“The VIHsibilité Project”: HIV-positive people in the Québec press and community responses

Abstract

The VIHsibilité Project is a community-based action-research initiative that examines newspaper coverage of HIV/AIDS issues in Québec from 1988 to 2004. Using standard qualitative research methods, and in consultation with an advisory committee of people directly impacted by HIV/AIDS news coverage, the project discerns trends in reporting on HIV/AIDS and undertakes discursive content analysis of these, aiming to better understand in what normative ways seropositive people are represented in print media, and, ultimately, to reduce the stigma attendant upon HIV infection. Preliminary findings include indications that seropositive women tend to be represented markedly differently from men in the news.

Keywords:

• media
• cultural studies
• gender
• HIV/AIDS
• stigma

Acknowledgements

This research project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.