HIV/AIDS Prevention and Media Campaigns: Limited Information

Overview & Synopsis

In this study we start by recalling some hypotheses on how the media construct an event. Then we focus especially on a linguistic process, the presence of some particular adverbs, that we identified in French daily news media informing about the prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS. We claim that this linguistic process is part of the construction of the event and we experimentally test its reception effects. We show that this “adverbial marking” influences one's risk perception, the preventive intentions, the perceived seriousness of the epidemiological situation, and attitudes towards fighting the epidemic. The final discussion addresses the persuasiveness and efficacy of preventive mass media campaigns.