Chapter 5 04 China is sick

On May 2, 2003, in Beijing in the evening, compared with the usual peak traffic jams, the streets of Beijing at this time were extremely smooth, even frighteningly smooth.I drove to do errands, and when I drove to Xizhimen, I saw a scene on the overpass that I will never forget. Since I was driving at a high place, looking down, in a resident's yard, two items were drying on a rope, one was underwear and the other was a mask.It's amazing that there is nothing else on the rope.I started to regret it at the time, if it wasn't on the overpass, if we had brought a video camera or a camera, we should have taken this picture.Because there is no other picture that can better record the reality at that time. Underpants and masks, one protects dignity and the other protects life.This may be the last bottom line for people in critical moments.

At that time, it was the time when SARS was unscrupulous, and the whole of China fell ill. From the moment of the class reunion, things seemed a bit wrong. In February 2003, the day just after the Spring Festival, we were going to start "Straight to Baghdad" with Shui Junyi that night, to pay attention to the war that was gradually rising in the distance. Before, a classmate came all the way from Xiamen, so there was a small-scale class reunion. Unexpectedly, at the dinner table, she began to ask us for help, begging for help to find a box of "banlangen", saying that she just came from Guangzhou, and the vinegar there was all It is almost sold out, and a strange disease is spreading. I am afraid that Xiamen will not be able to buy Banlangen, so take precautions in advance.

We are not considered closed people, and we are in the media, so we should have information long ago. However, it is strange that perhaps the Chinese people place great emphasis on the peace and happiness during the Spring Festival, and any information related to this will consciously "evaporate".In addition, at that time, in terms of public health emergencies, the public opinion environment still adopted a strict management model, so this SARS had "developed and grown" in Guangdong for more than two months, but it insisted that "good news spread thousands of miles". , bad things don’t go out.”So we didn't know it at the time.

The classmate's "request for help" made me a little alert, probably not a trivial matter, but at that time, the concept of "SARS" or "SARS" was absolutely not in my mind. The next day, I received a "revelation" from an insider in Guangzhou. It was by fax, saying, "A strange bird flu broke out in Guangzhou, and the whole city panicked. Can you report it?" At that time, I was the producer of "Time-Space Connection", which is a ten-minute daily news special program in "Oriental Time and Space". Our goal is to follow the news. In addition, there was a difference that a classmate asked for Banlangen the day before. It was unusual, so I made a decisive decision and sent reporter Sui Xiaomei and a camera to Guangzhou that day. Unexpectedly, this decision gave us many "firsts" in reporting on SARS.

After arriving in Guangzhou, the reporter found that the matter was not as simple as "strange bird flu", but the situation was much more complicated and dangerous. On February 11, a press conference was held in Guangzhou, which was the first press conference held by the local government in the face of SARS.Our reporters are there. Afterwards, there were nervous interviews by reporters in the front, and in the rear, we adjusted the program plan, because it was easy to judge the seriousness of the situation, so we changed the original one program to three in three days.In other words, "Time-Space Connection" uses continuous reports to focus on a strange disease that has just begun to lift the hijab.

In the first two episodes, we paid attention to the illness, the development of the situation, related panic and precautions, as well as the interviews and reminders of relevant personnel. Our reporter became the first CCTV reporter to enter the patient's ward, and the first to interview Zhong Nanshan. Then make it the starting point of many media focus figures.These two episodes have also become the most detailed and quickest coverage of SARS by the mainstream media in Beijing, and some even call it the "only" among the central media. However, these two programs alone are not enough. In a few days, we realized that the threat of this infectious disease is not small, and if people cannot obtain more transparent information from the government, the government's information cannot be made public. Then it will be a disaster for the whole society.

Immediately afterwards, the third program, we produced the program "Government Information Should Be Disclosed". We invited the vice governor of Guangdong Province and the famous media scholar Yu Guoming to connect across the region. information disclosure".Although due to the sensitivity of this topic, we experienced many twists and turns that night, but after fighting, persuading and making appropriate compromises, this program was broadcast as scheduled the next morning. Great appeal. The broadcast of these three programs was in the middle of February. Almost most of the media are still in a state of being unable to speak about SARS due to various reasons. These three programs have given colleagues reminders and confidence .

I don't intend to end. Although the three episodes of the program have been aired, I can't continue to follow up for the time being, but I feel that there is no chance right now, but I can't give up. Our reporters should stay behind and continue to interview and record. Brake, we have the stuff first hand.It is not difficult to imagine how important and valuable records are at this time! The reporter wanted to go back to Beijing, so I started to do her work, and even found a topic for her: the shortage of migrant workers in some units after the Spring Festival in Guangdong. I asked her to make this topic in situ and interview and record the development of SARS at the same time.

In the end, the reporter gave up and returned to Beijing, which makes me still have a little regret when I think about it.This was an intuitive judgment at the time. Looking back today, it would be the most correct choice for the reporter to stay. Perhaps this is also the "evil result" of my advocacy of democracy within the group.But at the time, leaving wasn't too bad.Sui Xiaomei and the others have already lifted the lid by creating several firsts, and they have worked hard.At the same time, I can comfort myself that the advantage of coming back early is that the reporters have not been infected with the SARS virus, otherwise they would not be able to explain to them and their families.All in all, life and health come first.

After our broadcast, "Focus Interview" also produced a program. It was Zhang Wenkang, then Minister of Health, who was interviewed to talk about the situation of SARS. panic.But I heard that he also said some "stern" words during the recording, but it didn't fit the general atmosphere at the time, and those "warning words" that emphasized the danger of the situation were dispelled. Of course, the TV station is not the one who decides . Two months later, Zhang Wenkang was dismissed due to his ineffective prevention of SARS. Some of his colleagues joked: Maybe he used his resignation to do something that he had always wanted to do but failed.Of course, this is just a joke.

