| XVI International AIDS Conference August 14, 2006 |
| The photos where taking form the clip and had being edited by the owner of this site the Light in Gere |
Courtesy kaisernetwork.org
KARNAKA SINGH: Good evening to all those who made it here. Thank you so much. My name is Karnaka Singh
[misspelled?] and on behalf of the Heroes Project, I welcome all of you here to this press meet. The occasion is
great. For us, it’s a historic moment. Two years ago, at the AIDS conference in Bangkok, we launched the Heroes
Project in partnership with STAR TV. And today, two years later, we’re happy to announce the extension for the
period of two years. Before I begin, I’d like to quickly introduce our panelists here and then move on with the rest.
I’ll start with a person I think everybody knows, Richard Gere, actor and co-founder of the Heroes Project.
Richard has really been instrumental in actually putting this foundation in place, starting this HIV/AIDS initiative
in India, and working closely with STAR TV to make this happen. We’re delighted to have the Honorable Minister
of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Anbamni Ramdas [misspelled?] with us. Apart from being young and dynamic,
he’s been a great supporter of the initiative for us and so we are really delighted to have him here.
I’d like to then introduce Mr. Peter Mukerjea, who is CEO of STAR India. Peter has been personally committed to
this issue and has worked closely with us from the day we started.
Thank you, Peter, for being here. Next, I’d like to invite Ashok Alexander from Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who are partners and great supporters in our program. Next to him is
Matt James, senior vice president, Media and Public Education for Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Again, a
great partner, great friend, great co-workers with us. Thank you for all being here.
I’m going to actually spend two minutes talking about the Heroes Project for those who don’t. The Heroes Project,
as I mentioned, was launched in 2004 on the heels of a partnership that we formed with STAR TV. It’s a
nationwide initiative in India basically to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS working with two platform, media
campaigns and a societal leader program. And in the process, we’ve worked with a number of media partners and
celebrities in the country but nothing the size of STAR TV, which is why they’re here with us today.
Before I move in and I say anything more, I’d like to run a short clip about the two years that we’ve journeyed
with STAR TV together.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. This is a very, very short journey about what we’ve been doing for the last two
years. None of this would have been possible without Avahan, without the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and
without our co-chair, Mrs. Vermasha Goldridge [misspelled?].
I’d like to now move on and invite Richard Gere first to speak to us a little bit about did this partnership happen.
Richard? How did this partnership come into being? It’s a unique one. It’s built momentum over time.
RICHARD GERE: We were just talking about is here because I turned to Peter and said, “How did this happen?”
And we were realizing that this started for us about three years ago I would guess.
MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
RICHARD GERE: And it started with a phone call between me and James Murdoch [misspelled?], who was in
Hong Kong at the time and he was the CEO of STAR TV. And I was introduced to him by Roger Ales
[misspelled?], who was a friend of mine in New York. I said, “Look we’re trying to take on this very difficult
subject of HIV/AIDS in India and I don’t know how to begin with the media and we need media partners, and
real partners, genuine partners. Not because they feel like they have but someone who’s creatively involved and
from the heart.” He said, “Look, we’re just starting in India. We want to be good citizens. Let’s work on this
together.” So we did hook up and Peter became a partner with us almost immediately and took enormous risk, I
think, at starting to do the kind of programming that you saw here.
When we entered into this agreement a couple of years ago, I don’t think any of us realized where it was actually
going to go. We had hopes and dreams of what would happen. But we didn’t know if it would work. We didn’t
know for sure what the quality would be. We didn’t know if we would have the kind of partnerships that we both
would want to have. And now that we see the product that has been accomplished in a relatively short amount of
time and one that I think that certainly we feel good about that has been a high quality, that has been correct
messaging, that the people that are seeing this are getting it directly into their minds and hearts and the way that
they should be getting it.
But I think it’s also been good for Peter and his business as well. It hasn’t detracted from their mission and their
own fiduciary responsibilities. At the same time, it was with enormous risk that they entered into this. So the bulk
of the praise should go to Peter and to James Murdoch. I know there was more to that question you were asking.
KARNAKA SINGH: Do you think this sets up the road and the path for a lot of media companies to follow what
STAR has done?
RICHARD GERE: There’s no question. Without this relationship, we could not have begun the work that we were
doing in India. Now, we do work with other networks and other stations and other media venues, whether it’s
newspapers or periodicals, magazines, et cetera. The strength of what we have is our partnership with STAR, there’
s no question about it. It’s the anchor. And because of them taking the chance, taking a deep breath and going,
“Okay let’s do it, let’s give it a try,” everyone else fell into place on whatever level they felt they could. But
without the strength of this commitment between us, there’s no way that we could have accomplished the myriad
of things that we have.
KARNAKA SINGH: Dr. Ramdas?
RICHARD GERE: I’d just like to say, too, that it’s delightful for me to be on this stage with these people who have
become really good friends over this process. And a few years ago, none of us knew each other and I think we feel
a bit like soldiers in the trenches. And we’ve all got a really warm feeling about this. We’ve all seen each other
around the world in this process. It’s strange, even the minister and I have spoken from New York to Delhi quite
often. Parmeshwar was our co-partner, really, in the beginning of the Heroes Project but I think this has become a
global friendship and a model of how to do these things that will bring fruit in many different situations around
the world.
MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, I totally agree.
KARNAKA SINGH: Dr. Ramdas, we all know that India and the alarming rates and stuff like that. How does a
partnership and a campaign like this support the work that’s happening on HIV/AIDS in the country?
DR. ANBAMNI RAMDAS: Like I’ve been saying, in India it’s not anti-HIV/AIDS program in any more. It’s an anti-
HIV/AIDS movement out there. And in the movement we are taking the support of a lot of people: the
government, the private sector, the corporate, the civil society, people living with HIV/AIDS. And what better
support than people sitting on this dais? Richard, Peter, Parmeshwar, Ashok and the Kaiser Family. This is what
we are trying to move around in India.
And on the concept of Heroes Project Richard and Parmeshwar have started, my prime minister had chaired a
meeting two years ago and there were about 50 media leaders, both visual and print, who attended that meeting.
And they had committed that they will support the government.
