SMS spreads news of SARS

"It wasn't newspapers or television or radio that originally spread the word about the outbreak of a serious respiratory illness, now known as SARS, in southeast China," Dan Gillmor reports. "It was SMS -- text messages on mobile phones. In early February the South China Morning Post noted in an article... that a mysterious bug was causing a run on store shelves for traditional medical remedies in Guangdong province. It turned out that "the panic over the virus started when reports about people getting sick were sent via short messages on mobile phones in Guangzhou," the Post reported.... Wild rumors and little information from official sources contributed to the fear. This was a case where new media -- SMS, the Net -- and old media such as newspapers and TV could have worked together to calm people, had Chinese officials had the freedom to tell the truth."

May 02, 2003 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)

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