After the broadcast of "Time-Space Connection" and "Focus Interview", the reports on SARS came to an abrupt end, and everything returned to calm. SARS seemed to be an infectious disease that stayed in a fixed area of ​​Guangdong and would not travel far. , the whole society is not vigilant in some optimistic comfort, and the attention is beginning to divert.Externally, it is Iraq, which is becoming more and more war-like; internally, it is the two sessions that will be held in early March.This is a re-election of the two sessions, attracting the attention of all the people and the world, and the peaceful atmosphere has once again occupied people's hearts.At this time, SARS, a virus with a super-high IQ, began to quietly go northward and drive straight in. Its goal was Beijing, the capital of China where the two sessions of the National People's Congress are about to be held. The time has entered March. The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will open on March 3, and the National People's Congress will open on March 5. In fact, SARS had already arrived in Beijing, only a day or two before the opening of the two sessions. If some representatives or members of the two sessions went to the hospital to see other diseases and unfortunately contracted SARS, the consequences would be disastrous.Fortunately, that didn't happen, however, that was just luck. The two sessions opened as scheduled, and major issues and the content of the new term attracted people's attention. When China's two sessions just ended, the United States seemed to have negotiated. On March 20, the war in Iraq was ignited, and CCTV and other media began to broadcast live. Day and night, no matter how big or small, the eyes of the whole world are attracted.After all, this is the first time for human beings to use live broadcasting to pay attention to the unfolding war. The Chinese are no exception. They began to shift their attention thousands of miles away. What they thought was: a war without gunpowder is imminent.What is even more frightening is that in the war in Iraq, there were fixed enemies that were visible to the naked eye, while in China, this war without gunpowder is quietly growing and spreading. The enemy cannot be seen but seems to be everywhere, which may make everyone People are "involved" in wars without knowing it, and even sacrifice their lives. After SARS captured Beijing, it did not intend to stop. It used Beijing as a new base and spread to other directions. It was later proved that most of the SARS patients in Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and other places were related to Beijing. In fact, at this time, the media has already noticed the seriousness of the situation. In the later stage of the live broadcast of the Iraq war, I have already made a request to the relevant person in charge: Let’s broadcast SARS live. The overall situation of the Iraq war has been decided. We have all entered Baghdad, there is no possibility of major changes, and SARS is by our side. The requestee probably thought the same, but they were in a dilemma: firstly, CCTV did not have a news channel at that time, and there was a serious lack of resources; secondly, some people may also hope to continue broadcasting the Iraq War to divert people's attention from SARS, but who knows? , the enemy will eventually force you to be unable to move; third, and very important, we have not yet received the trumpet to launch a general offensive. Without the trumpet, it is impossible to move an inch. But the trumpets were not far away. At that time, CCTV was preparing a news channel in full swing, and the trial broadcast date was set on May 1, 2003. For this day, I was broadcasting the Iraq War live, and on the other hand, I was managing "Time and Space Connection" as a producer. " broadcast.More importantly, for the launch of the news channel, our column has developed two new columns, "News Meeting Room" and "China Weekly". Everyone is making samples in full swing, in order to pass the project approval review as soon as possible and let the column start operation. In mid-April, the most critical moment came. On that day, by coincidence, I brought a sample of "The News Meeting Room" to the leaders for review. The leaders who reviewed the film were high-ranking, including the director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the director of CCTV Zhao Huayong. , Halfway through the trial, the reporter from CCTV who ran the health gate hurried into the review room and reported to the leader: The above has decided that on April 19 or 20, the epidemic situation will be fully announced, and there may be a daily live broadcast of the Ministry of Health. press conference. This is explosive news, and everyone knows what it means. My intuition is that this may be a critical turning point, but it also shows that the situation with SARS may be worse than we imagined.Perhaps, a more dangerous moment has come.However, in any case, it is time for media people to act now. The sample of "News Meeting Room" passed smoothly that day. Interestingly, the first 20 or 30 days of "News Meeting Room", which started broadcasting more than ten days later, were all related to the "SARS" battle. On April 20, the trumpet of the general attack was sounded. First, Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong were dismissed for failing to prevent SARS.This is the Charger with Chinese characteristics.Next, the number of SARS cases and suspected cases will be announced every day, and the prevention and control of SARS will be fully transparent.This is a comprehensive integration with international practice. As a media person, there is no time to applaud, and the trumpet of the general attack is sounded, which means that we have to rush out of the trenches that have been suppressed for a long time. There is no turning back when the bow is opened. On