And since then, there’s been a huge transformation of the awareness created, both in the visual and print media,
where in India we have a thing called a mega-serial which goes on for five years, seven years, eight years, and five
days a week. And some of these television, and visually they had coopted HIV character and this goes to the
general population and millions watch these serials. And some of these changes have been preempted the Heroes
Project and it’s been wonderful and that’s what it’s all about, awareness concept in India. That’s what we’re trying
to build, more partners. And taking this opportunity I would like to thank India, the government, the heroes
sitting on the dais here. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Peter, STAR has taken corporate social responsibility very, very seriously and has taken
HIV/AIDS as a huge venture, it’s taken it on. You have been personally involved all the time, all the way through.
What has made you feel the sense of adding and deepening the commitment with STAR? Do you want to share
some of those experiences that we’ve had in the last two years and what really propelled this forward?
PETER MUKERJEA: Yeah, look, I think from a STAR TV point of view and from a media company and from a
citizen of the country perspective, I had a corporate as well as a sort of moral duty to try and support something
best as I could possibly. And as a media company, it would have been have relatively simple to perhaps commit to
a sum of money by writing out a check.
But we believe that in the market like India, where you have in excess of 60-percent of the population being under
30 years old and the whole issue of HIV/AIDS being so very pointed towards youth, that as a media company the
most effective thing that we could possibly do was to use our platform and reach out to the millions of people that
watch television and television shows every evening with messaging that was going to connect with them in a
society, which is extremely sensitive to the subject as a whole.
So we took it on in three different stages. One is we made a commitment to ourselves and to the HIV/AIDS Heroes
Project that we would support this for at least three years. This was almost three years ago. As part of that support
we would, first of all, create awareness as to what this was all about. And the second step was to do some
education. And third would be to try integrate the subject of HIV/AIDS in a more meaningful way into our
programming and our content.
We have ten channels in India. We happen to be, thankfully, the leader in the marketplace. We reach out to more
people than any other television channel other than the Terrestrial Broadcaster. And for that we are extremely
proud, but we also have a responsibility and that responsibility is particularly saw in the area of social
responsibility. I think when it comes to HIV/AIDS we did not bat an eyelid before taking this on as a remit upon
ourselves that we ought to do something and do something significant.
I think it is surprising how quickly over the last three years time has gone by. And the film that we saw early on is
only a tiny, tiny slice of all the things that have happened over the last three years in getting our messaging across
from an awareness and from an education point of view.
Apart from a personal point of view, I feel extremely proud and honored to be A) sitting here by the side of
Richard and our minister, and all of the other dignitaries, Parmeshwar, Matt, as well as Mr. Alexander. For me, as
a media executive, there can be no higher accolade to being sitting at a press function like this about a subject
which is so enormous and global and in a market place and representing a country whish is at the forefront of a
pandemic which is around the corner unless we do something about it, and for that I’m extremely honored and
proud. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. Ashok, may I invite you to talk a little bit about this? We all know stigma comes in
the way of the prevention work that is done in India. How does this sort of an effort help the work that’s
happening on the ground?
ASHOK ALEXANDER: I head Avahan, which is the India AIDS initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I
just want to say at the outset that the Gates Foundation is very proud to be a sponsor of this remarkable
partnership between Heroes group and STAR.
The way stigma is, actually the biggest barrier to the prevention work that we do in India. It results in, at a
minimum, a widespread apathy and indifference towards the epidemic. But at the grassroots, it prevents high-risk
groups from even participating in prevention activities. So stigma is something very tangible and difficult for us to
deal with.
It’s a very difficult enemy to defeat and I think one key to defeating stigma is for societal leaders to speak out. For
the vast reach of media to reach the general populations and to start changing attitudes. And it’s in that context
that I think this partnership between Heroes and STAR is so remarkable. Because STAR TV, with its vast reach, to
try reach basic attitudes of indifference and discrimination that get in the way of prevention. I actually salute STAR
for their level of corporate social responsibility that they have shown. And I think this is a remarkable partnership
which I hope will become a model for other company’s to follow.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. Matt, last but not least. The Kaiser Family Foundation has several such media
initiatives across the world. How is this different or similar?
MATT JAMES: First, before I answer that let me thank the one photographer who took my picture, when you’re
on a panel with Richard Gere [laughter] which I have had the pleasure of having done, this a number of places
around the world you often end up as unidentified man in photo [laughter]. So I greatly appreciate that.
First, let me thank the panel here. This really is a remarkable group of people. Parmeshwar has done so much,
Minister, Richard, obviously, Peter and Ashok, for AIDS education in India. They’ve been just fantastic partners to
work with and with Kaiser Family Foundation, I feel privileged to be able to sit alongside them.
We have been doing media partnerships around the world beginning in 1997, first with MTV domestically in the
United States. In the U.S. we work with MTV, BET, Univision.
And we then took this global, this work global, under the leadership of Peter Piot at UNAIDS, some other great
media leaders like Bill Rhode [misspelled?] at MTV International. And held a summit at the UN, where we formed
the Global Media AIDS Initiative with the UN and UNAIDS. And since then, we have launched partnerships in
Russia, Ukraine. Richard has gone with us to Moscow, where we have launched campaigns there where we have
approximately 50 media companies involved now giving about $250,000,000 of media time and space for a fraction
of the cost of the investment.
Also in India, we did have the session at the prime minister’s residence. One thing that needs to be noted, that
session was held two weeks after the Tsunami. There was every reason to want to cancel that with everything that
had happened in India, but the prime minister, I think, showed remarkable stick-to-it-iveness to stay with that and
make sure that we went forward with that. I thought that was just remarkable.
We have also launched partnerships now in Africa where we’re creating a Pan-African campaign in the Caribbean.
A couple of just quick comments about why the media does this. One thing I think needs to be noted is this is good
for business as is noted here. There are a whole host of issues that the media could take on. There’s plenty of
pressing health issues. But what we have found through surveys that we have done all across the world is that by
taking on HIV/AIDS, you’re actually taking on something that is good for your business. Viewers respond to it.
They think that the media company cares about them. It’s providing them with needed health care information and
that’s important. So I really do applaud STAR for being bold taking on this issue. There are a whole lot of issues
that could have been taken on but they chose to take on HIV/AIDS.
