AIDS Denialism - a Journalist to Journalist Discussion

The National Press Foundation's Journalist to Journalist program is in Sydney, Australia at the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. We have brought 44 journalists from 30 countries here (bios here). We will post articles, blogs and other resources from the 4-day J2J program and then the 4-day IAS program below.

Last Thursday, we held a special Journalist to Journalist discussion entitled "AIDS Denialism: What it is, how to recoginize it, how to dispute it." The impassioned exchange among the journalists was led by three experts – journalist Ruth Pollard  (pictured left) of The Sydney Morning Herald, Dr. John Kaldor (right) of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research and professor of epidemiology at the University of New South Wales and Dr. Mark Wainberg (center), director of the McGill University AIDS Centre and former president of the International AIDS Society.

Here's Anindita Ramaswamy, an independent journalist from India and J2J fellow , on AIDS denialism and the J2J discussion.

Bad Science. Good Journalism.

AIDS denialism has uneasily co-existed with HIV, almost throughout the history of the virus. An internationally growing, so-called "lunatic fringe" claims AIDS doesn't exist or is a global conspiracy perpetrated by powerful governments and big pharma.

But, the science is clear and unquestionable, the panelists said. "HIV has killed 25 million people, which is not a trivial number. This is not a debate that has two legitimate sides," according to Wainberg. AIDS denialism can kill, and has killed.

Continue reading for the full story and audio from the discussion.

So, in March 2006 a feisty website – AIDSTruth.org (http://aidstruth.org/) - started hitting back at the increasingly strident AIDS dissenters. The 11 AIDSTruth team members (among them Dr. John Moore of Cornell University and Gregg Gonsalves of AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa) found common cause after a Harper's Magazine feature by AIDS denialist Celia Farber. According to journalist Jon Cohen (http://aidstruth.org/web-site-takes-aim-at-denialists.php), the article 'Out of Control, AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science', was about Peter Duesberg, a cancer researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who first questioned the HIV-AIDS link in 1987.

Journalists are supposed to tell all sides of the story, report objectively, maintain balance, aren't they? "Rubbish balances nothing," says Pollard. "Giving an equal platform to those people whose arguments lack any semblance of scientific credibility, who may stand to profit from their assertions, whose false beliefs tend towards the racist, homophobic and paternalistic creates one thing: false balance."

Yet it seems to be possible to achieve "true" balance, as Bruce Mirken did in this 1999 article: 'Holocaust Denial, SF Style: The "AIDS Dissidents" Are as Vocal as Their Science is Dubious' (http://www.aegis.com/topics/bmirken-holocaust.html).

Clearly, there's no wishing away or ignoring the AIDS denialists. As many journalists said, the trick lies in the telling of the story. Instead of stepping into the web spun by the denialists, good reporters write about them – and expose them for who they really are.

Anindita Ramaswamy

Mark Wainberg's remarks.

Dr. John Kaldor's remarks.

Ruth Pollard's remarks.

Q&A and discussion from the J2J Discussion on AIDS Denialism.

Comments

[David Crowe]

If journalists want to learn why 'denialists' question whether HIV causes AIDS, whether HIV tests are accurate, whether sexual transmission is a reality, and whether AIDS drugs have a favorable effectiveness/adverse effect profile, you can always talk to us!

It is ironic that the blog posting on denialists, quoting Mark Wainberg, was followed by a blog posting on microbicides, on which Mark Wainberg holds pattern. While denialism appears to hold a fascination for journalists, apparently financial conflicts of interest by the AIDS establishment does not.

[editor]

Dr. Wainberg's credentials, including research and business affiliations, were fully presented to the attending journalists and in our on-the-record briefings there were no restrictions on questions.

[David Crowe]

Can you please share Dr. Wainberg's financial declaration on the blog? I cannot know if it is accurate unless I can see it.

[Kyle Shields]

I have just listened to Ruth Pollard, what an absolute liar. I contacted her to see if she wanted to talk to David Crowe about his views and David did try to contact her three times but she refused to talk to him.
So much for her statement they are hard to talk to.

[Ruth Pollard]

David, before you call me a liar in print, perhaps you could get your facts straight.
As I said at the J2J session, I tried to contact Valendar Turner and Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos multiple times, via email and telephone, for the story I was writing on the Parenzee decision. They had given evidence in the case, they were the relevant people for me to speak to.
They were difficult to contact, their emails bounced, the phone numbers on their website were wrong.
You rang me days after the story was published and wanted to talk about the Parenzee case.
I told you that I would not be doing a follow up on the story any time in the near future and therefore there wasn't much point in continuing the discussion.
I took the number of the person you suggested I speak to and said if I was doing a follow up I would speak to him, however I stressed that I only deal in scientific facts, not fiction, so possibly he would not be able to add much to my story.

[Kyle]

Wrong again Ruth,

I approached you to talk to David about getting in contact with other scientists, that have have another view on HIV?AIDS not about the Parenzee case.
You stated that HIV dissidents are hard to contact, they are not.
Do not imply that the so called dissidents do not want to put forward their story.

If you want to print facts, then write an article on why mainstream papers keep claiming 1000 people per day die in Sth Africa a day when this blatantly untrue.

Go and look at the Sth African stats that are published not made up.