COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
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RTHK's Educational Television Division and the Education Department continued their joint efforts in producing educational programmes for schools. The government's Educational Television Service, which utilised the transmission facilities of the commercial stations for eight hours every weekday during term time, was watched by 616 000 school children in primary and secondary schools. The programmes were devised and written by specialist Education Department staff who provided schools with programme literature and follow-up work. The programmes were produced by RTHK and made in colour with the use of film animation, drama and documentary techniques.
During the year, RTHK moved its main television operations into a newly-acquired, three-studio TV production centre on Broadcast Drive. This permitted future expansion of the station's output as well as better co-ordination of production and associated production service activities.
Information Services Department
The Information Services Department - known also as GIS, the Government Information Services - provides the link between the administration and the information media and, through them, the people of Hong Kong.
The work of the GIS is carried out by several divisions. The News Division distributes a great variety of government information through its teleprinter and facsimile networks, which are directly linked with leading newspapers, radio and television stations, and news agencies. The facsimile system, which is especially important for communicating in the Chinese language, is designed to transmit to the media both photographs and typed or printed messages. Telex and international facsimile services enable government offices overseas to receive messages without delay and to communicate directly to the department and, through it, to the rest of the government. The News Division operates a 24-hour media enquiry service, handling an average of 20 000 questions every month.
The division is also responsible for organising and conducting press conferences, in- cluding the year-round meet-the-media sessions by heads of government departments. In addition, a media service team is charged with the responsibility of planning and providing press facilities for public functions performed by top government officials and visits by VIPs from overseas. Extensive arrangements were made for local and overseas journalists to cover the arrival of the new Governor, Sir David Wilson, in April, and the visit of Princess Margaret in May.
In an emergency such as a typhoon, the newsroom becomes a co-ordination centre. It disseminates information to the media, particularly the radio and television stations, to keep the public informed of developments. Apart from this mobilisation of both manpower and equipment in the newsroom, other staff man various key positions within the government's organisation for managing emergencies, contributing to the minute-by- minute flow of information.
The Public Relations Division has three sub-divisions: media research, departmental units and overseas. The media research sub-division keeps the government fully informed of public opinion as expressed in the information media. It produces the Gist, a daily news sheet in English which summarises news and editorial comment in the major Chinese language papers, as well as opinions voiced on radio and television. Other publications include Opinion, a weekly review of Chinese editorial comment, What the Magazines Say and special reports on media coverage of subjects of particular interest to the government. The sub-division is also responsible for producing the Hong Kong News Digest, a fortnightly newspaper in Chinese which helps Hong Kong Chinese overseas to maintain