We’ve also seen that there’s a real impact from this, from the survey work that we’ve done following these
campaigns once they’ve gotten started. For instance, in Russia, the campaign that we run there, the Stop Speak
campaign now has 49-percent awareness across all of Russia and has been adopted as their national campaign there
and also in the Ukraine. It’s doing a great amount also to drive down stigma numbers in Russia. In America in BET
and through our other campaigns targeted at African-American youth, the Wrap it Up campaign now has 90-
percent awareness of the campaign. And we’re beginning to see self-reported behavior changes in terms of getting
tested, negotiating safer sex, things of that nature.
This can work. This can have a real impact on what happens with young people, how they protect themselves. I just
really wanted to say one more time. I applaud everyone on this panel for their involvement in this. It’s very
important work, thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Quickly, before we open the session for questions, I’m going to actually put up the MOU here
and I’m going to invite Richard, Peter and Parmeshwar to sign it in our presence. Thank you. Can we have
questions, please?
RICHARD GERE: You know there’s actually someone else here I’d like to introduce. Can I do that? Am I allowed?
KARNAKA SINGH: Sure.
RICHARD GERE: Well, there’s someone else here who is part of the team, it’s a new member of the team and it’s
Madame Raul [misspelled?], who is the head of NECCO [misspelled?], Sirgata Raul [misspelled], who is a very
integral partner to what we’re going to do in the future. We’re talking about [inaudible] India, so we’re very
happy to be working with you too.
KARNAKA SINGH: Questions, please?
MALE SPEAKER: This question is for Richard Gere. Sir, could you tell us from being an officer and a gentleman,
how did you become a hero of this project?
RICHARD GERE: Actually this is double entendre isn’t it. Hero means exactly what − in terms of actors, a hero is
an action star? Is that right? Is a hero. I think, from our point of view, everyone’s a hero who focuses on this and
we have a room full of heroes here who are doing your part in this enterprise of attacking this pandemic of
HIV/AIDS and we’re all partners in this. And in that sense, we’re all heroes here.
I’m not a 26-year-old boy anymore. And I look at my life and I have to make some hard decisions of what I can be
effective at and be meaningful with the remaining years that I do have. And I distilled that down to several
subjects and probably the most important for me was HIV/AIDS. It’s the true terrorist on the planet today. It’s
something that I and my brother have been working on since the beginning of the pandemic in the early ’80s. And
it’s something that has gone away. We’ve seen all the mistakes that have been made in America, and I deeply love
India. And I will continue to deeply love India. And it is deeply important for me that India not make the mistakes
that we made in America, where we had no leadership, we didn’t take it seriously, and hundreds of thousands of
people who didn’t have to.
If it can be kept there through the work that we all do together in partnership and I include our media partners
sitting here as well as the media partners who are on the dais with us, if we can keep that level, there’s a good
possibility that we’re not going to see 10,000,000 or 20,000,000 Indian die. So that’s the reason. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Yes, please.
SHARON HETTARY: Hi, my name is Sharon Hettary [misspelled?] from Noxot [misspelled?] Sweden. I asked the
question from Mr. Gere two years ago. And I want to ask the same question from you today. The project is very
interesting and I’m sure it has a huge impact on the youth and the young people that it reaches. But however, it’s
still directed towards young people at the wealthier population, which have a TV and access to radio and TV. Do
you have any projects ongoing or planning any projects in the future for the young people in the rural area, in the
schools of the rural area, without access to the TV and the media?
PETER MUKERJEA: That is a very, very good question. Now, to give you some anecdotal information. In India,
there are about 200,000,000 households, of which about 110,000,000 have a television set, of which where STAR
goes into is about 65,000,000 households. That equates to about 300,000,000 given, about five people per home.
Now, as a broadcaster, we can only do so much, which is why it’s very important for our prime minister and we’re
extremely grateful for him to have called that meeting of I think about 40 or 50 of the top media companies in the
country: print, radio, television, everyone. We are just one of many other companies. We’ve taken the lead in that
respect so that A) we can fulfill our own obligations morally, but also we hope that others will follow us and
expand the reach so that we are reaching out to as much of the population as possible.
KARNAKA SINGH: Yes, please. Can we have a mic here, please?
MALE SPEAKER: This is just an extension of her question. I am working in the central prison of [inaudible] as I
look at anyone that’s activist. The population in prison like near about, some lax people are in there India,
throughout prison. So there is no access for them to entertainment. There is no access to health services. There is
no program going on inside the prison on HIV/AIDS. So minister is there, Mr. Peter is there. So I want to request
you all that when are you going to start some programs of entertainment through which they can get knowledge
about HIV/AIDS and when can this health department and the home department will be given permission to work
inside the prison on the HIV/AIDS issues. And if government are, Mr. Peter, wants activists like me to really to
help them in every manner?
DR. ANBAMNI RAMDAS: Well, it’s a policy decision the government has to take and we are discussing. In fact,
the NECCO chief Mrs. Raul and she has initiated dialogue with the whole ministry who is in charge of prisons
throughout the country. And not only on this issue, but there are other issues also which we are trying to do it.
And this is a question of time and the perception. It’s not only an awareness but then an intervention is necessary
in these prisons, they have MSMs and other issues. So the holistic issue, we’re trying to take holistic programming
to these prisons.
KARNAKA SINGH: There’s a question there, please.
JOSEPHINE CAMERRA: My name is Josephine Camerra [misspelled?] I’m with Internews Network [misspelled?],
Nigeria chapter. This question is for Peter. We are particularly challenged with media executives trying to
understand their moral rights and responsibilities to HIV and AIDS. Obviously, you are aware of that, but also you
are a businessman and therefore you want to make profit for your station. How do you compromise those two?
Trying to make profit, at the same time making commitment to HIV and AIDS issues.
PETER MUKERJEA: I think it’s a very good question. Let me answer that by saying that we do not compromise on
either of those. The issue of compromise does not arise simply because we have a commitment to our viewers. We
have a commitment to ourselves as an organization working in a marketplace like India, which is still a long from
being fully aware and educated on the subject of HIV/AIDS.
And as a result of that, no compromise is something we advocate completely. We do not compromise on the
content of our programming. We do not make our shows any less entertaining. We do not make our news
products any less informative. We do not compromise at all.
