TV can play a vital role in showing what it's like to live with HIV. Rose de Freitas talks to Georgia Franklin, MTV's Head of Public Affairs, about HIV Reality TV
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Having watched the MTV Staying Alive series of documentaries
which snapshots various young people across the world living with HIV,
I wonder why there is no-one on the programme from the UK?
"We have so far produced four personal stories in the UK and haven't
picked up on them," says Georgia.
"Also, ultimately, perhaps it was felt that we never found the right
story from the UK. I wasn't actually party to the vetting process. We
did, however, get a long way into a story about a British teenage girl
and her mum but things fell through when they realised how public this
thing really is.
Snaps of some of the HIV positive young people who have appeared on MTV.
"You see, you have to have a commitment not just
to the filming but to the fact that your story and face will appear in
about 375 million homes across the world. And the documentary is offered
rights-free, which means once it's broadcast, anyone can pick it up anywhere.
Reality TV is a big commitment. Some young people aren't prepared to go
that far when it comes to telling the world about their status.
"We have to take stories from anywhere. And we have to make sure
that we show people who are representative of the international audience
and epidemic. This year we have three new portraits from
young people in Latvia, Cambodia, and Ivory Coast.
"But within Europe we've certainly covered Paris,
France, and Eastern Europe."
According to Clint Walters who runs HIFY (Health Iniatives for Youth),
the only peer youth HIV group in the UK, MTV is also quite specific about
who they want to fulfill the image of the 'UK's HIV positive young person'.
"I've suggested myself, as a young gay man, but I think they are sometimes too conscious of showing the right type of person
Photos: courtesy of MTV
