16
Publications, Broadcasting and Films
PRESS
HONG KONG has a large and active press and by the end of 1962 a total of 196 periodicals and publications of all kinds were listed by the Registrar of Newspapers. Of these 42 appear daily and 20 once or twice a week. The remainder are mainly magazines in Chinese, catering for readers with special interests. There are three daily and four weekly English-language newspapers and these are listed, together with some of the other leading Chinese and English publications, at Appendix XI.
Unofficial estimates put the total circulation of Chinese-language morning and afternoon papers at over 600,000 though there are no audited figures of circulations or certified net sales. Many papers undoubtedly have small circulations, but their influence should not be under-estimated on this account. They have a steady following among different sections of the community and become an invaluable forum for public opinion when occasion arises.
The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong has 18 members and their journals may be regarded as the Colony's principal news- papers. Recognized leaders among the Chinese morning papers are the Wah Kiu Yat Po (Overseas Chinese Daily News), Sing Tao Jih Pao (Island Star) and Kung Sheung Yat Po (Industrial and Commercial Daily), all of which maintain a good balance between foreign and local news and are, generally speaking, non-partisan in politics. All three publish afternoon editions, while another popular non-political daily, the Sing Pao, has no afternoon edition.
Orthodox Chinese communist policies are voiced in the Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Pao and New Evening Post, while the Hong Kong Times speaks for the Nationalist régime in Taiwan. Other Chinese newspapers which are members of the Newspaper Society are the New Life Evening Post and Hung Look Daily News, and the bilingual Daily Commodity Quotations.
Only two morning newspapers are published in the English- language the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong