Comparing Coverage of HIV/AIDS in Black and General Audience Newspapers

INTRODUCTION: HIV/AIDS continues to disproportionately affect Black Americans as we enter the fourth decade of the disease. Renewed efforts are needed to identify effective prevention and treatment methods, as well as better ways to utilize local resources including tools that play an integral role in setting community agendas. Prior research has established that newspaper coverage dictates which issues are considered of greatest importance in communities. HIV/AIDS coverage in Black newspapers and general audience newspapers frame the way the disease — and its related issues — are perceived within communities. METHODS: A content analysis examined articles from weekly Black newspapers (BN) and daily general audience newspapers (GAN) from the same 12 cities in the South and Midwest. The analysis included 79 GAN articles and 118 BN articles on HIV/AIDS published between April 2004 and March 2005. The set of articles were coded for seven categoies of framing variables — locale, article source, issue, localized information, primary frame, secondary frame and information sources. RESULTS: BN were more likely to publish human-interest articles about local people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and to cover local HIV/AIDS organizations and events. However, both BN and GAN covered national and international annual observances, scientific conferences and other occurrences that made national headlines. CONCLUSIONS: GAN tend to use a biomedical approach to frame HIV/AIDS articles, whereas BN tend to use a sociocultural approach. By understanding the framing of HIV/AIDS coverage in local newspapers, appropriate theory-based approaches can more effectively target local communities that face increased risk.