AUDIENCE PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF HIV AND AIDS PANDEMIC IN LIMPOPO PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

This study investigates audience perceptions and attitudes towards media coverage of the HIV and AIDS and factors fuelling the pandemic in the province. A detailed questionnaire was used to collect data from residents of Bochum in Capricorn District, Thohoyandou in Vhembe district, Phalaborwa in Mopani district, and Jane-Furse in Sekhukhune district of the Limpopo province. The study indicated that most residents in the province have positive perceptions about media coverage of the pandemic. In spite of the extensive media coverage, their attitudinal responses were not quite encouraging. The study highlighted that the major factors influencing audience attitudinal response to media coverage of the pandemic include: poverty, rape, Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), alcohol and drugs, and unplanned teenage pregnancy. This study recommends that any HIV and AIDS mitigation strategy in the province should take into consideration the aforementioned factors and that the media should consistently and adequately report on the pandemic as one of the development challenges of the province

Keywords

• Newspaper coverage, attitudinal response, HIV and AIDS incident rate, determinants of HIV and AIDS pandemic

References

1. Chanda, M., Mchombu, K. & Nengomasha, C. 2008. The representative of HIV and AIDS in the media and its impact among young people in Namibia: A study of Windhoek and Katrima Mulilo. Information Development, 24:188-203.
2. De Wet, G. 2004. Agenda setting and HIV and AIDS news sources, implications for journalism education: An exploratory study. Ecquid Novi, 25, 1:94-114.
3. Dibua, U. E. 2009. Socio-Economic and socio-cultural predisposing risk factors to
4. HIV and AIDS: Case study of some locations in Eastern Nigeria. Journal of Tropical Medicine, 6, 2. Fox, A. M. 2012. The HIV-poverty thesis re-examined: poverty, wealth or inequality as a social determinant of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa?
5. Journal of Biosocial Science, 44:459–480. Kaiser Family Foundation & SABC. 2007. Young South Africans, broadcast media, and HIV and AIDS awareness: Results of a national survey.
6. Johannesburg: Henry Kaiser Foundation (HKFF) and SABC. Khosa, M. N. 2011. Young Adults Perception of the Effectiveness of HIV and AIDS Awareness Campaigns as an Instrument of Reducing Risk-Bearing Sexual
7. Behaviour. Unpublished Masters Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria. Magadi M. A. 2013. The disproportionate high risk of HIV infection among the urban poor in sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS and Behaviour, 17:1645–1654.
8. Matsoso-Makhate, M. & Wangenge-Ouma, G. 2009. Performing masculine and feminine identities: Sexuality and identity construction among youth in the context of HIV and AIDS. In Baxen, & Breidlid (Eds.). HIV and AIDS in

9. Sub-Saharan Africa: Understanding the Implications of Culture and Context, pp. 76. Cape Town: UCT Press. McCombs, W. 2004. Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media and Public Opinion. pp.1. Malden, MA. USA: Blackwell Publishing.
10. Ngam, T. M. 2007. Media as Agenda Setters: A Study of the Infected and Affected Living with HIV and AIDS. Master’s degree dissertation. Stelllenbosch,
11. South Africa: Stellenbosch University. Nupen, J. K & Wangenge-Ouma. 2009. Grade 10 Learners’ Conceptions of Risk of HIV Infection in Four Secondary Schools in the Western Cape. In J. Baxen and A. Breidlid (Ed.). HIV and AIDS in Sub- Saharan Africa: Understanding the Implications of Culture and Context, Cape Town, South Africa: UCT Press.
12. Pickle., K, Quinn., S. C. & Brown, J. D. 2002. HIV and AIDS coverage in black newspapers, 1991-1996. Implication for health communication and health education. Journal of Health Communication, 7: 427-444.
13. South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), 2012. National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB: 2012-2016. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
14. South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). 2007. HIV and AIDS and STI
15. Strategic Plan for South Africa, 2007 – 2011. Pretoria: Government of South Africa.
16. Shisana O., Rehle T., Simbayi L. C., Zuma K., Jooste S., Zungu N., Labadarios D., Onoya D., and others. (2014). South African National HIV Prevalence,
17. Incidence and Behaviour Survey, 2012. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
18. Simbayi, L. C., Kalichman, S. C., Jooste, S., Cherry, C., Mfecane, S. & Cain, D. Risk factors for HIV and AIDS among youth in Cape Town, South Africa. AIDS and Behaviour, 9, 1: 53-61. Statistics South Africa (StatSA), 2015. Mid-year population estimates. Pretoria: Government Press.
19. Swanepoel, T., Fourie, L. M. & Froneman, J. D. 2007. HIV and AIDS reporting in three South African newspapers. Communicare, 26, 1:74-91.
20. UNAIDS, 2016. Fact Sheet 2016, Global Statistics – 2015, p. 1 - 9. Geneva: UNAIDS.
21. Viswanath, K. 2016. Public communications and its role in reducing and eliminating health disparities. In
22. Disparities Research Plan of the National Institutes of Health business. Edited by Thomson G, Mitchell F, Williams M. Washington, D.C: Institute of Medicine. pp. 215–253. Examining the Health Unfinished Wabiri, N, and Taffa, N. 2013. Socio-economic inequality and HIV in South
23. Africa. BMC Public Health, 13:1-10
24. Whiteside, A. 2002. Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Third World Quarterly, 23, : 313-332.