Green | January 19, 2008 | 3 comments

A new Gay disease? Media mostly got it wrong.

source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/96130

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jubal
The headlines this week about a new "gay" infection were dramatic. FLESH-EATING BUG SPREADS AMONG GAYS, said one Australian newspaper, referring to a study about an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection affecting homosexual men in San Francisco and other American cities. EPIDEMIC FEARED--GAYS MAY SPREAD DEADLY STAPH INFECTION TO GENERAL POPULATION, shouted a press release from the Concerned Women for America, a conservative public-policy group.

But is there a new HIV-like public health epidemic on the horizon? Not likely, says Dr. Henry (Chip) Chambers, coauthor of the study, which was published this week in the online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. "This is definitely not the new AIDS," says Chambers, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). "HIV is a life-threatening disease that is incurable and necessitates lifelong treatment," adds Bill Stackhouse, director of the Institute for Gay Men's Health at the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York.

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Another example of media spin to increase the ratings. This is yellow journalism at its finest. I am talking about the coverage of the study's results release. The media loves to sensationalize the fear aspect of any story to the point of ridiculousness.
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3 comments // A new Gay disease? Media mostly got it wrong.

  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • You said it very well AbbyM. I couldn't agree with you more, but those loosers are being controlled by their editors and sensationalism sells.

      That is the sad truth. All major media has become yellow. (i.e. look up yellow journalism)

      It used to mean Enquirer or Star, but now it means major media.

    • 4 years ago
  • richjm
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      richjm  
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    • The New York Times had a piece on exactly the same thing; how some articles seemed to imply it was the new HIV rather than just reporting clear facts.

      I think it's irresponsible to report the facts and sensationalise them but the facts on their own (the disease was more prevalent amongst drug users and wrestlers [um, wrestlers?] and 13 times more common in San Francisco among the city's homosexual men than other people), when reported responsibly, are important to cover.

    • 4 years ago
  • abbym0308
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      abbym0308  
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    • I agree and was particularly shocked by the way the media spun this to make it look like it was only effecting gay communities. And people wonder why there are so often misconceptions about communicable diseases -- from STDs to HIV to this new superbug. I think that people need to remember that most of the population only get their information from the big news headlines and the media need to think twice about the effect of their sensationalist headlines.

      Check out this other thread on the bug too.

    • 4 years ago
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