MATT JAMES: Could I just take one swipe at that question too? What we have found around the world is that you
don’t need to compromise. Writers and producers who produce television shows, when you come in and you brief
them about what’s going on in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, they see the humor,
they see the drama. They see that these are subjects that are going to be very, very popular with the people that
watch the shows. Some of the shows that we have worked on through the years on HIV-related themes have
turned out to be among the most popular shows that have been produced among some of these dramas and
situation comedies.
As an example, in the United States which was enormously popular the HIV-infected character turned out to be the
most popular character in that season’s set of shows. It was the romance between George Clooney and whoever he
was having the romance with, which I don’t recall at this point, but that was the popular character. So you don’t
have to compromise on this. There is drama. There is comedy. There is human interest in the HIV story and if you
get creative people together, they recognize that and they figure out how to tell the story.
RICHARD GERE: Let me add to that, too. Just to pick up on what Matt was saying, one of the problems of dealing
with the subject of AIDS is people see it monolithically and they see it as a one-dimensional definition of a human
being. And that’s the biggest problem to empathy, creating an empathetic situation that governments then start to
engage this issue. That neighbors engage in this issue. Community, fellow community members, engage the issue.
In terms of drama, if it’s dealt with in the full range of humanity − people who are still wanting to love, who still
get angry, who are sick but won’t always be sick, people who have friends and issues just like you and I and
everyone else on the planet − then it becomes, in the realm of storytelling, like any other kind of storytelling. And,
in fact, it’s very good business to do that, because it’s even deeper because it’s about such a deep problem.
MALE SPEAKER: You talk about targeting the youth through media. What about youth participation and that sort
of stuff with youth programs? Wouldn’t that not spread the message more?
MATT JAMES: There is an awful lot of youth involvement in a great many of the media outlets around the world
and there’s actually a great example at the AIDS conference here now through a project MTV International is doing
called 48 Fest, where they have sent out young people to basically shoot documentaries around HIV/AIDS around
48 hours and are then going to basically be airing those at the end of the conference.
Having youth involved and having these be authentic in terms of making sure that you’re hitting the kinds of
issues that young people want to know about and have the language authentic is absolutely critical. One of the
most important things that we do, I think at times, in terms of our briefings are not bringing in just the AIDS
experts who will talk about the numbers and things like that, but bringing in the young people who are HIV-
positive who will then talk about what the experiences are like in their lives. So that then gives it an authentic voice
that then the creative people, the Richards, and the writers and the folks like that who are involved in this work,
can then make it real for young people.
KARNAKA SINGH: Question back there, please.
HEATHER LIND: Hi, Heather Lind [misspelled?], CTV here in Toronto. Those 48 youth are right now filming,
editing, shooting their films as we speak. Richard, you met with them yesterday. What advice did you give them?
Because there is a lot of responsibility I’m sure they’re feeling right now that they have to convey their message
with this film fest.
RICHARD GERE: I think they wanted to know – I’m paraphrasing many of their questions, but they wanted to
know how to make a real impact, if they could make an impact, if it was meaningful and important that they do a
good job. And of course it is.
Ultimately, it’s important for them to do a good job. Making a film is transformative for the person who makes a
film also. It makes you go deeper into yourself. There was a very interesting in The New York Times and it was
about a study that was done in Africa. They studied the transformative quality of kids in the classroom being
lectured about HIV/AIDS and what kind of transformation that was. They found at the end of hese lectures there
actually was very little transformation. Then they did it again and they told them to write a paper, a composition,
from their own point of view on that and to turn it a week later and that became transformative, radically
transformative.
So it’s the same thing with filmmaking. Of course, they wanted to ask me about acting as well, and I don’t know
anything about acting, so there’s nothing I could tell them.
KARNAKA SINGH: Question there.
DAVID RODRIGUEZ: Hi, Mr. Richard Gere, I’m David Rodriguez [misspelled?] from Univision Puerto Rico. Muy
bien. I feel proud of you, let me tell you that. I have a question because in, for example, in Puerto Rico and other
Latin American country, we have been reporting about the corruption, how some leaders have been using the
funds that was supposed to be for treatment and investigation and they used that for example in Puerto Rico for
political campaign. So I have been reporting about that during the last years.
I want to know like a media person what you have to say to that political leader who don’t have a real
commitment with the HIV/AIDS situation.
RICHARD GERE: Obviously, I don’t know anything about the specifics of this situation. If it’s true, it’s a horrible
thing. Because of my Buddhist belief, I think we’re all redeemable, but look, any of the work that’s done in this
area has to be authentic or it won’t be healing.
The people on this stage, I’ve seen the process that we’ve all gone through over years of working on this subject.
The deeper that it gets with us, the more real and authentic it is in our hearts, the more transformative and healing
our work is. And every time we have interactions with each other and other people, it’s real and I would give that
advice to any politician. You can see it with the two Bills who spoke this morning. They’ve internalized that to that
point that it’s totally genuine and everything they do, therefore, is healing. So short of it, there’s always going to
be some corruption.
KARNAKA SINGH: We’ll take one last question quickly here.
FEMALE SPEAKER: I’m a woman of East Indian origin and also a lawyer specialized in human rights so I have an
understanding of the sociopolitical context in which HIV/AIDS is occurring in India, where female infanticide is a
huge problem, where you have bride burning, and you have really serious suppression of women. So my question
is, is there anything that your project is doing to help bring about gender equality for women?
KARNAKA SINGH: Richard, would you like to answer that? Okay, yes. I’ll try and handle that. We know for a
fact that there’s not much you can do to address and empower women in India. Health is a low priority for
women. Any kind of message to them is going to be difficult because we cannot induce them to be able to help in
kind of preventive methods for themselves. The way we’ve taken a look at it in our joint efforts with STAR TV is
to say, is there a message that we can reach out with women which empowers them in a way that nothing else can?
Is there a way that they can change their children’s lives and make them feel empowered? Therefore, a lot of our
messaging, therefore, addresses the woman and tells her how she can start talking to her children about sex and
HIV/AIDS and that’s definitely making a change in the way she can change her family and views on HIV.
We are closing now. I would like to just quickly propose a word of thanks to everybody here, Dr. Ramdus,
Richard, Peter, Ashok, Matt, thank you all very much, and thanks to everybody for being here. Thank you.
