KHANA trains Cambodian newspaper editors for better HIV reporting
27 July 2007
In recognition of the media’s power to reach members of the public with information about HIV and AIDS, the Alliance’s linking organisation in Cambodia, Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance (KHANA), ran a special two-day training course on HIV reporting for Cambodian journalists in July 2007. The course was run in conjunction with the Cambodian Club of Journalists, the country’s leading media organisation.
The course – the first of its kind in Cambodia – targeted print journalists from areas where HIV is still a challenge, for example, the capital and provinces bordering Thailand and Vietnam. 28 journalists attended the course, which aimed to raise HIV awareness, reduce stigma and discrimination, challenge misconceptions, provide guidance on how to find news sources, and encourage more and better research. Participants discussed the role of the media, their experiences reporting on HIV and AIDS, appropriate use of language, and what people living with HIV need from the media.
Journalists also visited four of KHANA’s partners in Phnom Penh to see community HIV activities in action, including income generation for people living with HIV, home-based care activities, drug community awareness and outreach, prevention, and a vocational training centre for orphans and vulnerable children. They met people living with HIV, orphans and vulnerable children, and former drug users.
Speaking at the first session, The role of the newsroom to encourage reporters to write news on HIV/AIDS, Pen Samitthy, editor in chief of Rasmei Kampuchea Daily, said that reporters, especially those working in the provinces where citizens cannot easily access clear information about HIV, must file more stories on the issue: “Health issues, particularly HIV, are really helpful news for our readers so that they can protect themselves from HIV. Most of the stories in the current papers I have seen focus on politics and crime,” he said. Samitthy, who is also president of the Cambodian Club of Journalists, appealed for both editors and field journalists to play their role in promoting the health sector: “Journalists must file health stories rather than stories on minor crime like a ‘thief steals a bicycle’ or ‘a battery’ or even ‘a chicken’,” he said.
In his session The government policy and strategy in response to HIV/AIDS, Dr. Teng Kunthy, secretary general of the National AIDS Authority, said journalists are the key people who can actively help send powerful messages on the issue nationwide. “Without the media, it is really difficult for us to achieve our goal. Though HIV prevalence across the country has been decreased to 0.9 percent among people between 15 and 49 years of age, we still need to achieve more and through the media we hope that the prevalence might go to zero percent in the future,” he said. He called on journalists to work together with the National AIDS Authority to achieve the goals outlined in the National Strategic Plan for 2006-2010.
In his closing remark, Dr. Oum Sopheap, KHANA’s executive director, stressed the importance of the journalists attending the course. “The media are like informative machines producing news and information,” he said. “Cambodia used to be notorious for the Khmer Rouge killing fields, and reports often say AIDS is the second killer after the killing fields. I hope that through their information machines, the media can bring Cambodia’s reputation regarding the success of HIV prevention to the world. Through their informative and educational reports with clear solutions, journalists could change people’s behaviours and habits regarding HIV.”
KHANA plans to conduct another training course in 2008 for both radio and TV reporters so that they can build up their skills and knowledge in reporting HIV.
