In the combat against SARS, the Hong Kong medical professionals contributed a great deal but the Hong Kong community still suffered a lot. Did the Hong Kong media properly carry out their duty of surveillance when there were early signs of SARS outbreak in the neighboring regions? How did they perform in the mitigation phase, the primary stage of the epidemic? Did they inform the public efficiently and effectively, and examine carefully about the causes of this public health crisis?

In the early stage of the mitigation period, the Hong Kong media were unable to sound the siren to the public for two reasons. First, the Hong Kong journalists were pre-occupied by the Government's budget debate, the Financial Secretary's scandal of car purchasing and the Iraq War. In fact, the Hong Kong media themselves were the victims of the news agenda-setting. Second, the media and the SAR government's administration were in the adversarial position. Strain and tension had been already embedded into the press and government relationship.

The SARS Expert Committee, appointed by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government ( SARG ), concluded in its final report that " the Government should develop partnerships with the media through contact.... and other means" to enhance efficiency of delivering information on communicable disease. What these medical experts cannot realize is the kind of tension which has been long "structured" in the media and government relationship. If the tension cannot be removed and the mutual trust cannot be established, Hong Kong is not ready to face the comeback of the SARS crisis.