[END RECORDING]
KARNAKA SINGH: Good evening to all those who made it here. Thank you so much. My name is Karnaka Singh
[misspelled?] and on behalf of the Heroes Project, I welcome all of you here to this press meet. The occasion is
great. For us, it’s a historic moment. Two years ago, at the AIDS conference in Bangkok, we launched the Heroes
Project in partnership with STAR TV. And today, two years later, we’re happy to announce the extension for the
period of two years. Before I begin, I’d like to quickly introduce our panelists here and then move on with the rest.
I’ll start with a person I think everybody knows, Richard Gere, actor and co-founder of the Heroes Project.
Richard has really been instrumental in actually putting this foundation in place, starting this HIV/AIDS initiative
in India, and working closely with STAR TV to make this happen. We’re delighted to have the Honorable Minister
of Health and Family Welfare Dr. Anbamni Ramdas [misspelled?] with us. Apart from being young and dynamic,
he’s been a great supporter of the initiative for us and so we are really delighted to have him here.
I’d like to then introduce Mr. Peter Mukerjea, who is CEO of STAR India. Peter has been personally committed to
this issue and has worked closely with us from the day we started.
Thank you, Peter, for being here. Next, I’d like to invite Ashok Alexander from Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who are partners and great supporters in our program. Next to him is
Matt James, senior vice president, Media and Public Education for Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Again, a
great partner, great friend, great co-workers with us. Thank you for all being here.
I’m going to actually spend two minutes talking about the Heroes Project for those who don’t. The Heroes Project,
as I mentioned, was launched in 2004 on the heels of a partnership that we formed with STAR TV. It’s a
nationwide initiative in India basically to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS working with two platform, media
campaigns and a societal leader program. And in the process, we’ve worked with a number of media partners and
celebrities in the country but nothing the size of STAR TV, which is why they’re here with us today.
Before I move in and I say anything more, I’d like to run a short clip about the two years that we’ve journeyed
with STAR TV together.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. This is a very, very short journey about what we’ve been doing for the last two
years. None of this would have been possible without Avahan, without the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and
without our co-chair, Mrs. Vermasha Goldridge [misspelled?].
I’d like to now move on and invite Richard Gere first to speak to us a little bit about did this partnership happen.
Richard? How did this partnership come into being? It’s a unique one. It’s built momentum over time.
RICHARD GERE: We were just talking about is here because I turned to Peter and said, “How did this happen?”
And we were realizing that this started for us about three years ago I would guess.
MALE SPEAKER: Yes.
RICHARD GERE: And it started with a phone call between me and James Murdoch [misspelled?], who was in
Hong Kong at the time and he was the CEO of STAR TV. And I was introduced to him by Roger Ales
[misspelled?], who was a friend of mine in New York. I said, “Look we’re trying to take on this very difficult
subject of HIV/AIDS in India and I don’t know how to begin with the media and we need media partners, and
real partners, genuine partners. Not because they feel like they have but someone who’s creatively involved and
from the heart.” He said, “Look, we’re just starting in India. We want to be good citizens. Let’s work on this
together.” So we did hook up and Peter became a partner with us almost immediately and took enormous risk, I
think, at starting to do the kind of programming that you saw here.
When we entered into this agreement a couple of years ago, I don’t think any of us realized where it was actually
going to go. We had hopes and dreams of what would happen. But we didn’t know if it would work. We didn’t
know for sure what the quality would be. We didn’t know if we would have the kind of partnerships that we both
would want to have. And now that we see the product that has been accomplished in a relatively short amount of
time and one that I think that certainly we feel good about that has been a high quality, that has been correct
messaging, that the people that are seeing this are getting it directly into their minds and hearts and the way that
they should be getting it.
But I think it’s also been good for Peter and his business as well. It hasn’t detracted from their mission and their
own fiduciary responsibilities. At the same time, it was with enormous risk that they entered into this. So the bulk
of the praise should go to Peter and to James Murdoch. I know there was more to that question you were asking.
KARNAKA SINGH: Do you think this sets up the road and the path for a lot of media companies to follow what
STAR has done?
RICHARD GERE: There’s no question. Without this relationship, we could not have begun the work that we were
doing in India. Now, we do work with other networks and other stations and other media venues, whether it’s
newspapers or periodicals, magazines, et cetera. The strength of what we have is our partnership with STAR, there’
s no question about it. It’s the anchor. And because of them taking the chance, taking a deep breath and going,
“Okay let’s do it, let’s give it a try,” everyone else fell into place on whatever level they felt they could. But
without the strength of this commitment between us, there’s no way that we could have accomplished the myriad
of things that we have.
KARNAKA SINGH: Dr. Ramdas?
RICHARD GERE: I’d just like to say, too, that it’s delightful for me to be on this stage with these people who have
become really good friends over this process. And a few years ago, none of us knew each other and I think we feel
a bit like soldiers in the trenches. And we’ve all got a really warm feeling about this. We’ve all seen each other
around the world in this process. It’s strange, even the minister and I have spoken from New York to Delhi quite
often. Parmeshwar was our co-partner, really, in the beginning of the Heroes Project but I think this has become a
global friendship and a model of how to do these things that will bring fruit in many different situations around
the world.
MALE SPEAKER: Yeah, I totally agree.
KARNAKA SINGH: Dr. Ramdas, we all know that India and the alarming rates and stuff like that. How does a
partnership and a campaign like this support the work that’s happening on HIV/AIDS in the country?
DR. ANBAMNI RAMDAS: Like I’ve been saying, in India it’s not anti-HIV/AIDS program in any more. It’s an anti-
HIV/AIDS movement out there. And in the movement we are taking the support of a lot of people: the
government, the private sector, the corporate, the civil society, people living with HIV/AIDS. And what better
support than people sitting on this dais? Richard, Peter, Parmeshwar, Ashok and the Kaiser Family. This is what
we are trying to move around in India.
And on the concept of Heroes Project Richard and Parmeshwar have started, my prime minister had chaired a
meeting two years ago and there were about 50 media leaders, both visual and print, who attended that meeting.
And they had committed that they will support the government.
