role of the media in our understanding of AIDS (Eldridge, 212).It wasnt until 1983 that the mainstream press began reporting on this disease. At this time the disease had killed almost fifteen hundred people (based on CDC control statistics for the US) and health officials declared AIDS the United States number one health priority (www.usatoday.com/life/health/1hs650.htm). The mainstream press coverage increased by six hundred percent, based on the release of a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the virus could be contracted casually, as well as reports that the virus could be contracted through blood transfusions (Juhaz, 45-46).In 1986, the Department of Health began an AIDS education campaign that focused on heterosexual or everyone. The campaign was met with much criticism because it was still the belief of the majority that AIDS was a disease that affected only gays, junkies and foreigners (Elderidge, 214). It was said that the campaign was not only focusing on the wrong groups but also being dishonest foe addressing everyone and normal heterosexual sex. In 1989, Lord Kilbracken, a minority voice on the all Parliamentary Group on AIDS claimed that there was only one case of AIDS proven to be caused by heterosexual sex. The newspapers, of course backed up the story and ran articles with headlines like, THE TRUTH ABOUT AIDS and STRAIGHT SEX CANNOT GIVE YOU AIDS OFFICIAL (Elderidge, 215)....
