This research paper investigates the functions of community newspapers in the battle against HIV/Aids.
The research is conducted through studying literature, analysing four selected community newspapers
and interviewing the editors of the newspapers.
According to the literature, a community newspaper stands closer to the reader than any other
newspaper, which means it could have a larger impact than for example a national paper. A community
paper can provide information or start a debate in the community.
The media can focus the attention of the reader on HIV/Aids through agenda setting. By giving the
subject prominence in a publication, for instance, the media show how important they consider the
subject.
The functions of the press can be divided in different categories: the informative function, the press as a
booster of the public debate, the service function, the educative function and the entertainment function.
This study finds that not all the researched newspapers consider it their responsibility to cover HIV/Aids.
The importance that the editors give to the subject and the number of articles that reaches the
publication also does not match. The functions the newspapers mainly fulfil, are the information and
education function. The reasons for a moderate coverage of HIV/Aids include a lack of statistics, a lack of
information from organisations, staff shortages and fear that the reader will receive the opinion that the
newspaper writes about the same things over and over again. / Mini-dissertation (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/809 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Tienstra, Magdalena Christine |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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