14
The Media
REM
価材
AS VISITORS to Hong Kong can readily observe, the processes of public information play a more important role here than in almost any other territory in the world. Certainly, no other place of similar size can boast such a range and intensity of media activity.
Much of this activity undoubtedly arises from Hong Kong's geographical situation. Traditionally the territory has been a trading post in the Far East and over the years has expanded into a manufacturing and banking centre. In recent decades, it has become a base for those studying and reporting on political events in China and neighbouring countries. For all these roles sophisticated international communications have been developed.
The facilities available through satellite and the latest telecommunication equipment have attracted news media representatives from many parts of the world. News agencies, newspapers with international readerships and overseas television companies and corpora- tions have found it convenient to establish their bureaux and offices here. Regional publica- tions produced in Hong Kong have prospered, reflecting the territory's enhanced position as a centre of industrial and trading expertise.
Within Hong Kong itself, there is a lively and flourishing news media made up of many daily newspapers, a range of weekly magazines, two private television companies and two radio stations. There is a free, critical and outspoken press without legislative controls other than those intended to provide safeguards against libel and pornography. The news media provides an efficient and speedy supply of information to a literate, industrious and healthily inquisitive society.
The news media plays a vital part in the territory's precautionary measures against sudden climatic threats. When typhoons approach or rainstorms spell danger the news media reacts to alert, inform and advise the population.
Against this background, it is not surprising that remarkable advances and innovations have taken place in the information field in recent years. For example, a leading English- language newspaper has adopted a fully-computerised news-processing system, a develop- ment putting it ahead of most technically-advanced papers in Europe and North America. The government has matched this progress by producing and participating in an in- creasing number of public affairs programmes on television and radio, and by expanding its information services - notably by increasing the information staff in departments and also enlarging staff to meet the needs of visiting journalists.
The Press
Hong Kong's flourishing free press consists of 97 newspapers and 388 periodicals, catering to a high readership market. The territory has the second highest newspaper readership in