“60 MINUTES” EXEC TALKS ON WORLD AIDS DAY

As part of the College’s recognition of AIDS Awareness Week, the Department of Communications Studies sponsored a talk by David Gelber, executive producer for the Ed Bradley Unit, which produces news segments for CBS’s “60 Minutes.” 

Several years ago, Gelber and his team spent five months in Africa, reporting on the continent’s AIDS epidemic, which he compared to the “black plague.”  On Thursday, December 1—United Nations World AIDS Day—he shared his Peabody Award-winning story, “Death by Denial,” with a sizeable audience in the new library auditorium.

According to Gelber’s reporting, though rates of HIV infection are decreasing throughout the rest of the world, nearly 1,600 people are infected each day in South Africa alone.  One in five South African adults will die of AIDS, and one in three pregnant mothers will pass the disease onto their children. 

One of the greatest problems is the fact that no one in South Africa wants to talk about AIDS. Only one percent of those infected know it. The country’s president denies that HIV is the cause of AIDS.

In contrast, Uganda, one of the poorest countries in the world, has not experienced the skyrocketing levels of infection of similar nations.  While about 10 percent of the country is HIV-positive, its president speaks openly about AIDS, safer sexual practices, and the importance of getting tested. 

But in all of these countries, there are issues with drug availability. AZT is capable of easing symptoms and cutting the chance of a mother passing the virus to her fetus by 50%. In some cases, American drug companies have lowered the price of AIDS-fighting drugs for poor African nations by 75%. Unfortunately, with the priorities of so many governments falling elsewhere, the drug is available to less than one-tenth of one percent of AIDS sufferers.

Though Gelber’s news story won its hour when it originally aired, it was difficult to get CBS, as a profit-driven corporation, to run it. Gelber said the program had “three strikes against it”—it was about minorities, it was a depressing story, and it took place in a foreign country. 

“It’s not a happy picture. What can I tell you?” he said.  But the weight of the story and the producers’ insistence convinced network executives to air it.

Gelber believes it will take a social/political revolution for changes to occur in Africa, but publicizing the severity of the issue to the western world may help the process move faster.

“I’m a very lucky person because I have a large audience for the things I’m passionate about,” said Gelber.