Xiaoli, an orphan whose parents died of AIDS, has become the
focus of the first lawsuit in China that accuses a newspaper of
invading AIDS orphans' privacy.
The first hearing at Beijing's Chaoyang District Court was on
April 25, and the second is scheduled for later this month, after
which the court will deliberate and issue its ruling.
The plaintiff is Jin Wei, a professor at the Central Party
School, and the defendant is Beijing-based China Times
newspaper.
Jin filed the lawsuit on March 1 on behalf of Xiaoli, 19, after
the paper used the full names of Xiaoli and her young brother,
Xiaochuang, 15, along with their photos in a feature story
published on December 2, 2005. (Xiaoli and Xiaochuang are not their
real names.)
"This article, even with its good intentions, may harm the lives
of the two children, who have suffered from prejudice and misery,"
Jin told China Daily.
While asking the court to throw out the case, Zhou Yong of
Beijing Tianping Law Firm, the defendant's lawyer, argued at the
hearing that the newspaper's coverage was to arouse public sympathy
for Xiaoli and had not caused her any harm.
The China Times' feature told the story of Xiaoli and
Xiaochuang, from a poor village in Henan Province's Xincai County,
where illegal blood selling had caused serious HIV/AIDS infections
among the villagers in the mid-1990s.
Their farmer parents contracted HIV and then AIDS a few years
later. The mother died in 2000 and the father in August 2001.
Xiaoli and Xiaochuang have tested negative for HIV.
Gao Yaojie, a renowned grass-roots HIV/AIDS expert in Zhengzhou,
first read about Xiaoli in a feature in Southern Weekend in early
2001 that depicted the serious HIV/AIDS situation in Henan. She
sent 300 yuan (US$37.50) in an attempt to help the children and
went to meet Xiaoli in May of that year.
What Gao found when she visited was a girl crouched in the
kitchen of their home, crying because she had nothing to eat. The
money Gao had sent was apparently spent by an uncle.
When Xiaoli and Xiaochuang's father died three months later,
relatives took over the house and other possessions, including
1,000 kilograms of wheat, a buffalo and a pig. Gao and other
concerned volunteers, including Jin, took care of the children. Gao
said Xiaochuang now lives with his adoptive family in east China's
Shandong Province.
Gao and Jin ultimately adopted Xiaoli, and found a senior middle
school for her in a small city in Henan Province, that they
declined to reveal.
The events had the potential to bring Xiaoli some stability and
even happiness, but that does not seem to be the case.
"Away from her tragic home, Xiaoli is still very depressed," Jin
says. "Even now, five years after the death of her father, the girl
said she often sees him in her dreams.
"Last summer, Xiaoli told me she dreamt of entering the dark
rooms of her former home and her parents holding her hands, not
letting her leave. The dream was full of horror."
But also last summer, with the help of a friend, Jin arranged
for Xiaoli to work temporarily in an electronics factory in
Zhejiang Province, where she earned 1,000 yuan (US$125).
The experience greatly reduced her stress. "For the first time
since her parents became ill with HIV/AIDS, Xiaoli was happy
because she could earn some money for herself," Jin said. "She now
studies very hard and hopes to go to college."
Lawsuit
Last autumn, Hu Kui, a reporter with China Times, came across
Xiaoli's story and became interested in writing an update. During
an interview he had arranged with Jin and Gao, Jin said, Hu had
promised not to use Xiaoli's real name and photo. But Jin
maintained the promise was not kept.
In court, Zhou Yong, China Times' lawyer, said the editor on
duty did not know of the reporter's promise.
In the meantime, the newspaper reprimanded Hu for writing the
story and deducted one month's bonus from his pay. Last month, Hu
resigned from the newspaper for unspecified reasons. He was not
available to be interviewed.
"Isn't keeping a promise to honor the privacy of interviewees a
basic tenet of ethics for journalists?" Jin asked.
Both China Times and Zhou, its lawyer, declined to be
interviewed.
Li Ying, a researcher at Tsinghua University's School of
Journalism and Communications in Beijing, said that in reporting
sensitive topics, protecting the names and photos of interviewees
does not harm a media outlet's credibility.
The public wants to know the main facts, he said, instead of
minor details such as names.
"In addition, the credibility (of a media outlet) is based on
the way it honors the rights of interviewees, particularly the
disadvantaged," Li said.
China Times' article about Xiaoli was posted by many Chinese
websites, but so far, Gu Zengwei, a teacher who has the additional
duty of supervising the class she is in, said it seemed Xiaoli's
classmates have not read the story.
Jin and Gao still fear that Xiaoli's now relatively peaceful
life might be disrupted again as a result of the China
Times' article. They had already gone a long way to get her
into the school.
"When the school leaders of Xiaoli learnt she was an HIV/AIDS
orphan, they would not accept her," Jin said. "But after our
repeated persuasion, they accepted her on the condition that her
HIV/AIDS orphan status would not be released."
In a written statement to the court, Gu said if Xiaoli's status
as an orphan of AIDS patients was known, the resulting uproar at
the school would disturb the school's main mission of educating the
students.
Jin quoted Xiaoli as saying: "I was frightened upon learning
that my name and images were in a newspaper. If my classmates knew
of my real status, everyone would shun me."
Jin added: "Parents of Xiaoli's schoolmates would not believe
she is HIV/AIDS-free, and they would press the school authorities
to expel Xiaoli out of fear that she might infect their
children."
On March 1, the same day Jin and Gao filed the suit against
China Times, the Regulation on Preventing and Treating HIV/AIDS
took effect. The regulation, enacted by the State Council,
stipulates that the names and health conditions of HIV/AIDS
patients and their relatives not be publicized without written
consent.
Fighting prejudice
The suit asks that the newspaper publish a full-page apology and
pay Xiaoli 100,000 yuan (US$12,500). Jin said the suit is not to
punish the newspaper, but to make the public aware that the right
of privacy is crucial for HIV/AIDS patients and their relatives in
a time when prejudice against the group remains high.
Even though research has concluded that interaction, such as
eating or swimming together and mosquito bites, do not transmit
HIV/AIDS - and that the main ways to infect others are through
needle-sharing, sexual intercourse and from mother to infant during
pregnancy educating the public on those facts is a difficult
matter.
Jin said part of her teaching at the Central Party School, whose
students are mostly senior leaders of provincial governments and
central ministries, is meant to clear up misperceptions regarding
HIV/AIDS.
Surveys of her students revealed that up to 50 percent of the
students once believed that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted through
handshakes or mosquito bites, Jin said.
Furthermore, Wang Ruotao, director of the bioethics committee at
the Chinese Center for Disease Control, said that in many
provinces, people generally believe the children of HIV/AIDS
patients can transmit the disease.
But to Jin, the issue is not whether Xiaoli is infected by
HIV/AIDS. Even those who have been infected should have the right
to live normal lives, she said.
In January, the Chinese Ministry of Health, the World Health
Organization and UNAIDS jointly reported that China had 650,000
people with HIV/AIDS in 2005. It is estimated that in China, 72,000
children lost at least one of their parents due to HIV/AIDS.
The prejudice against people with HIV/AIDS and their family
members is considered a primary obstacle in helping them normalize
their lives.
"Laws or regulations cannot force people to give up their
prejudices against people with HIV/AIDS and their families," Wang
said. "The best solution now is to maintain their privacy as much
as possible."
(China Daily May 10, 2006)