And since then, there’s been a huge transformation of the awareness created, both in the visual and print media,
where in India we have a thing called a mega-serial which goes on for five years, seven years, eight years, and five
days a week. And some of these television, and visually they had coopted HIV character and this goes to the
general population and millions watch these serials. And some of these changes have been preempted the Heroes
Project and it’s been wonderful and that’s what it’s all about, awareness concept in India. That’s what we’re trying
to build, more partners. And taking this opportunity I would like to thank India, the government, the heroes
sitting on the dais here. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Peter, STAR has taken corporate social responsibility very, very seriously and has taken
HIV/AIDS as a huge venture, it’s taken it on. You have been personally involved all the time, all the way through.
What has made you feel the sense of adding and deepening the commitment with STAR? Do you want to share
some of those experiences that we’ve had in the last two years and what really propelled this forward?
PETER MUKERJEA: Yeah, look, I think from a STAR TV point of view and from a media company and from a
citizen of the country perspective, I had a corporate as well as a sort of moral duty to try and support something
best as I could possibly. And as a media company, it would have been have relatively simple to perhaps commit to
a sum of money by writing out a check.
But we believe that in the market like India, where you have in excess of 60-percent of the population being under
30 years old and the whole issue of HIV/AIDS being so very pointed towards youth, that as a media company the
most effective thing that we could possibly do was to use our platform and reach out to the millions of people that
watch television and television shows every evening with messaging that was going to connect with them in a
society, which is extremely sensitive to the subject as a whole.
So we took it on in three different stages. One is we made a commitment to ourselves and to the HIV/AIDS Heroes
Project that we would support this for at least three years. This was almost three years ago. As part of that support
we would, first of all, create awareness as to what this was all about. And the second step was to do some
education. And third would be to try integrate the subject of HIV/AIDS in a more meaningful way into our
programming and our content.
We have ten channels in India. We happen to be, thankfully, the leader in the marketplace. We reach out to more
people than any other television channel other than the Terrestrial Broadcaster. And for that we are extremely
proud, but we also have a responsibility and that responsibility is particularly saw in the area of social
responsibility. I think when it comes to HIV/AIDS we did not bat an eyelid before taking this on as a remit upon
ourselves that we ought to do something and do something significant.
I think it is surprising how quickly over the last three years time has gone by. And the film that we saw early on is
only a tiny, tiny slice of all the things that have happened over the last three years in getting our messaging across
from an awareness and from an education point of view.
Apart from a personal point of view, I feel extremely proud and honored to be A) sitting here by the side of
Richard and our minister, and all of the other dignitaries, Parmeshwar, Matt, as well as Mr. Alexander. For me, as
a media executive, there can be no higher accolade to being sitting at a press function like this about a subject
which is so enormous and global and in a market place and representing a country whish is at the forefront of a
pandemic which is around the corner unless we do something about it, and for that I’m extremely honored and
proud. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. Ashok, may I invite you to talk a little bit about this? We all know stigma comes in
the way of the prevention work that is done in India. How does this sort of an effort help the work that’s
happening on the ground?
ASHOK ALEXANDER: I head Avahan, which is the India AIDS initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I
just want to say at the outset that the Gates Foundation is very proud to be a sponsor of this remarkable
partnership between Heroes group and STAR.
The way stigma is, actually the biggest barrier to the prevention work that we do in India. It results in, at a
minimum, a widespread apathy and indifference towards the epidemic. But at the grassroots, it prevents high-risk
groups from even participating in prevention activities. So stigma is something very tangible and difficult for us to
deal with.
It’s a very difficult enemy to defeat and I think one key to defeating stigma is for societal leaders to speak out. For
the vast reach of media to reach the general populations and to start changing attitudes. And it’s in that context
that I think this partnership between Heroes and STAR is so remarkable. Because STAR TV, with its vast reach, to
try reach basic attitudes of indifference and discrimination that get in the way of prevention. I actually salute STAR
for their level of corporate social responsibility that they have shown. And I think this is a remarkable partnership
which I hope will become a model for other company’s to follow.
KARNAKA SINGH: Thank you. Matt, last but not least. The Kaiser Family Foundation has several such media
initiatives across the world. How is this different or similar?
MATT JAMES: First, before I answer that let me thank the one photographer who took my picture, when you’re
on a panel with Richard Gere [laughter] which I have had the pleasure of having done, this a number of places
around the world you often end up as unidentified man in photo [laughter]. So I greatly appreciate that.
First, let me thank the panel here. This really is a remarkable group of people. Parmeshwar has done so much,
Minister, Richard, obviously, Peter and Ashok, for AIDS education in India. They’ve been just fantastic partners to
work with and with Kaiser Family Foundation, I feel privileged to be able to sit alongside them.
We have been doing media partnerships around the world beginning in 1997, first with MTV domestically in the
United States. In the U.S. we work with MTV, BET, Univision.
And we then took this global, this work global, under the leadership of Peter Piot at UNAIDS, some other great
media leaders like Bill Rhode [misspelled?] at MTV International. And held a summit at the UN, where we formed
the Global Media AIDS Initiative with the UN and UNAIDS. And since then, we have launched partnerships in
Russia, Ukraine. Richard has gone with us to Moscow, where we have launched campaigns there where we have
approximately 50 media companies involved now giving about $250,000,000 of media time and space for a fraction
of the cost of the investment.
Also in India, we did have the session at the prime minister’s residence. One thing that needs to be noted, that
session was held two weeks after the Tsunami. There was every reason to want to cancel that with everything that
had happened in India, but the prime minister, I think, showed remarkable stick-to-it-iveness to stay with that and
make sure that we went forward with that. I thought that was just remarkable.
We have also launched partnerships now in Africa where we’re creating a Pan-African campaign in the Caribbean.
A couple of just quick comments about why the media does this. One thing I think needs to be noted is this is good
for business as is noted here. There are a whole host of issues that the media could take on. There’s plenty of
pressing health issues. But what we have found through surveys that we have done all across the world is that by
taking on HIV/AIDS, you’re actually taking on something that is good for your business. Viewers respond to it.
They think that the media company cares about them. It’s providing them with needed health care information and
that’s important. So I really do applaud STAR for being bold taking on this issue. There are a whole lot of issues
that could have been taken on but they chose to take on HIV/AIDS.
