Urgent Business: Hong Kong, Freedom of Expression and 1997
possible retribution as such journalists may have had more dealings with and understanding of China. What is clear is that journalists who work on China issues are painfully aware of the possibility of retribution after 1997, whether in the sense of real political persecution or at a more insidious level whereby jobs and opportunities may become less flexible and attainable. The consequences of the handover to Chinese rule is a concern even before 1997 for those worried about their livelihood and job security.
More than half the journalists interviewed agreed with the long-accepted canon that "stabilizing the society is the most important task for the news media during the political transition". This would concur with the view that the media, far from being an objective and critical source of information and opinion about politics and society, tends to reflect the dominant views, taking the central and non-controversial ground. The media has in effect engaged in a kind of broad and systemic self-censorship common throughout society, a self- censorship that is natural and insidious, and takes the consensual view of society rather than the conflictual view.
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