ENG-1972 — Page 206

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PRESS, BROADCASTING AND CINEMA

Chinese and English language newspapers are represented in the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong which has 19 members and three associate members. The society, formed in 1954, is empowered to act in matters affecting the interests of local newspapers, the society or its members. However, as none of the left-wing papers and few of the small papers are members, it cannot yet be said to speak with one voice.

There is also a Hong Kong Chinese Press Association and a Hong Kong Jour- nalists Association. In just four years the HKJA has emerged as an effective union with over 300 members. Not only has it given local journalists a voice in their own profession, it has also helped improve professional standards. In July the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, was guest of honour at a reception given by the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

Hong Kong is the base of South-East Asian operations for many international magazines, newspapers, radio and television networks. International news agencies represented include the Associated Press of America, Agence France Presse, Kyodo, Reuters and United Press International.

Printing and Publishing

Significantly, in just five years the value of Hong Kong exports of printed matter has more than doubled, from $52 million in 1968 to $120 million in 1972. During this period Australia has replaced Britain as Hong Kong's biggest overseas customer. Australians are said to read more books per head than any other nation, and over half of all the books published in Australia are now printed in Hong Kong.

Many printers have established themselves in the North Point district on Hong Kong Island, while others operate from flatted factories in areas such as the high-rise industrial satellite of Kwun Tong. Although about 75 per cent of Hong Kong's 1,200 or so printing firms use the letterpress method, they produce mainly small-scale print- ing such as letterheads, posters, wrappers and textbooks. The remainder mostly use offset, and although they are fewer in number, their capital investment in mainly German or Japanese equipment is far higher, and their volume of production is much greater than that of letterpress. Many 'specialise in printing books, textbooks, period- icals, calendars and diaries; others concentrate on wrappings and industrial packaging.

The standard of offset printing is extremely high, with printing and illustrative production techniques comparing favourably with those of the world's leading print- ing nations. Electronic colour-engraving machines are widely used and colour separa- tion technique is generally good. Two and four-colour printing machines are widely used; and leading printers introduced eight-colour rotary and web-offset machines as early as 1962.

Specialising almost entirely in book production, Lee Fung-Asco is the largest locally-owned printing firm. Originally most of its work was done for Australia with the remainder exported to Britain. But the company is now finding an increasing demand from Europe and America. Last year Lee Fung-Asco printed more than 600 titles of which about half went to Australia.