We’ve also seen that there’s a real impact from this, from the survey work that we’ve done following these
campaigns once they’ve gotten started. For instance, in Russia, the campaign that we run there, the Stop Speak
campaign now has 49-percent awareness across all of Russia and has been adopted as their national campaign there
and also in the Ukraine. It’s doing a great amount also to drive down stigma numbers in Russia. In America in BET
and through our other campaigns targeted at African-American youth, the Wrap it Up campaign now has 90-
percent awareness of the campaign. And we’re beginning to see self-reported behavior changes in terms of getting
tested, negotiating safer sex, things of that nature.
This can work. This can have a real impact on what happens with young people, how they protect themselves. I just
really wanted to say one more time. I applaud everyone on this panel for their involvement in this. It’s very
important work, thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Quickly, before we open the session for questions, I’m going to actually put up the MOU here
and I’m going to invite Richard, Peter and Parmeshwar to sign it in our presence. Thank you. Can we have
questions, please?
RICHARD GERE: You know there’s actually someone else here I’d like to introduce. Can I do that? Am I allowed?
KARNAKA SINGH: Sure.
RICHARD GERE: Well, there’s someone else here who is part of the team, it’s a new member of the team and it’s
Madame Raul [misspelled?], who is the head of NECCO [misspelled?], Sirgata Raul [misspelled], who is a very
integral partner to what we’re going to do in the future. We’re talking about [inaudible] India, so we’re very
happy to be working with you too.
KARNAKA SINGH: Questions, please?
MALE SPEAKER: This question is for Richard Gere. Sir, could you tell us from being an officer and a gentleman,
how did you become a hero of this project?
RICHARD GERE: Actually this is double entendre isn’t it. Hero means exactly what − in terms of actors, a hero is
an action star? Is that right? Is a hero. I think, from our point of view, everyone’s a hero who focuses on this and
we have a room full of heroes here who are doing your part in this enterprise of attacking this pandemic of
HIV/AIDS and we’re all partners in this. And in that sense, we’re all heroes here.
I’m not a 26-year-old boy anymore. And I look at my life and I have to make some hard decisions of what I can be
effective at and be meaningful with the remaining years that I do have. And I distilled that down to several
subjects and probably the most important for me was HIV/AIDS. It’s the true terrorist on the planet today. It’s
something that I and my brother have been working on since the beginning of the pandemic in the early ’80s. And
it’s something that has gone away. We’ve seen all the mistakes that have been made in America, and I deeply love
India. And I will continue to deeply love India. And it is deeply important for me that India not make the mistakes
that we made in America, where we had no leadership, we didn’t take it seriously, and hundreds of thousands of
people who didn’t have to.
If it can be kept there through the work that we all do together in partnership and I include our media partners
sitting here as well as the media partners who are on the dais with us, if we can keep that level, there’s a good
possibility that we’re not going to see 10,000,000 or 20,000,000 Indian die. So that’s the reason. Thank you.
KARNAKA SINGH: Yes, please.
SHARON HETTARY: Hi, my name is Sharon Hettary [misspelled?] from Noxot [misspelled?] Sweden. I asked the
question from Mr. Gere two years ago. And I want to ask the same question from you today. The project is very
interesting and I’m sure it has a huge impact on the youth and the young people that it reaches. But however, it’s
still directed towards young people at the wealthier population, which have a TV and access to radio and TV. Do
you have any projects ongoing or planning any projects in the future for the young people in the rural area, in the
schools of the rural area, without access to the TV and the media?
PETER MUKERJEA: That is a very, very good question. Now, to give you some anecdotal information. In India,
there are about 200,000,000 households, of which about 110,000,000 have a television set, of which where STAR
goes into is about 65,000,000 households. That equates to about 300,000,000 given, about five people per home.
Now, as a broadcaster, we can only do so much, which is why it’s very important for our prime minister and we’re
extremely grateful for him to have called that meeting of I think about 40 or 50 of the top media companies in the
country: print, radio, television, everyone. We are just one of many other companies. We’ve taken the lead in that
respect so that A) we can fulfill our own obligations morally, but also we hope that others will follow us and
expand the reach so that we are reaching out to as much of the population as possible.
KARNAKA SINGH: Yes, please. Can we have a mic here, please?
MALE SPEAKER: This is just an extension of her question. I am working in the central prison of [inaudible] as I
look at anyone that’s activist. The population in prison like near about, some lax people are in there India,
throughout prison. So there is no access for them to entertainment. There is no access to health services. There is
no program going on inside the prison on HIV/AIDS. So minister is there, Mr. Peter is there. So I want to request
you all that when are you going to start some programs of entertainment through which they can get knowledge
about HIV/AIDS and when can this health department and the home department will be given permission to work
inside the prison on the HIV/AIDS issues. And if government are, Mr. Peter, wants activists like me to really to
help them in every manner?
DR. ANBAMNI RAMDAS: Well, it’s a policy decision the government has to take and we are discussing. In fact,
the NECCO chief Mrs. Raul and she has initiated dialogue with the whole ministry who is in charge of prisons
throughout the country. And not only on this issue, but there are other issues also which we are trying to do it.
And this is a question of time and the perception. It’s not only an awareness but then an intervention is necessary
in these prisons, they have MSMs and other issues. So the holistic issue, we’re trying to take holistic programming
to these prisons.
KARNAKA SINGH: There’s a question there, please.
JOSEPHINE CAMERRA: My name is Josephine Camerra [misspelled?] I’m with Internews Network [misspelled?],
Nigeria chapter. This question is for Peter. We are particularly challenged with media executives trying to
understand their moral rights and responsibilities to HIV and AIDS. Obviously, you are aware of that, but also you
are a businessman and therefore you want to make profit for your station. How do you compromise those two?
Trying to make profit, at the same time making commitment to HIV and AIDS issues.
PETER MUKERJEA: I think it’s a very good question. Let me answer that by saying that we do not compromise on
either of those. The issue of compromise does not arise simply because we have a commitment to our viewers. We
have a commitment to ourselves as an organization working in a marketplace like India, which is still a long from
being fully aware and educated on the subject of HIV/AIDS.
And as a result of that, no compromise is something we advocate completely. We do not compromise on the
content of our programming. We do not make our shows any less entertaining. We do not make our news
products any less informative. We do not compromise at all.
