Michael Ferrigno
Professor Oppenheimer
Seminar 3: Urban Epidemics
30 September 2012
Research Paper Outline
Media Perspectives of HIV Testing and Antiretroviral Treatment
I. Introduction
a. Introduce the topic of HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment.
b. Discuss the stigma of HIV in society.
c. State the argument, i.e. media has control over our societies perspectives of HIV and AIDs. Has the medias perspective changed from when the disease first became an epidemic, compared to the media’s present day coverage of the disease?
II. Types of media to be analyzed
a. Newspapers: New York Times, Wall Street Journal
b. Propaganda, such as public health commercials and posters.
c. Documentaries/movies about HIV or people living with HIV.
III. Analysis of first New York Times article- 1980s
IV. Analysis of second NYT article- recent, late 2000s
V. Analysis of WSJ article- 1980s
VI. Analysis of WSJ article- recent, late 2000s
VII. Comparison of the 1980s articles
a. Is there a trend or stigma identified by the articles?
b. Do the articles agree with each other or contradict each other.
c. Discussion of the image of HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment portrayed by the articles.
VIII. Comparison of the recent, late 2000s articles.
IX. Analysis of the difference between the recent articles vs. the 1980s articles.
a. Is there a shift in point of view?
b. Do the messages offered by the more recent articles differ from the 1980s articles?
c. Is there clear evidence that Media perspectives have changed over time?
X. Discussion of Public Health propaganda
a. Analysis of MTV commercials about AIDS
b. Analysis of images of people with HIV AIDs, compared from the past to the present
c. Is there a shift from the media’s use of propaganda (posters, commercials, advertisements) from the past to the present?
XI. Discussion of the perspectives offered in Film and TV.
a. Analysis of documentaries on HIV
b. Do disparities exist between representations of HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment in the past and present?
XII. Conclusion
a. Has the media’s perspectives changed?
b. Sum up the differences between past and present coverage of HIV testing and Antiretroviral treatment.
c. What does this show about societies stance on the disease? Has it changed? Have we moved from a period of fear and stigmatizing the disease to a period of time where we are more proactive? Does being proactive indicate positive progress into prevention of transmission as well as finding a cure?
