News reports on the subject of infectious diseases play an important role in preventing behavior that increases the risk of public infection while also galvanizing public opinion and stimulating administrative organs to establish public health policies and allocate budgets accordingly. This paper discusses how news about sexually transmitted infections (STIs: HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B) has been reported in newspapers, by analyzing two major newspaper articles; the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun's databases, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and examining their impact on patients as well as their families and the changes they have brought to public scientific awareness of infection risks. It also attempts to identify the stakeholders in Japan's reporting system and assess the impact of those news reports and to explore the proper ethical considerations, reporting systems, and press standards that may be desirable for the control and prevention of infectious diseases while respecting the human rights of patients and the people around them. The conclusion is that by establishing common standards in advance, news reports can be expected to focus more on controlling the spread of STIs.
