Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - DP120074
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED333498 AUTHOR: Siegel, Paul
TITLE: Who Are the "Innocent Victims?" Using NEXIS To Track
the "New York Times'" Coverage of AIDS.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1991
NOTE: 23 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
International Communication Association (41st, Chicago, IL,
May 23-27, 1991).
ABSTRACT: A study measured attitudes towards Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) victims by providing a
qualitative content analysis of newspaper coverage of the
epidemic. A search of the NEXIS database was conducted to
identify every "New York Times" article on the subject of
AIDS in which the word "innocent" appears. Results revealed
the following categories of "innocent AIDS victims": (1)
the "non-members," victims who are innocent by dint of
their not being a drug addict, or not gay, or not an adult;
(2) the "innocent by intention," composed of HIV-positive
individuals who would not knowingly spread the virus to
others, and HIV-negative individuals who intend to retain
that status; and (3) the "unjaded" innocents, not yet
exposed to the demands of contemporary urban life, or more
narrowly to the intricacies of the gay male subculture.
Studies like these illustrate the usefulness of database
searching for the academic researcher. (Fifty-eight
references are included.) (Author/PRA)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Attitude-Measures; Content-Analysis;
Discourse-Analysis; Media-Research; Research-Tools
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Acquired-Immune-Deficiency-Syndrome;
*Databases-; *Press-Opinion; *Public-Opinion; *Social
Attitudes
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