MATT JAMES: Could I just take one swipe at that question too? What we have found around the world is that you
don’t need to compromise. Writers and producers who produce television shows, when you come in and you brief
them about what’s going on in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, they see the humor,
they see the drama. They see that these are subjects that are going to be very, very popular with the people that
watch the shows. Some of the shows that we have worked on through the years on HIV-related themes have
turned out to be among the most popular shows that have been produced among some of these dramas and
situation comedies.
As an example, in the United States which was enormously popular the HIV-infected character turned out to be the
most popular character in that season’s set of shows. It was the romance between George Clooney and whoever he
was having the romance with, which I don’t recall at this point, but that was the popular character. So you don’t
have to compromise on this. There is drama. There is comedy. There is human interest in the HIV story and if you
get creative people together, they recognize that and they figure out how to tell the story.
RICHARD GERE: Let me add to that, too. Just to pick up on what Matt was saying, one of the problems of dealing
with the subject of AIDS is people see it monolithically and they see it as a one-dimensional definition of a human
being. And that’s the biggest problem to empathy, creating an empathetic situation that governments then start to
engage this issue. That neighbors engage in this issue. Community, fellow community members, engage the issue.
In terms of drama, if it’s dealt with in the full range of humanity − people who are still wanting to love, who still
get angry, who are sick but won’t always be sick, people who have friends and issues just like you and I and
everyone else on the planet − then it becomes, in the realm of storytelling, like any other kind of storytelling. And,
in fact, it’s very good business to do that, because it’s even deeper because it’s about such a deep problem.
MALE SPEAKER: You talk about targeting the youth through media. What about youth participation and that sort
of stuff with youth programs? Wouldn’t that not spread the message more?
MATT JAMES: There is an awful lot of youth involvement in a great many of the media outlets around the world
and there’s actually a great example at the AIDS conference here now through a project MTV International is doing
called 48 Fest, where they have sent out young people to basically shoot documentaries around HIV/AIDS around
48 hours and are then going to basically be airing those at the end of the conference.
Having youth involved and having these be authentic in terms of making sure that you’re hitting the kinds of
issues that young people want to know about and have the language authentic is absolutely critical. One of the
most important things that we do, I think at times, in terms of our briefings are not bringing in just the AIDS
experts who will talk about the numbers and things like that, but bringing in the young people who are HIV-
positive who will then talk about what the experiences are like in their lives. So that then gives it an authentic voice
that then the creative people, the Richards, and the writers and the folks like that who are involved in this work,
can then make it real for young people.
KARNAKA SINGH: Question back there, please.
HEATHER LIND: Hi, Heather Lind [misspelled?], CTV here in Toronto. Those 48 youth are right now filming,
editing, shooting their films as we speak. Richard, you met with them yesterday. What advice did you give them?
Because there is a lot of responsibility I’m sure they’re feeling right now that they have to convey their message
with this film fest.
RICHARD GERE: I think they wanted to know – I’m paraphrasing many of their questions, but they wanted to
know how to make a real impact, if they could make an impact, if it was meaningful and important that they do a
good job. And of course it is.
Ultimately, it’s important for them to do a good job. Making a film is transformative for the person who makes a
film also. It makes you go deeper into yourself. There was a very interesting in The New York Times and it was
about a study that was done in Africa. They studied the transformative quality of kids in the classroom being
lectured about HIV/AIDS and what kind of transformation that was. They found at the end of hese lectures there
actually was very little transformation. Then they did it again and they told them to write a paper, a composition,
from their own point of view on that and to turn it a week later and that became transformative, radically
transformative.
So it’s the same thing with filmmaking. Of course, they wanted to ask me about acting as well, and I don’t know
anything about acting, so there’s nothing I could tell them.
KARNAKA SINGH: Question there.
DAVID RODRIGUEZ: Hi, Mr. Richard Gere, I’m David Rodriguez [misspelled?] from Univision Puerto Rico. Muy
bien. I feel proud of you, let me tell you that. I have a question because in, for example, in Puerto Rico and other
Latin American country, we have been reporting about the corruption, how some leaders have been using the
funds that was supposed to be for treatment and investigation and they used that for example in Puerto Rico for
political campaign. So I have been reporting about that during the last years.
I want to know like a media person what you have to say to that political leader who don’t have a real
commitment with the HIV/AIDS situation.
RICHARD GERE: Obviously, I don’t know anything about the specifics of this situation. If it’s true, it’s a horrible
thing. Because of my Buddhist belief, I think we’re all redeemable, but look, any of the work that’s done in this
area has to be authentic or it won’t be healing.
The people on this stage, I’ve seen the process that we’ve all gone through over years of working on this subject.
The deeper that it gets with us, the more real and authentic it is in our hearts, the more transformative and healing
our work is. And every time we have interactions with each other and other people, it’s real and I would give that
advice to any politician. You can see it with the two Bills who spoke this morning. They’ve internalized that to that
point that it’s totally genuine and everything they do, therefore, is healing. So short of it, there’s always going to
be some corruption.
KARNAKA SINGH: We’ll take one last question quickly here.
FEMALE SPEAKER: I’m a woman of East Indian origin and also a lawyer specialized in human rights so I have an
understanding of the sociopolitical context in which HIV/AIDS is occurring in India, where female infanticide is a
huge problem, where you have bride burning, and you have really serious suppression of women. So my question
is, is there anything that your project is doing to help bring about gender equality for women?
KARNAKA SINGH: Richard, would you like to answer that? Okay, yes. I’ll try and handle that. We know for a
fact that there’s not much you can do to address and empower women in India. Health is a low priority for
women. Any kind of message to them is going to be difficult because we cannot induce them to be able to help in
kind of preventive methods for themselves. The way we’ve taken a look at it in our joint efforts with STAR TV is
to say, is there a message that we can reach out with women which empowers them in a way that nothing else can?
Is there a way that they can change their children’s lives and make them feel empowered? Therefore, a lot of our
messaging, therefore, addresses the woman and tells her how she can start talking to her children about sex and
HIV/AIDS and that’s definitely making a change in the way she can change her family and views on HIV.
We are closing now. I would like to just quickly propose a word of thanks to everybody here, Dr. Ramdus,
Richard, Peter, Ashok, Matt, thank you all very much, and thanks to everybody for being here. Thank you.
[END RECORDING]
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