Media of Hong Kong

Media in Hong Kong is available to the public conveniently in various forms, namely: television and radio channels, newspapers, magazines and the World Wide Web. They serve the local community by providing necessary information and entertainment.

Overview

(by the end of year 2002)

Daily newspapers: 52 (25 Chinese-lanugage dailies, 4 English-language dailies, 8 English-language newspapers publishing 5 or 6 days a week, 7 bilingual dailies and 5 newspapers in other languages)
Free-to-air commercial TV companies: 2
Subscription TV licensees: 5
Non-domestic television programme licensees: 12
Government radio-television station: 1
Commercial radio stations: 2

Media Institutes

TV:

Radio

RTHK

Newspaper

Magazine

Internet

Legislation on the media industry

Freedom of the press and publication are enshrined in the Basic Law(Art. 27). However, there is no law called "media law" in Hong Kong. Instead, the media is governed by a bunch of statutory laws. In brief, there are 31 Ordinances that are directly related to mass media, 7 of which are more important. They includes Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance (Cap. 286), Books Registration Ordinance (Cap. 142), Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106), Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap. 390) Broadcasting Authority Ordinance (Cap. 391) and Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562).

Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance (Cap. 286) provides for the registration of local newspapers and news agencies and the licensing of newspaper distributors.
Books Registration Ordinance (Cap. 142)(Cap. 106) provides for the registration and preservation of copies of books first printed, produced or published in Hong Kong.
Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106) makes better provision for the licensing and control of telecommunications, telecommunications services and telecommunications apparatus and equipment.
Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap. 390) controls and classifies articles which consist of or contain material that is obscene or indecent. Obscene Articles Tribunals are established to determine whether an article is obscene or indecent.
Broadcasting Authority Ordinance (Cap. 391) provides for the establishment and functions of a Broadcasting Authority.
Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562) licenses companies to provide broadcasting services and regulate the provision of broadcasting services by licensees.

The rest of the 31 Ordinances are of less importance since they do not aim at regulating mass media, but some of their provisions do affect the operation of media organizations and also freedom of press.

The passing of Bills of Rights Ordinance(BORO) in 1986 strengthened the protection of fundemental human rights like press freedom, freedom of speech, etc. This has been reflected in the loosening of control over mass media. Laws that violate the principle of press freedom are gradually amended. (For example, s.27 of Public Order Ordinance, which criminalized publishing of false news, was repealed in 1989)

Nonetheless, there are still laws that are seriously controlling the operation of the media and may severely affects the freedom of the press and publication, e.g. Official Secrets Ordinance (Cap. 521) and Public Order Ordinance (Cap. 245).

Authorities enforcing relevant policies

Broadcasting Authority (BA) regulates broadcasters in Hong Kong by licensing and penalties according to the Broadcasting Regulation.
Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) is responsible for monitoring television and radio broadcasting to secure proper standards.
Press Council was established in July 2000. The objective of the Council is to promote the professional and ethical standard of the newspaper industry, defense press freedom, and deal with public complaints against local newspapers. It is an independent organization funded by the newspapers and public donations, and its authority rests on the willingness of members to respect the Council's views, to adhere voluntarily to ethical standards and to admit mistakes publicly.(Adopted from Press Council Homepage)

Characteristic of the news

informative--news is reported detailedly to satisfy HK people' couriosity
quick--news is reported or presented as soon as possible because HK people don't have much interest on 'old news'
infotaintive--news is presented both informatively and entertainingly as HK people do not like boredom

Challenges faced by Media

Reporters' status--The mass media are now suffering decreasing respect of Hong Kong citizers.
Mass media ethics--the event of Next Magazine exposed the ugly side of the media in Hong Kong.
Accuracy in reporting--storyies are contorted to cater for the readers' taste. They inject violence and pornigraphy into the stories.

Incidents with Impact

Price-cut War

On 20th June 1995, Apple Daily was born at a retail price of HK$2(before that the price was set by The Hong Kong Printers Association at HK$5). At the very beginning the price-cut did not catch much attention. But soon after Apple Daily had swiftly occupied the market (200,000 papers per day) and threatened the sales leadership of the [Oriental Daily], the price war began. On 9th Dec, Oriental Daily reduced the price to HK$2 as well. Afterwards, Sing Pao, Tin Tin Daily, etc followed. The price war increased the cost, reduced the marginal profit and exerted great pressure on the stock price of the newspapers. In the week followed (12-18 Dec), 4 newspapers and 3 magazines closed down. This price war last for half a year.

The second wave of price war was triggered by the issuing of Sun Daily, which was owned by the Oriental group. By then most of the papers were controlled by powerful enterprise thus having a greater resistance to market changes. However, the fierce competition has lead to a decrease in the sense of social responsibility in the newspapers.

“Mr Chan Kin Hong (陳健康) Incident”

On 19th Oct 1998, a woman, together with her 2 children, jumped out of the window and died. By the investigation of the reporters, people found out Mr. Chan Kin Hong, the husband of the woman. It was alleged that that woman killed herself because her husband had another wife in Mainland China. Chan than becomes the headlines of major newspapers and TV channels. A negative image was created for Chan in the reports. Apple Daily even posted a picture in which Chan held 2 women, whom were said to be prostitutes, in his arms. Public resentment against Chan reached it’s peak. But later it was discovered that Apple Daily had paid Chan HK$5000 for the story. This attracted a fierce criticism from other media, academics and the public. Finally, Apply Daily posted a whole-page notice of apology on the front page of the paper on 10th Nov.

Spreading false news during SARS period

On April Fools’ Day in 2003, a 14-year-old pupil copied the design of the Ming Pao Web site to his own, wherein he announced that Hong Kong had been declared an infected port, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa had stepped down and that the Hang Seng Index had plunged. Rumour had it that Hong Kong would be quarantined and cut off from supplies, which immediately sparked panic buying at supermarkets and prompted the government to issue an official denial in an emergency briefing and through SMS messages to mobile phone users. Newspapers overwhelmingly condemned the spread of misinformation in times of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis. Ming Pao in particular demanded the punishment of the spread of false news in the public interest. This raised a discussion on the choice between freedom of speech and the public interest. Up-to-date, no action has been brought against the rumor spreader.

Article 23 legislation

The legislation concerning article 23 of Basic Law, which concerns the protection of national security, is one of the most controversial issue after the hand-over of Hong Kong in 1997. Among the laws proposed under Article 23, the media were most concerned about the law criminalizing the handling of seditious publications and disclosure of official secrets. It was alleged that the amendments would endanger the freedom of press in Hong Kong. Many had voiced the need of “public interest defence”, but the Government refused to add this defence to the Bill until after 500,000 people take to the street on 1st July 2003. After a few days, the Government postponed the 2nd and 3rd readings of the Bill in face of political pressure created by the resignation of Mr James Tin, one of the members of the Executive Council. Finally on 5th Sept 2003, the Government withdrew the Bill.

Media organizations

Next Media