April 20th, the relationship between the media and emergencies began to completely change. Concealment and non-reporting will slowly become history. For the first day or two, people panicked. After all, overnight, the number of SARS cases increased so much, and so many people died. What is going on with this virus is already threatening, can you avoid it?Can the country escape? The panic buying, which was there that day, is worth remembering that it lasted less than two days before it faded.Because of the sound of the general attack, all the media took action, and all kinds of information were transparent and fast. The people who were panic buying went home and watched TV: vegetables from Shandong were being shipped to Beijing, and vegetables from Hebei were being shipped to Beijing. , The price will never rise, the common people will be skeptical, go to grab it again, grab it back to see, the news of material assistance from various places continues to exist, and then go to see that the price has not risen, so the rush to buy is fleeting. Clearly, transparency of information helps to dissipate the panic. However, there are fewer and fewer people on the street, many units are on holiday one after another, and primary and secondary schools are closed. On weekdays in Beijing, the congestion is severe and the travel efficiency is low. At this time, there are few cars on the street, even in broad daylight. When a car drives quickly on the street, there will be a sense of panic.The horror scenes seen in previous blockbuster movies have become the real background of life, so that I began to miss the traffic jam time in Beijing. As the media, not only can we not rest, but we have reached the busiest moment.My column and I formed the team in charge of CCTV's "SARS Live Broadcast". With the launch of the news channel on May 1, the SARS live broadcast continued every day. Almost all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in the country expressed their concern through our live broadcast. The determination and measures to "anti-SARS".People have also quickly accepted the news channel, because what kind of channel propaganda method is not as direct and specific as the demand. At this time, the public is particularly eager for transparent and fast information amid panic.It was through this rapid and transparent interaction between the media and the audience that people understood the key points of epidemic prevention, and every family started a local war against SARS. On the one hand, I am the host, and I want to host related programs; on the other hand, I am the producer, and I have to ensure the broadcast and launch of "Time-Space Connection", "News Meeting Room" and "China Weekly"; Calm down the minds of your colleagues. Every day at four o'clock in the afternoon, the latest epidemic situation is broadcast live, and more than 100 new confirmed cases are added every day. A game-like way to relieve everyone's tension; at the same time, during that month or so, I arrived at the earliest every day and never wore a mask. I want to let my brothers and sisters around me see a kind of optimistic confidence, Even when I go home, I will worry and worry. On the night of May 1, 2003, on the newly launched news channel, "News Meeting Room" was broadcast for the first time, and a small opening ceremony was held in our office.I asked my colleagues to write four big characters: Born in adversity. Yes, there is no column or channel that was born on such a day; however, there are not many people and cars on the street, which just shows that people are waiting at home for the media to do what the media should do well.The more worrying, the more it is time for the media to grow, and if the media is silent during times of worry, that is a truly terrible thing.Therefore, being born in adversity is a kind of helplessness, but it is also the bounden duty of the media. At that time, CCTV itself was in danger, with a high turnover of personnel, and the news broadcast area on the second floor could not stop for even a minute. In addition, Liu Hongbo, a reporter from our "Oriental Time and Space" had been hospitalized for SARS infection, which was even more worrying.If we have an internal epidemic, how to isolate?Broadcasting is not allowed to be interrupted, how to work in the broadcasting area?The personnel, especially the announcers, have all fallen, what should we do? One day, I ran into Li Ting, director of the news center, and told him half-jokingly and half-seriously: Don't worry, I'm ready to broadcast "News Network".Neither of us laughed, but everyone knew it: if the worst ever happened, it wouldn't happen. Continuous work leaves us less and less time to panic or worry. At this time, although the media is often scolded by people on weekdays, it is now respected and needed by the people from the bottom of their hearts, and the media people are really worthy of this paragraph. The rare environmental freedom in life, where they need to go where there is news, although it is dangerous, they have really found a sense of dignity and a sense of accomplishment as media people. This is almost the period of SARS. The only available photos I found were left after the broadcast of the column. It can be seen that people at that time were not in the mood to pick up a camera.In this photo, everyone is wearing a mask on purpose to remember that special birthday: May 1, 2003, and on the wall behind it are the four words I put forward - born in sorrow. The most difficult time was just a dozen days. After that, in the live broadcast at 4 pm every day, the number of new cases per day began to drop from more than a hundred to less than a hundred. This is a very important turning point.Gradually, the panic and worries were further reduced, and the order of society and life began to slowly recover. The SARS moment, a period of sudden nightmare days, is coming