AIDS, Activism, and the Limits of Journalism: Remembering Randy Shilts

This study examines Randy Shilts's obituaries to explore how journalism's boundary work both includes and constrains marginalized voices. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, we investigate how 21 obituaries portray Shilts as a pioneering journalist whose work is frequently reframed through AIDS activism, ultimately consolidating his legacy around a singular crisis and tightly linking the two. Drawing on theories of boundary work and collective memory, this research highlights journalism's ongoing struggle with identity, activism, and professional legitimacy. Findings reveal that while Shilts's reporting broadened journalism's scope to include LGBTQ+ journalists, his posthumous remembrance reflects persistent tensions regarding the authority, autonomy, and activism of marginalized journalists. His legacy is shaped by journalism's selective memory, which frames AIDS as a historical rather than an ongoing issue. It emphasizes how journalism polices its boundaries, even in how it remembers its own.