THE MEDIA
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Also opened during the year was a branch of the Press Foundation of Asia (PFA), an association of Asian publishers and editors representing 300 publications. The PFA, with its headquarters in Manila, represents and co-ordinates the functions of seven national press institutes.
Hong Kong is the base of Southeast Asian operations for many international magazines, newspapers, radio and television networks. International news agencies represented include the Associated Press of America, Agence France Presse, Kyodo, Reuters and United Press International.
The 12th quadrennial Commonwealth Press Union Conference was held in Hong Kong from October 3 to 6. Held in Hong Kong for the first time, the conference was attended by 164 representatives from 15 Commonwealth countries and Hong Kong. The Governor officially opened the three-day conference. Topics of international im- portance discussed included press freedom, pressures on the press, telecommunications, newsprint supply and journalistic education.
Printing and Publishing
Significantly, in just five years the value of Hong Kong exports of printed matter has more than doubled, from $63 million in 1969 to $180 million in 1974. During this period Australia has replaced Britain as Hong Kong's biggest overseas customer.
Many printers have established themselves in the North Point district on Hong Kong Island, while others operate from flatted factories in areas such as the high-rise industrial satellite of Kwun Tong. About 75 per cent of Hong Kong's 1,200 printing firms use the letterpress method, producing mainly small-scale printing such as letterheads, posters, wrappers and textbooks. The remainder mostly use offset, and although they are fewer in number, their capital investment in mainly German or Japanese equipment is far higher, and their volume of production is much greater than that of letterpress. Many specialise in printing books, textbooks, periodicals, calendars and diaries; others concentrate on wrappings and industrial packaging.
The standard of offset printing is high, with printing and illustrative production techniques comparing favourably with those of the world's leading printing nations. Electronic colour-engraving machines are widely used and colour separation technique is good. Two and four-colour printing machines are widely used; and leading printers introduced eight-colour rotary and web-offset machines as early as 1962.
During the past 10 years many overseas publishers have established offices or regional headquarters in Hong Kong where printing represents a substantial saving over other areas, and excellent distribution and communication facilities are readily available.
Many educational book publishers have also established their regional head- quarters in Hong Kong. These include Heinemann Educational Books, the Oxford University Press, McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, and IPC of London which has set up its regional headquarters in Hong Kong to handle the interests of its sub- sidiaries. The Asian editions of Time, Newsweek, and almost one million copies every month of Reader's Digest are printed in Hong Kong.