Media urged to employ 'journalism of empathy'
Media urged to employ 'journalism of empathy'
Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The media can help people living with HIV/AIDS to lead a stigma-
free, productive life by applying "journalism of empathy",
activists say.
Kartono Mohamad and Maria Hartiningsih said on Tuesday that
journalism of empathy would educate the public not to stigmatize
people with HIV/AIDS because it would make the news full of
insights about the problems that people face.
"Journalism of empathy requires journalists to write news
articles that are individualized and personalized so that the
public could learn a lesson from it," said Maria, who is also a
senior journalist.
"Stigmatizing and discrimination create a situation where
people with high risk behavior for the virus, are reluctant to
take an HIV test. So, they also impede early prevention and
detection efforts," said Kartono, who is also a general
practitioner.
According to government statistics, there are currently some
4,000 people with HIV/AIDS in the country, but the World Health
Organization estimated the figure at between 80,000 and 120,000.
The public often stigmatizes HIV/AIDS as a cursed disease from
God as a consequence of deviant behavior.
Maria reminded journalists that stigmatization had made
identification of victims an issue of ethics and sensitivity in
the reporting of news on HIV/AIDS.
"Journalists do not enlighten the public at all if they only
exploit the personal life of HIV positive people because it will
lead to public panic and strengthen the negative stereotypes
about people with HIV/AIDS," she said.
Maria said that journalism of empathy offered news that could
affect the public in such a way as to give hope and psychological
support to people with HIV/AIDS to do useful activities in their
lives.
"Empathy and compassion in the news will make the public aware
that anything can happen to them, so they should feel what others
feel, and put themselves in somebody else's shoes," she said.
Kartono said that stigma and discrimination have hampered
people with HIV/AIDS to prevent opportunistic infections because
they were afraid to access health services, or to get support and
proportional health care.
He hoped that objective and humane news reports could change
the public stigma on HIV/AIDS and draw political support from
government to handle the problem through supportive rulings.