ABSTRACT
Preventive journalism has been suggested as a means to solve problems and prevent crises before they develop. There has been some debate on how specific the mass media should be in discussing graphic details on the apparent causes of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which might be used as preventive advice to stop its spread. In contrast, when TV opposed condom ads, editorial writers seemed quite certain that both TV programs and ads affected behavior as both the cause and able to prevent AIDS. Despite considerable certainty about the cause of AIDS by mid-1986, there was a mysterious quality about this disease with unknown, uncertain, and incurable characteristics. Medical experts reported public health efforts had failed to stop the spread of the disease, which is transmitted by a virus exchanged in body fluids such as blood and semen during anal and vaginal sexual activity and during the sharing of needles among drug addicts.
