Investigative newspaper's virus reports 'are being censored'
Sars stories in Guangdong's controversial investigative news weekly Southern Weekend are being censored by provincial authorities, sources close to the newspaper say.
The paper was apparently stopped from reporting in its April 24 edition that Shanghai had isolated 38 suspected Sars patients during the visit by World Health Organisation officials to the city last month. Shanghai officials had told the scientists that there were only two confirmed and eight suspected Sars cases.
The Southern Weekend story was based on interviews with Shanghai medical authorities and visits to hospitals.
Also cut from the same story was reference to terrified Shanghai residents telephoning the city's Sars hotline saying they were sick but too afraid to go to hospital.
In censoring the story, sources said the Guangdong authorities had ruled that all Sars stories from outside the province could only be based on official sources such as Xinhua and the People's Daily.
Authorities also reportedly ordered the withdrawal from the same edition of an exclusive interview with the director of the Guangzhou Respiratory Diseases Institute, Zhong Nanshan, because it contained 'state secrets'.
Dr Zhong, recently praised by Premier Wen Jiabao for his efforts on Sars, said in the interview he had contracted 'a mystery virus' during Guangdong's initial Sars outbreak in November, according to sources. Dr Zhong also said there was no vaccine for the Sars virus and that he was facing enormous challenges.
'The Guangdong officials censored the interview because Zhong contradicted their official reports,' a source said.
But Dr Zhong subsequently repeated the statements in recent interviews with CCTV.
Southern Weekend was receiving censorship orders every two to three days, sources said.
The censorship comes after Zhang Dongming, a former Guangdong propaganda official, was named as an editor of Southern Weekend and a deputy editor of the parent Nanfang Daily Group in a March shake-up.
