Despite the progress being made in the global response to HIV and AIDS, stigma remains a major obstacle to prevention and treatment. It is manifested in many different ways and fear of disgrace prevents people from coming forward for HIV testing and treatment. Key populations – sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men, the transgender community and people who inject drugs – are particularly affected. The role of the media in tackling HIV related stigma is crucial. It is seen as one of the drivers of HIV reduction, yet the media is far from reaching its full potential. Many governments and funders prefer to focus on service delivery, which has measureable results, whereas it’s much harder to measure the impact of media initiatives that aim to bring about societal change. The aim of this report is to explore the role of the media in reducing stigma related to HIV. It is not designed to be exhaustive or a piece of academic research. Rather, it has been produced as a practical guide for those working in this field, to inform them of the media models which have proved successful, encourage them to do more media work to reduce HIV related stigma and inspire them to try new approaches which are based on detailed research and the needs of the communities they seek to help. Additionally, we hope to encourage governments and funders to allocate more resources to media campaigns which are essential if the social and psychological impacts of HIV are to be tackled