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International Journalismthing, and this attitude might makesome people in China feel that Westernreporters are too hostile. However,he pointed out that U.S. reporters gofarther in reporting bad news in theirown country than they do in China. Inhis paper’s reporting on China, andthe American press generally, Eckholmobserved that in recent years there hasbeen an enormous expansion in therange of topics covered, including moreabout what’s happening with youngpeople, the arts, culture, social change,and the economy. He said, the goalshould not be to provide a “positive” or“negative” image of China, but a fairand well-rounded picture of a societywith many contradictions undergoingrapid change.What SARS TeachesJournalistsHistorically, the channels of informationin China have been very limited,and it was very easy for the governmentto control the flow of information. Withthe Internet, chatrooms and short messagestransmitted by cellphone, thatkind of control is no longer possible.And when no information is releasedvia official channels, its absence cancause the public to panic and rumorsto spread. Therefore, it is very importantfor members of the media to delivernews accurately and in a timelymanner. To do so will bolster publicconfidence in the government and preparethe public for emergencies.In a May 18th interview conductedby “People in the Know,” Guo Ke,deputy dean of the College of Journalismand Communications of ShanghaiInternational Studies University, analyzedthe conflict between the rolegovernment perceives for itself and themedia and how members of the mediaperceive their own role. On one hand,the government regards media as beingpart of it, or the government’smouthpiece—to say what the governmentwants it to say or to defend itsbehavior and policies. Guo Ke suggeststhat one reason why China’s mainstreammedia overreacted in reportingabout SARS was because news organizationswere pushed by the relevantauthority to cover the fight against SARSas a political task. On the other hand,many members of the media perceivetheir job as supplying information forthe benefit of the public.Guo Ke believes that the SARS crisiscould serve as a wake-up call because itcould prompt media to redefine itsmandate and push for changes that willmake the media’s role one of benefitingmembers of the public and society.He thinks media ought to grow moreindependent and be ready to criticizegovernment officials, when it’s necessary.Given the Chinese media’s experiencewith the SARS crisis, it is reasonableto expect that more aggressiveinvestigative reporting for public emergencieswill exist in the future.Since the first SARS case was identifiedlast year, slightly more than 5,000cases have been reported throughoutthe world, and most people afflictedwith the virus survived. Meanwhile,each winter about 36,000 Americansdie from influenza and 114,000 arehospitalized. However, as we witnessed,the outbreak of SARS causedan irrational fear in China, as well as inthe United States and other countries.Some media experts believe thepress played a large part in causing thespread of fear with this disease. Becauseof the virus’s newness, it receivedattention that more well-knownand also deadly viruses no longer do.And this coverage made people morefrightened of SARS than they needed tobe. Putting such news into its properperspective is a major challenge forjournalists. SARS coverage can andshould be used as an example of whythreats of disease should be handled ina scientific way and how journalists’coverage should not push the publicinto overreacting to the threat. ■Sun Yu, a 1999 Nieman Fellow, wasreporter and editor of the Chineseand English editions of China EnvironmentNews for 12 years. She wasalso editor of the Chinese edition ofFortune and executive editor ofTimeDigest (the Chinese edition ofTime). She is International Scholarat the Knight Center for Science andMedical Journalism at Boston Universitythis year.sunyu65@yahoo.comPressures for Media Reform in KoreaThere are loud calls for changes in the way the press and government interact.By Kwangchool LeeIn late February, Roh Moo-hyun wasinaugurated as the 16th presidentof the Republic of Korea. As soon asRoh stepped into the president’s ovaloffice at the Blue House, he targetedthe Korean press as an institution thathe intended to reform. And he beganthis task by giving government officialsa “not to do” list to break the oldpractices that had characterized governmentand press relations.On the president’s list was an orderthat no members of his executivebranch were to subscribe to the “streetedition” of the daily newspapers. (InKorea, morning newspapers are availableas “street editions” on the previousevening.) In past governments,officials hunted for unfavorable newscoverage in street edition and thencontacted editors to tell them not tocarry such reporting in the morningedition. President Roh compared thispractice to “begging,” and orderedNieman Reports / Winter 2003 93