Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    ON April 14, 10 years ago, Shenzhen Daily devoted two pages to its special report on the death of James E. Salisbury, the only expat in Shenzhen who contracted SARS.

    An English teacher at Shenzhen Polytechnic, Salisbury received treatment at Donghu Hospital — which was the only local hospital admitting SARS patients — from April 1 to 9, 2003 and died soon after being transferred to a hospital in Hong Kong.

    Doctors in Shenzhen did everything they could to try and save Salisbury. However, his family requested for him to be transferred to Hong Kong, despite doctors here warning that the transfer could lead to a deterioration of his condition.

    All medical data indicated that Salisbury’s condition was stable while he was still in Shenzhen.

    Though all domestic media, including Chinese-language media in Shenzhen, turned a blind eye to Salisbury’s death, Shenzhen Daily sent reporters to interview staff at Donghu Hospital, Salisbury’s employer and his family, completing a detailed report titled “SZ’s first expat with SARS dies in HK.”

    “I thought that, as the only English daily in southern Chinese mainland, Shenzhen Daily should fulfill its social responsibility instead of keeping silent. In addition, Salisbury was a loyal reader of our newspaper, we knew him well,” Gu Xiaojin, former editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily, recalled Sunday.

    “Considering the incident’s sensitivity, we contacted relevant local government departments, submitted a written application and finally received an approval to conduct interviews,” said Gu. “The report provided exclusive details about Salisbury before and after his death, as well as about his son who had been staying with him. The details clarified some inaccurate reports by foreign media. I believe that the report was the most striking and newsworthy among all the SARS reports by Shenzhen media,” said Gu, who now teaches journalism at the College of Mass Communication of Shenzhen University.