21 COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA
MEASURES to further enhance the public's access to information were announced in 1994. An administrative code of practice on access to government information, committing the government to even greater transparency in its work, was imple- mented in 1995.
An independent data protection authority enforces new legislation based on international principles governing the collection, holding, processing and use of personal data.
Proposals by the Law Reform Commission to strengthen copyright protection over broadcasting, literary works, videotapes and computer programmes were under consideration at the year's end.
Separately, deregulation of local fixed telecom services and the licensing of new telecom technologies are expected to attract investments valued at more than $5 billion in the next 10 years.
The government also continued to reinforce Hong Kong's long-standing role as a media hub for Asia. In 1996, a further seven new newspapers and 76 new periodicals joined the ranks of the territory's flourishing free press.
The News Media
The news media in Hong Kong include 58 daily newspapers, 625 periodicals, two commercial television companies, a subscription television service, a regional satellite television service, one government radio-television station, two commercial radio stations and a radio station for the British Forces.
The availability of the latest in telecommunications technology, together with growing interest in Hong Kong affairs, has attracted a large number of international news agencies, newspapers with international readership and overseas broadcasting corporations to establish regional offices in the territory. Many international news media representatives have their regional base here and the successful regional publications produced in Hong Kong underline the territory's strong position as a financial, industrial, trading and communications centre. The news media play a significant role in the territory's precautionary measures against sudden climatic threats alerting, informing and advising the public of typhoons or rainstorms.
The Press
The Hong Kong press includes 38 Chinese-language dailies and 12 English-language dailies. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 31 cover mainly local and overseas general news; four focus on finance; and the rest cover entertainment news, especially
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