COVERAGE OF HIV/AIDS IN MALAYSIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE STAR

Living in a globalized world spearheaded by technologicaladvancement and innovations, media have long been instrumentalin imparting various kinds of information towards the populace.consistent with the overwhelming growth of health communication,it is essential to use appropriate media channels to alarm the publicon the severity of various diseases. however, it is a challenge formedia practitioners to convey such messages in an explicit context.veiled messages in news reporting of the disease only may resultin uncertain, shallow and ambiguous understanding among thereaders. on that account, this study seeks to examine the natureand pattern of the news coverage on hiv/aids to generateawareness among the people with more care and responsibility.based on the 72 articles attributed by the star, only 61 articlesfitted the identified themes. the findings indicate that both themes:government response and community involvement on the issue ofhiv/aids in malaysia were prominent in the newspaper in year2006 compared for the year 2011.