Panel Debates Media, AIDS

Representatives from television networks, the government, Harvard and an AIDS interest group battled over television's proper role in portraying the disease at the School of Public Health yesterday.

While some panelists at the event--which attracted a crowd of about 100--said television should mainly report on the disease, public health experts said the medium could do more to change the public's behavior.

"The primary mission of television is to provide entertainment to millions of homes," said Harvey C. Dzodin, vice president of commercial clearance at ABC. "As a by-product, television keeps people informed."

Dzodin said ABC has worked hard to incorporate AIDS into prime-time television in both sitcoms and news programs. He described the tale of AIDS-infected Cynthia on "All My Children."

"Television can only inform, it can't change behavior. We're doing as much as we responsibly can," said Matthew D. Margo, vice president of the program practices division of CBS.

"The problem isn't public awareness, but to change behavior--and that's where community organizations must play the key role."

But public health experts disagreed, calling on the networks to promote the use of condoms and dispel myths about the disease's transmission.

"Television can motivate and reinforce condom use," said School of Public Health Dean Harvey V. Fineberg '67. He said the media can also reduce the social barriers to discussion of AIDS.

"Seventy-five percent of drug abusers said that their information about AIDS came from television," said Assistant Surgeon General Gary R. Noble. But, he said. TV news media's coverage of AIDS peaked in 1987 and has dropped 50 percent since then.

Larry Kessler, executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, said networks still need to expand coverage of AIDS. "We have a love-hate relationship," Kessler said. "We can't do with them, and we can't do without them."

Kessler said the networks must stop perpetuating false stereotypes of AIDS.

He said early descriptions of AIDS as "fatal," "mysterious," "out-of-nowhere," and "unknown" influenced the public's perception of AIDS. Later, television focused primarily on gay, middle-class white males for story material or photographed poor Blacks shooting crack in dark alleyways, stereotyping AIDS as a disease of drug abusers and gay men alone.

"Now, in 1989, communities of color say, `You never told us about AIDS'," Kessler said.

But Margo defended his network's practices, saying, "We must respect the moral and religious views of our viewers."

He said that when CBS began to air more material concerning AIDS in 1988, CBS received over 70,000 letters of complaint, many of which were part of an organized campaign.