Advice Columns in South African Print Publications

This is a report of a study initiated by Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication as part of the OneLove campaign - a regional campaign that encourages a rethink of the common practice of multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP) and the issues that drive this practice. The study surveyed advice columns in 13 mainstream South African publications over a three-month period and found that while about 60% of letters to columns asked for advice about relationships, less than half received answers that included anything related to HIV risk, prevention, or treatment. Instead, advice columnists chose to focus on the emotional or "moral" issues of, for instance, multiple concurrent partnerships. The report recommends that columnists should talk more about HIV-risk behaviours, avoid moralising, and provide readers with additional resources for further information. The report also recommends that editors set guidelines on what "good advice" should or should not include.

According to the report, about 20% of all queries dealt specifically with MCP, the majority from women whose spouses were cheating. Again, less than half of columnists' responses to queries in general relayed any HIV information and the focus of the advice is emotional encouragement rather than preventing HIV. For instance, columnists sometimes encouraged partners to forgive the cheating spouse, to stay in relationships that were not fulfilling, or insinuated that readers who cheated deserved to be cheated upon – responses that all failed to highlight the HIV risks readers and their partners may have been facing. The authors argue this kind of advice suggests gaps in media's understanding of its role in social change or that columnists have not been sensitised on how to discuss HIV/AIDS or have a limited understanding of the topic.

According to the report, the research findings were relayed back to selected media houses, many of whom said that they conceptualised their primary duty to readers as entertaining and not necessarily educating, especially given a climate of supposed AIDS fatigue. While Soul City developed a programme to help change this perception, pairing print outlets with HIV-savvy organisations with the aim of producing more sensitised coverage of the HIV epidemic, the report also details additional recommendations and urges columnists to:

• recognise that South Africa is in the midst of a serious HIV epidemic;
• provide readers with contact information for further HIV/AIDS resources;
• avoid moralising and blame;
• join editors in setting criteria for "good advice", including the provision of balanced information; and
• equip themselves with accurate knowledge on HIV/AIDS, particularly around the risks associated with MCPs.

The report concludes that it is important to acknowledge the value of the persona of the columnist and the influence it has on the kinds of letters they receive and the kinds of advice they give or are expected to give. It suggests that columnists need to understand the seriousness of the advice that they are giving, and not just its entertainment value. According to the authors, this study revealed a number of missed opportunities to discuss the very real risks of HIV infection (such as MCP) that reader letters display. As columnists give advice on relationships, sex, and sexuality they must always be mindful of the debates around gender, culture, and the broader context in which these relationships take place. Doing so will ensure that they fulfil their mandate as public communicators to inform, educate, entertain, and facilitate social change.

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