Media

www.thevillager.com

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        In New York City media exposure to AIDS is far from lacking, with both community and citywide newspapers providing in-depth coverage of all aspects of the disease. I have found that the articles written on AIDS may be divided into three groups: those that address the international AIDS concerns, those that address the local, gay community concerns and those that address the changing face of American AIDS patients.

            The local community paper The Villager focuses primarily on the gay population in the Village and Chelsea when addressing the issue of AIDS with headlines in the “Gay Pride” section such as “City opens H.I.V./AIDS services center in Chelsea (3)” and “Stalled AIDS memorial plan for Village is revived (4)”.  While these articles addressed the large gay & AIDS afflicted community locally, they did not look at the newer larger issues in the city.

            Meanwhile The New York Times has covered in depth the AIDS crisis as it evolved in the city, as well as internationally. A search of The New York Times archives yields 5,605 articles since 1983 on HIV/AIDS, covering both third world countries and the metro area, with both sharing equal coverage. Front-page headlines have ranged from “Aids Fears Grow For Black Women (5)” to “HIV Risk Halved By Circumcision, US Agency Finds (6).”

            The New York media’s coverage of AIDS played a crucial role in my overestimate and misjudgment of AIDS cases and distribution in my zip code. With my community paper focusing on the gay AIDS patients that played such a large role in AIDS in the past through today, I was believed it had been even more detrimental then it had and I over estimated the number of AIDS cases. Meanwhile The New York Times coverage I was exposed to was both more recent in the issues facing the city, and more inclusive of the entire city. Thus I assumed that there were a greater number of affected females and blacks in my zip code.