to an end.What is strange is that the SARS virus, like a ghost, came quietly and created a great chaos, and then it went away quietly under people's strict prevention and control, even when it was gone, People haven't quite figured out the details of it.Perhaps, this is a fateful reminder and warning to us? During the SARS battle, everyone's life was changed instantly. There is more concern and warmth between people. Every day on the mobile phone, there are many text messages of greetings and encouragement. During the SARS period, the relationship between doctors and patients was fine, and doctors were all angels in white; the media reported responsibly, and no longer "entertained to death"; there were no quarrels on the Internet, and mutual blessings were everywhere; even low-density housing and suburban housing, All ushered in a price increase, because people realized the importance of returning to nature and being close to nature in the face of SARS. However, with the end of the SARS campaign, people's footsteps have slowly accelerated, and the unique problems in fast life have returned one by one. The beliefs of "cherishing health" and "cherishing family members" established during the ravages of the virus are also like many vows made in daily life. Just as fleeting.No way, people are forgetful, even if the original panic was so real. In August of that year, when SARS was fading away, Wen Jiabao visited CCTV for the first time as Premier. This time he came mainly for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of CCTV.After meeting everyone in Taili, I was deeply impressed by a small detail.At that time, the hosts of CCTV, relevant leaders and other staff in the station lined up to take pictures with the Prime Minister. After the photo was taken, he left the stool to speak a few words in front. He took a few steps forward and stopped suddenly. He turned around and said to Sister Shen Li who was standing in the second row: "Come on, sit with me first, don't get tired, you have to talk for a while." This move revealed Premier Wen's carefulness. Sister Shen Li sat down moved, and the audience applauded. In this speech, Premier Wen Jiabao said: To be a leader, you must be calm and sober. After a while, a small symposium was held on CCTV. Premier Wen interacted frankly with some employees of the TV station.After chatting for a short time, Premier Wen decided that there was no need for a grand groundbreaking ceremony for the new CCTV building, "I'm here to celebrate for you, don't waste it." Hearing this, there was applause at the scene. During the face-to-face discussion, I didn’t intend to speak because I felt that the atmosphere might not be suitable. Unexpectedly, at the end, Premier Wen called my name, so I also talked about the just-concluded SARS battle without politeness. own true thoughts. "The Prime Minister just said that a leader needs to be sober, but how can he be sober? Some people say that journalists are the uncrowned kings. I personally don't agree with it. I prefer Pulitzer's statement: Journalists are the lookouts on the big ship of society. Any good or bad information on the ship must be seen with a telescope, and then told to the captain and passengers in order to decide how the big ship sails. If the reporter only reports the good news on the sea ahead, but not the bad news, Will this big ship become the Titanic, and how can the leadership be sober?" Seeing that the Prime Minister wrote it down in his notebook, I continued. "In the past, some people worried that when an emergency came, if the media reported it, it would cause panic in the society and create instability, but the experience of SARS this time tells us that the rapid and transparent reporting by the media is not only not a factor of instability, but a factor of stability. At the same time, the transparency of the media has finally united everyone, from government officials to scientists, from medical workers to everyone in society, to join hands and win this war together. Prime Minister If you have time, you should thank the female compatriots across the country, they watch their families wash their hands and ventilate every day, and the reason why they do this is because they have learned the main points of prevention through the media." The last sentence was meant to be a bit of a joke, and I wanted to ease the atmosphere, and then I said: "I personally criticize the ministries and commissions of the State Council. When major policies are introduced, the media needs to interview them, or push or delay them. When they agree, the news will become old news. , also missed the communication between the policy and the public, hopefully it can be improved.” When I finished speaking, the Prime Minister smiled.In response to the last point of "criticism", the Prime Minister worked on the spot and asked State Councilor Hua Jianmin next to him to be responsible for the implementation, and Hua Jianmin took it down carefully. The next day, someone sent me a message: A leader told me that your speech yesterday was good. In a blink of an eye, seven years have passed since the heart-pounding SARS battle, and it feels as if a century has passed.People's way of life has completely returned to normal, and even intensified.All kinds of information related to SARS also seemed to disappear quietly. However, the threats to human beings have not gone far, and everything has a wonderful echo. You can't learn from a fall, and nature will still punish you. In 2009, Influenza A H1N1 came violently from the western hemisphere, and many people died, making people vaguely smell the breath of SARS.At this time, I was thinking, if Mexico has concealed such a dangerous epidemic for several months, and finally the situation is difficult to control before the truth is revealed, how will we view Mexico?And a few years ago, we did.Fortunately, we have learned a