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1. Hong Kong's multiple constructions of SARS

  • John H. Powers and Gwendolyn Gong
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The Social Construction of SARS
This chapter is in the book The Social Construction of SARS

Abstract

This chapter identifies five significant interpretive frames which operated in Hong Kong and southern China as the SARS crisis developed in spring 2003. These five frames treated SARS, respectively, as (a) a state secret of the Chinese provincial officials, (b) a scientific mystery to be solved by the scientific community, (c) a medical epidemic that legitimized the use of emergency powers and necessitated the taking of large scale collective actions, (d) a general warning to the community concerning the poor state of public hygiene and, finally, as (e) a government failure that served as a catalyst for social unrest and change. As each frame is described some of the behavioral and actional consequences of using the frame are also indicated.

Abstract

This chapter identifies five significant interpretive frames which operated in Hong Kong and southern China as the SARS crisis developed in spring 2003. These five frames treated SARS, respectively, as (a) a state secret of the Chinese provincial officials, (b) a scientific mystery to be solved by the scientific community, (c) a medical epidemic that legitimized the use of emergency powers and necessitated the taking of large scale collective actions, (d) a general warning to the community concerning the poor state of public hygiene and, finally, as (e) a government failure that served as a catalyst for social unrest and change. As each frame is described some of the behavioral and actional consequences of using the frame are also indicated.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Constructions of SARS in Hong Kong
  5. 1. Hong Kong's multiple constructions of SARS 17
  6. 2. A hero story without heroes: The Hong Kong government's narratives on SARS 33
  7. 3. "SARS" versus "atypical pneumonia": Inconsistencies in Hong Kong's public health warnings and disease-prevention campaign 53
  8. 4. Internet press freedom and online crisis reporting: The role of news web sites in the SARS epidemic 69
  9. Part II. Constructions of SARS on the Chinese mainland
  10. 5. Party journalism vs. market journalism: The coverage of SARS by the People's Daily and Beijing Youth News 93
  11. 6. Construction of nationalism and political legitimacy through rhetoric of the anti-SARS campaign: A fantasy theme analysis 109
  12. 7. SARS discourse as an anti-SARS ideology: The case of Beijing 125
  13. Part III. Constructions of SARS in Singapore and Taiwan
  14. 8. "Triumph over adversity": Singapore mobilizes Confucian values to combat SARS 145
  15. 9. Singapore at war: SARS and its metaphors 163
  16. 10. Reporting an emerging epidemic in Taiwan: Journalists' experiences of SARS coverage 181
  17. Part IV. Cross national constructions of SARS
  18. 11. Newspaper coverage of the 2003 SARS outbreak 203
  19. 12. Effects of rationality and story attributes on perceptions of SARS perception 223
  20. Index 241
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.30.03pow

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Constructions of SARS in Hong Kong
  5. 1. Hong Kong's multiple constructions of SARS 17
  6. 2. A hero story without heroes: The Hong Kong government's narratives on SARS 33
  7. 3. "SARS" versus "atypical pneumonia": Inconsistencies in Hong Kong's public health warnings and disease-prevention campaign 53
  8. 4. Internet press freedom and online crisis reporting: The role of news web sites in the SARS epidemic 69
  9. Part II. Constructions of SARS on the Chinese mainland
  10. 5. Party journalism vs. market journalism: The coverage of SARS by the People's Daily and Beijing Youth News 93
  11. 6. Construction of nationalism and political legitimacy through rhetoric of the anti-SARS campaign: A fantasy theme analysis 109
  12. 7. SARS discourse as an anti-SARS ideology: The case of Beijing 125
  13. Part III. Constructions of SARS in Singapore and Taiwan
  14. 8. "Triumph over adversity": Singapore mobilizes Confucian values to combat SARS 145
  15. 9. Singapore at war: SARS and its metaphors 163
  16. 10. Reporting an emerging epidemic in Taiwan: Journalists' experiences of SARS coverage 181
  17. Part IV. Cross national constructions of SARS
  18. 11. Newspaper coverage of the 2003 SARS outbreak 203
  19. 12. Effects of rationality and story attributes on perceptions of SARS perception 223
  20. Index 241
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