[First published in AM New York]
VIACOM MAY BE suffering severe blows – a staggering $18.4 billion loss last quarter, plus presiding over CBS News‘ public disgrace. But it’s good to report the media giant is trying to do something right – fight AIDS.
Viacom outlets whose audiences include some of the population’s most at-risk sectors – especially MTV and BET – are beefing up their $600 million campaign of HIV/AIDS awareness.
The announcement of a new HIV strain in New York prompted some panicky coverage last week, but also a sterling, and measured, defense from awardwinning researcher David Ho for his team’s decision to sound their alert to the city health department.
Viacom’s AIDS awareness partner, the health-promoting Kaiser Family Foundation, quickly said they wanted “to make sure we’re providing accurate messages.”
Imara Jones (above, left), director of Viacom’s campaign, called “Know HIV/AIDS,” tells me she’s firmly out to “counter any impression that’s grown over time that the AIDS crisis is over.” At the same time, she’s avoiding any knee-jerk response to the recent news – saying her education efforts are “strainindependent.” They will stress the dangers of drug use and risky sexual behavior, regardless of which individual strain or strains of the disease might prevail.
As well as ad-style TV and radio announcements and billboard posters, some 40 Viacom shows, including CBS’s crime series “CSl:NY” and Showtime‘s “Queer as Folk” will have HIV/AIDS themes woven into their scripts. Says Jones: “If anything, what the new strain does is emphasize our need to continue everything we can do to defeat this persistent virus.”
THOSE WHO CARE about journalism might want to pray for Cornelius Nduna (above, right) in Zimbabwe. You’re not likely, in New York, to have heard of him. But you may know about his fellow-reporters, Brian Latham of Bloomberg News, Angus Shaw of Associated Press, and perhaps Jan Raath of The Times of London. Those latter three are now all safe, having dramatically fled the country after angering its power-crazed president, Robert Mugabe.
But Nduna, a freelancer, is not yet safe. Mugabe’s vicious Central Intelligence Office has launched a manhunt for him.
All four journalists were accused of reporting with- out a journalist’s license – a jailable offense in Zimbabwe. Nduna has the added distinction of having filmed video of a Mugabe goon-squad in training – the so-called “Green Bombers” militia.
TONIGHT, DAN RATHER’s farewell tour swings by David Letterman‘s couch. Dave’s show is on CBS, so it’s all in the family.
But that same family has been voicing the sharpest Rather putdowns. So far Dan’s response to internal critiques like Mike Wallace‘s (“Uptight and occasionally contrived … not as easy to watch as Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw‘‘) has been a sniffy “I’m not going to respond to that“. Will Dave press the matter?
And speaking of shifting anchors, what should we make of the fevered speculation about ABC‘s Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos swapping shows?
Answer: precisely nothing. Ain’t gonna happen, I can definitely report.
– – – – – –
Send your comments and story tips to MEDIABEAT@am-ny.com
