Yesterday at 12:57 p.m., a fire broke out in the inpatient department of a private hospital in Beijing. At 8:49 p.m., we finally saw the report from Beijing Toutiao. But the trending topics were still silent, and even the entries were black.
This was not a small fire. The inpatient department, the fire was extinguished after more than half an hour, the on-site rescue work lasted nearly 3 hours before it ended, and more than 5 hours later, 21 people had died after rescue efforts.
Such a major accident was surprisingly silent. I don’t know if our media is dead, or what else is going on, resulting in such a long blank period, with no movement for 9 hours after the major accident.
Hu Xijin, in Beijing, should be among the first to get the news, but he also started to be “shocked and saddened” around 10 p.m. In fact, with Lao Hu’s appeal, he alone can almost be compared to any media outlet, but before the media spoke out, he also chose to remain silent.
Lao Hu is a smooth person. He knows very well that if a rumor or a foreign force’s hat is put on, no one can bear it. People like us, who are behind in resources, not to mention being slow to react. It wasn’t until after 10 p.m. that the fans in the background left me a message, and I learned about this with a heavy heart.
I believe most of you are the same. And because of this, I am very curious, where is our media? Where did it go?
After Beijing Toutiao released the report, I am glad that they did not close the comment section. The most liked comment pointed out the problem with one sentence: Are negative information not able to get on the trending topics on Weibo now?
This phenomenon didn’t start today. If you pay a little attention, you will find that many negative things are actually only occasionally spread by those big Vs with a fan base. On the trending topics list, there are only entertainment gossip and some trivial matters.
In fact, we all know that the first person responsible for a fire in a hospital is the hospital itself, and the authorities don’t need to care about what impact the incident will have on them. The fault is not with the authorities. So, why block videos and entries? Why is there no media coverage?
It seems that under Weibo’s operation, the fire has been slow to get on the trending topics. But unless it is never reported, never on the trending topics, the effect will only be counterproductive. People will ask at the first moment they learn the news: Why? Why don’t you tell us? Even if we know, it doesn’t matter, but we have the right to know!
Especially the families… The media interviewed the families of the patients in the inpatient department of Changfeng Hospital. Some of them only knew about the incident after seeing the report in the evening, so they contacted the hospital and were told that they could only wait for news for the time being.
Blocking has no benefits and instead damages credibility. Perhaps the private hospital avoided some trouble, but is this price worth it? This is an information age, and all kinds of strange live broadcasts can fill our lives and harass us. Several pandas and several game teams roll around on the trending topics every three days, but for such a nightmare-like event, there are no details.
The best way to reduce tragedy is to know the origin and details of the tragedy. What happened in the hospital that led to the fire? The fire rescue may have done its best. Is there room for improvement in ensuring the safety of firefighters themselves? Are the fire facilities of the private hospital complete, and did their first-time calls for help receive a quick response… We don’t know these things, but we should all know. Because the descendants should not only mourn, but also learn from it, otherwise they will only “also make the descendants mourn the descendants again.”
Do not refuse discussion, and do not eliminate criticism. The initial noise is not wrong. The more it evolves, the more silent it becomes, and the more it develops, the smaller the voice becomes, until finally only one remains, which is basically a lie.
At this moment, it is a very quiet night, just like that fire. I only hope that the number 21 will also quiet down and will not continue to jump…
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