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Mr Paul, HKD
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
From:
RF Cornish
News Department
Date:
25 April 1991
CC:
PS
PS/Lord Caithness Sir J Coles
Mr Burns
Mr Cooper,
Planners
Special Advisers
HONG KONG AND CHINA
1.
2.
The Private Secretary's minute of 18 April.
I suspect that the Hong Kong Government's media machine reflects the qualities and the problems of the rest of the Hong Kong Government. They struck me as a bit old-fashioned, inward-looking and defensive. The presence of Chris Osborne (ex-News Department) helps a lot to put across HMG's view, but he is independent of the Hong Kong Government. I know from personal experience that some of the Hong Kong Government's people abroad are rather good, notably Kerry McGlynn, who handles their media effort in New York. He is an Australian ex-journalists and, I think, fairly new to the Hong Kong Government. I think that this is the sort of person one needs in some of the senior posts in Hong Kong.
3.
I believe a seminar, or indeed several seminars over the next 6 years, could do a lot of good. But we need to bear in mind that these events are bound to feed the febrile tendencies of the Hong Kong press, who are bound to get hold of at least snippets of the substance and to draw all manner of excited conclusions. That would need handling carefully in Hong Kong. Such seminars would contribute to wider public education. But I suspect the real key in that context lies in persuading the right people in Hong Kong (and even China) to speak out, to write articles, etc.
Wan
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RF Cornish
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PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL