The Circuit of Mass Communication

Introduction - Jenny Kitzinger and David Miller The AIDS Public Education Campaign, 1986-90 - David Miller and Kevin Williams News Variations - Peter Beharrell AIDS and Television News - David Miller and Peter Beharrell AIDS on Television - David Miller Form, Fact and Fiction Sourcing AIDS News - David Miller and Kevin Williams Producing AIDS News - Kevin Williams and David Miller Media Impact on Public Beliefs about AIDS - Jenny Kitzinger Resisting the Media - Jenny Kitzinger The Extent and Limits of Media Influence AIDS, the Policy Process and Moral Panics - David Miller and Jenny Kitzinger Conclusion - Jenny Kitzinger and David Miller

The book begins by documenting the politics of AIDS health education initiatives in Britain and goes on to examine the nature of the media coverage, identifying how it has changed over time and differed between newspapers, TV news, documentary and fiction. Challenging a simple `moral panic' model of the AIDS crisis, the authors provide detailed documentation and critical analysis of the complex interaction between policy makers, health education, the media and `the public'. `Beyond its obvious appeal to those interested in the history, sociology, and cultural study of AIDS in the United Kingdom, this collection also provides a valuable contribution to the broader areas of media history and the contemporary history of health and medicine, two areas that, as this book demonstrates, share a complex and largely un-researched history.' - Social History of Medicine