Abstract
This study examines the social roles of online news media in their coverage of the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan. It conceptualizes online news media as “interactive community bulletin boards,” and evaluates their performance in informing and educating the public as well as building community linkage under crisis situation. Due to media censorship, online news media in Mainland China were under great constraints in reporting the epidemic at the early stage. Nevertheless, after mid-April, online news sites in Mainland China, along with their counterparts in Hong Kong and Taiwan, had fulfilled their roles of “interactive community bulletin board” by widely delivering warnings and advice about the epidemic. Among the three regions, only the online news media in Hong Kong were able to play an active role in community building and social cohesion. However, the role of interactive community bulletin board led the online news coverage skewing to brief, fragmented and non-analytical reporting.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - May 2004 |
| Event | 54th Annual International Communication Association Conference, ICA 2004: Communication Research in the Public Interest - New Orleans, LA, United States Duration: 27 May 2004 → 31 May 2004 https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ica/ica04/ (Link to conference online programme) |
Conference
| Conference | 54th Annual International Communication Association Conference, ICA 2004 |
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| Abbreviated title | ICA2004 |
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | New Orleans, LA |
| Period | 27/05/04 → 31/05/04 |
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