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The Ignored Disease: The Aids Epidemic 1981-1987, Heather L. Graff, Heather Graff Bloom

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Less than six months after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th president of the United States, the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, in five gay men. In the United States, AIDS was first diagnosed among gay men in New York City and San Francisco. There were several media trends for AIDS coverage in the 1980s. In the early 1980s, AIDS was mainly thought of as a gay-related disease. In the mid- l 980s, AIDS cases were found in hemophiliacs, intravenous drug users and "celebrities." Coverage in the late 1980s focused on heterosexuals and …