Resumen

Since 1981, one of the biggest medical and public health issues has been the discovery and rapid rise of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). In the United States, AIDS was initially characterized by both the medical community and the press as a “gay disease.” A young teen hemophiliac, Ryan White, acquired AIDS though a routine blood transfusion, and, as a result, was banned from attending school in 1985. The ensuing legal battle between his family and Western Schools Corporation, and his subsequent role as an advocate for AIDS awareness, resulted in extensive local and national media coverage of White until his death in 1990. Through an analysis of local and national print media articles and interviews with White’s mother, Jeanne, and journalists who covered White’s story, this study is a historical look at the role the local and national press played in changing the public’s perception of AIDS through its coverage of White.