BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION IN HONG KONG
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pa. thing 30/1
A R Paul Esq
Hong Kong Department
FCO
Your reference
Our reference
Date
19
13 March 1991
Dear Alam,
기
in
Mr. Burks TG 3,1/3
Сенка
Malox MsJanides
Mr Morgan /21/3
Lord Caithness and the HK media
CC
Mr Crystal
(News)
I thought you might welcome a few rather belated observations on the mood of the media in aftermath of the visit by Lord Caithness, given our departure from the well established practice of holding a press conference.
To my surprise there was very little backwash in the media on the way we organised the visit. The legendary hyperactivity of the local press pack ensured the Minister was given ample opportunity to get across specific points on, for example, Vietnamese when he met the press at Hei Ling Chau. The briefing of local editors and UK correspondents was appreciated by those who attended, not so much by those who did not. Although the briefings were on the record, they were relaxed and lacked the often damaging confrontational atmosphere of a traditional Hong Kong press conference.
There were of course moans and groans about the lack of a press conference and the selective nature of the briefings at Government House, but few of these translated themselves into print. The one notable exception was Kevin Sinclair's article on 11 February about which their has been other correspondence. The two TV station (TVB and ATV) were somewhat irritated at their exclusion from the briefings. My defence that it was not practical to mix writing press with electronic media was not entirely convincing as I had included May Chan of Commercial Radio in the briefing a mistake on my part.
Mable Chan of TVB launched a spirited one night attack on me, backed up with comments by Emily Lau wearing her HK Journalist's Association hat " a dangerous precedent". But it was me and not the Minister they went for and it did not last!
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So I think we got away with it quite well, and with a bit of fine tuning, should be able to avoid the tyranny of the press conference on future visits without too much media irritation.
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