| Summary: | In the study, the researcher explores the issue of ethics of reporting on HIV/Aids in
three major South African newspapers, namely Mail & Guardian, The Star and Daily
Sun. The researcher argues that deontological and social responsibility ethical
approaches are the necessary foundation upon which ethical decisions ought to be
based, regarding the coverage of the pandemic in the media.
The researcher establishes that journalists have to be bound by duty, which is a key
concept within the ethical paradigms which are being proposed. The position that the
researcher maintains is premised on the fact that journalists have a responsibility to
society, especially because HIV/Aids is killing millions of Africans. And since there is
no known cure for the disease, the media have a powerful role to play in ensuring that
issues relating to the disease are reported consistently and regularly, since the media
have an enormous influence (Retief 2002: 5).
Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis as a research design, the
researcher examined specifically four main ethical violations levelled against the
media. It was found that in the newspapers studied, they had, on average, one story
per issue; there is a gross dearth of stories which were humanised; the language of
reporting, especially the use of some metaphors, had negative connotations, some
positive, and one was political. Regarding sensationalist headlines and text, very few
examples were found.
One of the major recommendations is that stories on HIV/Aids ought to be humanised,
and the narrative genre of news writing offers a solution.
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