“From official announcements to coverage in state-controlled media to cooperation with other countries’ health experts, government responses to the flu-like disease that struck southern China have been sluggish and at times nonexistent.”
While there are reports of how communication via the Internet and increased preparedness for bio-terrorism have been of crucial importance in dealing with SARS, China has hidden figures and information that could have catastrophic consequences.
The case of SARS illustrates perfectly the need for greater information flow, and this applies elsewhere.
In a war, as they say, the first casualty is the truth. There are legitimate reasons to censor future events, but for reporting events that have already happened then censorship for reasons of keeping up morale, preventing panic or avoiding upsetting people is not worth the risk.
The availability of pro and anti-war debate on weblogs of Al-Jazeera and FOX is part of the democratization of news – throw it all out there and the truth will prevail. Truth and reason are economical while lies and propaganda need to be endlessly propped up.
Make this a war where the truth is not a casualty.
CBS News | China Keeps Lid On Bad News | March 27, 2003 18:39:35