From complacency to panic: AIDS and heterosexuals in the Australian press, July 1986 to June 1988.

AIDS is a disease which has received a great deal of attention from the popular media, which in turn has attracted the interests of those who analyse media. The health information conveyed to the general public by the popular press is a topic of special interest to health educators. This paper documents the Australian press' coverage of the AIDS threat to heterosexuals. The preliminary findings of a content analysis of all Australian articles mentioning AIDS published between June 1986 and July 1988 is reported. An overview of the issues gaining most attention in the press during that time is given and major narrative themes discussed. It is shown that the focus of the popular press' reporting of AIDS changed in that time from representing AIDS as a risk to only homosexuals and intravenous drug users, to generating panic-stricken articles suggesting that everyone was now threatened. The press generally lent their support to a major public health information campaign designed to warn heterosexuals of their risk of contracting AIDS (the 'Grim Reaper' campaign), although many articles exaggerated the threat and disseminated confusing information about the risk. Health educators need to have a good knowledge of press accounts of health issues, and be aware of the potential for support or conflicting information in the press both of health education campaigns and of the health issue itself.