This gave me no indication that there is a problem with AIDS in my specific area. Another portion of the articles dealt specifically with AIDS in different parts of the world and country. Most of the articles I recall reading and skimming back home focused on AIDS in areas other than my own. One article titled, “Russia: Rich Economy, Poor Health” is about the “declining rates of life expectancy” in Russia (7). The article discusses a number of causes for the decline of the life expectancy in Russia and mentions AIDS among the reasons (7). This article appeared on page five of the newspaper, farther up than most of the other articles I found. Another article deals with a woman from Kenya, Margaret Kilibwa, who is building a clinic in her hometown to, “‘help children left homeless or destitute by the devastation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic’” (8). Written by Michelle Howe, a staff writer, this article was again pushed to the middle of the paper to page seventeen (8). The fact that it was written by a staff writer indicates that the newspaper may have found this story important. Lastly, an article entitled “Bristol Allows Generic AIDS Drugs in Africa” was published in the Business section of the paper on page 58 and dealt with the Bristol-Myers drug company which, “cut a deal with two generic drugmakers to allow cheap versions of its newest AIDS drugs to be made in sub-Saharan Africa and India” (9). The article goes on to discuss the high numbers of cases of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and India (9). This affirmed my already established belief the HIV/AIDS is a big problem in South Africa, but not near me. The few articles that deal with AIDS in New Jersey focus on cities like Newark Paterson, and Camden. On August 1, 2007 it was reported that, “Newark, Atlantic City, Paterson, and Camden will become the first cities in New Jersey to offer a legally sanctioned [needle] exchange program” (10). This article appeared on page 23 and discusses Newark’s problem with HIV/AIDS stating that it has the “highest rate in the state and the second-highest rate of intravenous drug users” (10). There were three other articles that discussed the need for and the approval of a needle exchange program in the various cities (4). Reading these types of articles lead me to the correct assumption that the highest mode of transmission in Morris County is intravenous drug use. Several other articles discuss different AIDS activists and organizations that raise AIDS awareness coming to speak or visit the Newark area (4). One article that dealt specifically with Morristown appeared on February 7, 2006 on page 49 of the paper (11). It concerns a clinic in Morristown which helps citizens with HIV/AIDS that was not licensed to continue its counseling services for those with drug addictions (11).
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