COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
294
Overseas Offices
The Hong Kong Government's overseas public relations efforts are concentrated on its major business partners in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Its overseas offices in these regions play a leading role in promoting Hong Kong.
London
The News and Public Relations Unit of the Hong Kong Government Office in London works closely with GIS to provide a press service on Hong Kong matters for the British media and for Hong Kong journalists based in the United Kingdom. It also provides enquiry and information services for the public about events and developments in Hong Kong, backed by the most comprehensive library outside Hong Kong. The unit maintains close contact with journalists from both national and regional media, briefs and helps plan programmes for media visiting Hong Kong, and assists visiting journalists from Hong Kong. It organises a panel of speakers of about 100 former government officers and businessmen who have retired or now work in Britain.
The unit monitors British parliamentary proceedings and both national and regional media coverage of Hong Kong affairs, responding where necessary to inaccurate reports. It also publishes a newsletter, Dateline Hong Kong, which is distributed among organisations and individuals with a close interest in Hong Kong.
--North America
In North America, media relations are conducted through the government's Economic and Trade Offices in Washington, New York, San Francisco and Toronto. These offices provide a general news and information service for the media and work with GIS to produce special news releases, features and articles tailored to the specific requirements of various American and Canadian publications. Close contact is maintained with journalists in all major centres of both countries. The units also provide them with assistance and information for preparing articles on Hong Kong and help journalists visiting Hong Kong with briefings, research material and interviews. Each year the information units of these offices organise in conjuction with GIS a series of sponsored visits to Hong Kong by American and Canadian journalists.
The units also handle numerous public and business enquiries on all types of issues. To supplement this service, a monthly digest of events and happenings in Hong Kong is produced and mailed to contacts throughout North America. The units participate in a variety of exhibitions and seminars as a means of establishing further contact with the electronic and print media and to publicise Hong Kong. The units also monitor the American and Canadian news media producing for Hong Kong daily news and weekly news and economic summaries.
To strengthen these efforts a public relations firm is used to implement a public relations plan and strategy for Hong Kong, and to assist with organising speaking platforms and tours for visiting speakers from Hong Kong and senior officers of the Economic and Trade Offices in North America.
To coincide with the Toronto Office's first anniversary, a month-long Festival Hong Kong 92 was held in Canada. The festival, with the theme, 'Bridge across the Pacific', has been the largest overseas promotion ever organised by the Hong Kong Government. It presented over 150 cultural, educational, business and sporting events in five major cities -