lesson. In this encounter of preventing and controlling Influenza A, China's quick and effective actions are recognized by the world, and we paid the least price with our lives. At the end of 2003, the State Council Information Office launched the national government press spokesman training.I was present in the first session, and became one of the keynote teachers from the second session, and then traveled all over the country to start the training of provincial press spokesmen.Since then, the establishment of the government spokesman has been running fast. In the report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the four rights of ordinary people, namely, the right to know, the right to participate, the right to express, and the right to supervise, were written down in black and white.In just seven years, the times have undergone important changes, all of which stem from the experience and lessons left to us by the SARS battle in 2003. Yu Yin: Did SARS really go away? Anything that has happened in history is hard to disappear without a trace, and it will leave a long or short shadow.For future generations, how to face this shadow is always a test. In the autumn of 2009, I went to Communication University of China, which is my alma mater, to give lectures to the juniors and younger sisters of the School of Journalism. I saw a detailed social survey report, which was done by the three juniors and younger sisters in their spare time. The report focused on a A special group—the treatment and living conditions of patients with sequelae of SARS in Beijing. This is a very detailed investigation, which resurfaces the picture of SARS that has been forgotten by most people.More importantly, it re-presents the people with SARS sequelae that people have almost no longer paid attention to in front of the society. Since the details of the SARS virus could not be found out at that time, and the critically ill patients were in danger, a large number of hormones were used for treatment.On this point, people cannot criticize the practice at that time today, because saving lives is the first priority in encounters.But the problem is that life was saved, but due to the high dose of hormones, many patients began to be plagued by sequelae after recovering from SARS, the main one being femoral head necrosis, which even made them unable to take care of themselves anymore. There are more than 100 patients with such sequelae in Beijing, and a large part of them have family accidents. At first, they could share weal and woe, but the endless treatment brought about by sequelae seriously dragged down their lives. Therefore, the healthy party chose to divorce. For patients with sequelae, it is even worse. In all fairness, the government takes good care of this group of people and provides free treatment if they meet the standards, and some people also receive a certain amount of subsidies every year. However, patients still feel panic and worry, will the disease develop?What should I do if I can't take care of myself in the future?What about those patients who have sequelae but cannot meet the standard in terms of data indicators?In particular: Due to various reasons, their information and status seem to be blocked. The society and the public don't know their status, don't know their difficulties, and can't lend a helping hand, as if they don't exist at all. After the junior sister handed over the investigation report to me, she said: "They (patients with sequelae) very much hope that you can visit them." After a while, he ran over worriedly, "Will you pay attention to them?" I said to my junior sister: "You have done what you should do, and it is time for us to do what we should do." A week later, "News 1+1" based on this investigative report was broadcast, and relevant interviews and pictures of patients appeared on the TV screen. As a commentator, I said in the program: Their situation should be compared with Put the status quo under the sun, so that people in society who are willing to lend a helping hand will know where they are and will help them.And the government should also understand that some things do not necessarily have to be shouldered by themselves, and that the society should also hand over to the society. When facing such sequelae patients, Hong Kong adopted the method of setting up a special fund in the society to sustain the problem for a long time. to help them. After the program was broadcast, many media outlets across the country followed up. Obviously, people do not want to forget it. And this incident also reminds us that when emergencies come, people tend to be very efficient and quick to act, but the end of the matter does not mean that there is an immediate end to it, and there are still many follow-up issues that need our help to continue rescue.For this reason, we should put forward the concept of "post-rescue", so that there will be no such situation that the tea will be cold as soon as people leave. In fact, the imprint of SARS has not gone far. Apart from the patients with sequelae, how should those who unfortunately passed away in SARS face it, and should they provide some relief to their families?Regardless of whether it is a dead patient or an angel in white, how is the rescue work for the family members carried out?And the original patients, mild or severe, did they leave behind psychological problems?What else can we do in the face of them? A nation accustomed to forgetting will have no hope, and in the face of a not-too-distant SARS battle, premature forgetting is not only wrong, but even dangerous. Excluding Beijing, how are patients with SARS sequelae living in Guangdong or other provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions?Maybe there are not many people in some areas, or even only one, but should we also find him, just like Saving Private Ryan, but it is the Chinese version.can we