A Hero Story without Heroes: The Hong Kong Government's Narratives on SARS

This essay addresses a significant question in crisis communication: how should a government perform its role as the official “public narrator” in times of grave disaster? In particular, how should it report its own course of action during and after the crisis? These questions proved to be especially pressing in the case of Hong Kong during the SARS outbreak in 2003. The Hong Kong government chose to provide the public with daily reports that highlighted the scientific basis of its every step towards a reasonable solution to the crisis. However, in addition to receiving scientifically circumspect information, the public also urgently needed action on the part of the government that could generate stories of bold leadership, bravery in the face of adversity, and heroic accomplishments along the way to the final triumph over SARS. Such narratives were not forthcoming from Hong Kong’s official public narrators. Accordingly, this essay examines the government’s public pronouncements during the SARS crisis and finds that they failed to provide effective hero narratives to unite the people and stimulate their fighting spirit during the epidemic.