CHAPTER 20
COMMUNICATION AND THE MEDIA
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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 implemented in 1995.
An independent data protection authority enforces new legislation based on international principles governing the collection, holding, processing and use of personal data.
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 1997, a further eight new newspapers and 111 new periodicals joined the ranks of its flourishing free press.
The News Media
Hong Kong's news media include 50 daily newspapers, 693 periodicals, two commercial television companies, a subscription television service, a regional satellite television service, one government radio-television station, and two commercial radio stations.
The availability of the latest in telecommunications technology and growing interest in its affairs have attracted many international news agencies, newspapers with international readership and overseas broadcasting corporations to establish regional headquarters or representative offices in Hong Kong. The successful regional publications produced in Hong Kong underline its strong position as a financial, industrial, trading and communications centre. The news media play a significant role in precautionary measures against sudden climatic threats alerting, informing and advising the public of typhoons or rainstorms.
The Press
The Hong Kong press includes 30 Chinese-language dailies, 10 English-language dailies, one bi-lingual daily and four in other languages. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 24 cover mainly local and overseas general news; three focus on finance; and the rest cover entertainment news, especially television and cinema news. The larger papers include overseas Chinese communities in their distribution networks, and some have editions printed outside Hong Kong, in particular in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.