公众的知情权、意见表达权是公民的基本权力,十六大报告把“人民的政治、经济、文化权益得到切实尊重和保障”明确规定为全面建设小康社会的重要目标。新闻媒体在这方面担当着极其重要的责任。但是,突如其来的“非典”疫情,让我们深刻的看到中国媒体在及时满足公共知情权方面存在严重的滞后性。“非典”疫情作为一种传染面极为广泛、迅速的突发性社会事件,公众只有及时知晓,引起足够重视,然后才能采取适当的防护措施,避免更大范围的扩散感染。谁 The public’s right to know and the right to express representations are the basic rights of citizens. The report of the 16th CPC National Congress explicitly defines “the people’s political, economic and cultural rights as effectively respected and guaranteed” as an important goal in building an overall well-to-do society. The news media plays an extremely important responsibility in this regard. However, the sudden outbreak of “SARS” has profoundly undermined the serious lag of the Chinese media in satisfying the public’s right to information in a timely manner. SARS outbreak is an extremely widespread and rapidly emergent social contagion. The public only needs to know and cause enough attention in time before appropriate protective measures can be taken to prevent a wider spread of infection. Who