[matthieu1221]

20 years ago, Hongkongers were shocked to find singer Leslie Cheung committing suicide, on April Fools of all days. These were the local Cantonese news reports afterwards. CW: Contains site of the suicide.

TVB: Leading the headlines that night also included the evacuation of residents to a quarantine camp, as where they lived was suspected to be the point of SARS mass spread.
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ATV: Important to note that Cheung started his stardom on an ATV (then RTV) talent show back in the 70s.
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i-Cable News: Ticker showing a government clarification of an online rumour, which claimed Hong Kong as an infected area. As that was clarified, many dismissed the singer's death as a terrible joke. Alas...
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Seems prompt of me to follow up with TVB Pearl, TVB's English channel, from about two weeks later at the peak of the SARS outbreak with the iconic Jenny Lam hosting. The situation seemed serious enough that the News at Seven Thirty was down to solo anchoring. After the news there is a little breakfiller by TVB regarding SARS.
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This was arguably the golden age of TVB's English news, a month and a half earlier, they had sent a big team out to the Middle East to cover the lead up to what would be the Iraq War, something unthinkable today.
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