Provincial publicity officials who gathered for a two-day
workshop in Beijing were urged to promote more accurate and
balanced HIV/AIDS reporting in their areas and not to neglect the
human side of the disease.
The workshop, which began Dec. 25, was organized by the AIDS
Prevention Committee of the State Council and the Publicity
Department of the CPC Central Committee, comes amid concerns about
the rise in China's HIV/AIDS population.
Publicity officials from China's 28 municipalities, provinces
and autonomous regions attended lectures by Tsinghua University
professors and other government officials on current HIV/AIDS
reporting and on ways to improve it, the challenges of combating
HIV/AIDS as well as China's HIV/AIDS prevention policies.
"This training course for national publicity officials has
broken new ground," said Dong Junshan, deputy director of the
Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. "Publicity
officials at all levels should make HIV/AIDS reporting a priority
and combat discrimination against AIDS sufferers. Publicity is
essential in the fight against HIV/AIDS," he said.
He said good HIV/AIDS reporting should be detailed and rooted in
reality. Empty cliches should be avoided at all costs. Besides
accurate news reporting, "HIV/AIDS reports must be attractive and
compelling for local readers -- forms like literature and movies
can be used."
The course follows an earlier one in November 2005 for officials
from eight provinces. According to the Publicity Department of the
CPC Central Committee, the officials trained at this course will
cascade the training down to the local level next year.
(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2006)