press conference by viacom on first global creative meeting on hiv/aids

 

Media people were finally getting the message that they had a social responsibility to spread information about HIV/AIDS and work to prevent it, both through their companies and individually, Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive officer of Viacom, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Through its “Know HIV/AIDS” programme, Viacom had been carrying out an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign practically alone, but other broadcasters were now joining in, he said.  The latest to come in was the South African Broadcasting Corporation, a vital addition in a part of the world where as many as one in 10 people were infected and children were growing up without parents.

Speaking after his address to the first ever Global Creative Meeting on HIV/AIDS, sponsored at Headquarters today by the United Nations Department of Information, he said the Meeting aimed to mobilize media power in sending messages of prevention and information about HIV/AIDS.  The Meeting had gathered together more than 100 creative and programming directors from 35 media companies, as well as leading media figures and non-governmental organizations.

Asked how much money media companies like Viacom would contribute to the HIV/AIDS campaign, he said they had already contributed tens of millions of dollars, both in kind and in airtime.  “The most important contribution is manpower –- the time executives of these companies contribute to fighting this disease.”

He said that many companies around the world were now participating due to a deal that Viacom had brokered with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which had spread the HIV/AIDS message to 600 million people in Africa and the Caribbean, a population that had previously been hard to reach.  “I have been told we can do more [to fight HIV/AIDS] in the media business than doctors can.  Doctors do what they can to contain the disease ...but the only way to cure it is to prevent it.”

The media campaign against HIV/AIDS had clearly influenced behaviour as young people who had previously not used condoms began to use them and called hotlines for more information, he emphasized.  “At Viacom, we’ve always believed that anything is possible and this is the most important area to adopt that principle.”

Asked by another journalist about other media initiatives to combat the disease, he said Viacom had created HIV/AIDS programmes on CBS and posted messages on billboards around the world.  After having worked in the HIV/AIDS field for some time, it had decided one day to unite with other media companies and make a real difference through an expanded worldwide and local reach.

* *** *