India's media houses pledge to help fight AIDS

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India's media houses pledge to help fight AIDS

Friday January 7 2005 13:20 IST

IANS

NEW DELHI: Some of India's leading media houses pledged to help the

fight against HIV/AIDS, thanks to an initiative launched by Hollywood

star Gere and socialite Parmeshwar Godrej.

Following a " Media Leaders Summit " chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh at his residence here, Gere and Information and Broadcasting

Minister S. Jaipal Reddy announced the initiative that will counter

the threat posed by AIDS to India's " health, security and economic

well-being " .

Gere said the challenge for the media in India, where some 5.1 million

are afflicted by HIV/AIDS, would be to mobilise public opinion in the

battle against the disease without alienating their audience.

" At the meeting, the CEOs (of media houses) talked of their problems

in covering AIDS, but there are creative ways of doing things so that

you don't alienate the audience, " the dapper star told a joint press

conference with Reddy.

" The solutions are there and in fact, in the West, some media people

have been able to get better ratings and readership by using creative

ways and charm and humour to deal with AIDS. So it can also be good

business. "

The silver-haired star also had words of praise for Manmohan Singh,

whom he had first met last year and persuaded to chair the meeting of

media leaders.

" The only places where AIDS is under control are those where there is

good leadership from the top, and this is there with the Prime

Minister, " he said.

Referring to the meeting, Gere said: " He (Manmohan Singh) was not

reluctantly there, he was there passionately and he stayed for all two

hours of the meeting. "

These organisations will use their collective communications expertise

and resources to reach the people, particularly the youth, with

information on how to prevent HIV and to help combat AIDS-related

stigma and discrimination.

Reddy admitted the HIV/AIDS problem had been " grossly

under-estimated " , and it was growing in " intensity and geographical

spread " . " HIV will be treated on a stand-alone basis as it is a

pandemic that is spreading silently, " he said.

The Minister noted the media CEOs had pointed out their difficulty in

portraying the issue as " readers and viewers tended to turn off " , and

said this was a " challenge to the creative faculties of those who do

these stories " .

Gere, known for his campaign against AIDS in India through the Heroes

Project he founded along with Godrej, said he was " amazed " by the

pledge by media houses to commit " time, energy and space " to counter

the deadly disease.

Noting that one of the biggest problems in India was the lack of a

" sustainable programme against AIDS " , Gere said the Heroes Project had

a three-year plan to mobilise resources.

As part of this, a " creative summit " would be held to frame " out of

the box " thinking to effectively communicate the threat posed by AIDS.

" Even the media CEOs admitted the need for journalism seminars to

educate their own people, " Gere remarked.

Hindi daily Dainik Jagran promised to provide advertising space and to

organise AIDS awareness camps and voluntary check-ups while the

Hindustan Times pledged itself to a sustained media campaign and to

producing an educational booklet for women in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,

states with the lowest levels of education and access to information

on AIDS.

The TV channels will produce special programmes on AIDS, and the theme

will also feature in TV shows and serials made by them.

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