The power of language

Submitted by Lesley (lesleyw) about 9 months ago

On a typical news day at a national news carrier, one writer can churn out 15 to 20 stories that go to air. The motto is: "do it right, do it fast." Many times, that motto works. We work hard to spread the news to Canadians, at home and abroad. But for those in the industry unfamiliar with HIV, AIDS and health issues, sometimes we toe the line on language. We borrow phrases all the time. Understandable, but not excusable. Our turn-around time on a story can be minutes from the time we are assigned. We try to get it right, but when we don't know what right is, we end up propagating the stigma-inducing language that advocates cringe at hearing.

Recently, I was at work; a very loud and busy newsroom where writers fervently plonk away at the keyboard, cross-checking facts, matching up video that will accompany a script and checking wires for updates. In a room adjacent to the writers' pod, I could hear a reporter's piece in the edit suite as it was being cut to go to air.

(Side-bar: Reports, as they are called, have already been scripted, voiced, put to pictures and are entire packages. Once writers get a report, we cannot edit the words at all, aside from cutting the offending sentence right out of the package. The reporter often completes the piece days before and is nowhere near the newsroom by this point.)

The piece was on a disappointing study that showed HIV gel was ineffective in creating a barrier for women against becoming HIV positive. The reporter is a medical industry professional, so I expected she would know at a least the facts. However, I kept hearing the phrases, "prevent from catching the AIDS virus; catching AIDS; the gel was expected to block AIDS."

Those phrases may seem like a small thing for a writer to quibble over, however, I kept voicing up, "There's no such thing as an AIDS virus, you can't catch AIDS!"

Admittedly, I was very busy working on something else and didn't have time to really investigate the piece, but from what I had heard, it was enough for me to pipe up.

"We can't run that! It's wrong. It's not just sketchy language, it's actually wrong!"

"Why not?" the lead writer said.

"Firstly, there's no such thing as an AIDS virus. It's a syndrome! Secondly, you can't catch AIDS, among a few other things," I said, emphatically.

Well, the rest of the conversation is irrelevant, but we had a round-the-table discussion on the inaccuracies of HIV and AIDS reporting. I'm not sure if the people present will go forward with how they write stories about HIV and AIDS. But it felt rewarding to have a meaningful discussion on the correct way to report on HIV, AIDS and other health and development issues.

The piece ended up going to air, complete with the offending language and incorrect facts. My voice went unheard to the powers-that-be. But I'm sure my colleagues who were present, walked away with a slightly different set of facts that they will hopefully remember in stories to come.

Having worked in broadcast media, I'm aware of the challenges reporters, writers and anchors face in reporting. We're not doctors or advocates. However, having been in the NGO world working for HDN, and being part of the KC Team, I've had the privilege of learning about many aspects of the global response to HIV and AIDS. Now having returned to Media, I hope to bring a little accuracy to each and every story that I get my hands on.

Now, the next challenge is to get reporters, anchors and writers to stop using the words "prostitutes" and "hookers". Yes! I actually heard the word "HOOKER" go to air. It wasn't in my newsroom, or there would have been hell to pay, but all the same. I shake my head.

Let's get it right, one word at a time.

Keywords: AIDS HIV Language media Stigma

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