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AIDS at 25: The Changing Media
June 05, 2006 7:13 PM
Our Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson blogs about his first mention of AIDS on network television in 1982 -- and the negative response to it.
Today is being labeled as the
25th anniversary of AIDS. It is actually the 25th Anniversary of the
publication of the first CDC report (in its June 5, 1981 Weekly MMWR) about a cluster of unusual
pneumonia cases among gay men in Los Angeles.
At that point, we had no idea that this
cluster would turn out to be the first warning shot of what would become the
huge AIDS pandemic; at the time the disease had not been named
and the cause of pneumonia cases was unknown.
In early 1982 I choose to do a Good Morning America report about that cluster based on the CDC report. I remember saying something to the effect that this was a strange health phenomenon that might turn out to be a significant health problem in the gay community. Little did I know!
But I remember the report well because it just so happened that David Wilson, a columnist for the Boston Globe, had coincidentally chosen to review the three network morning programs on the day of my report. And in his column, he made a sarcastic remark about my subject matter saying something to the effect that "our own Dr. Tim Johnson choose to talk about buggery..."
I wrote him a private letter saying he had a right to express his views about the state of morning TV but that I thought this "new disease" would probably turn out to be significant.
And, to his credit, when we later all
learned just how significant it really was, he wrote a column apologizing for his
criticism of me and his underestimating the subject.
June 5, 2006 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (2)
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I remember well the first days--years of AIDS, and the people that were thrown away, cast away, forgotten, condemned. My friends, partners.
After 25 years there still forgotten. Shame on the Media!
Posted by: Doug | Jun 5, 2006 8:15:20 PM
Hi, I have e-mailed ABCTV now 3 times, asking what happened to Elizabeth Vargas. I think she is the best thing that has happened to ABC news in a long time. They keep giving me answers like they can't tell me in this dept..I don't understand. Thanks, Ed Goldman
Posted by: Ed Goldman | Jun 16, 2006 4:10:32 PM
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