ENG-1974 — Page 226

THE MEDIA

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older one-storey cinemas to make way for more profitable multi-purpose high-rise buildings. Nevertheless, cinema-going continued to be a major leisure activity in Hong Kong with an estimated attendance during the year of 70 million.

Films for public exhibition within Hong Kong are subject to censorship in accord- ance with the law and are viewed by the Panel of Film Censors. A total of 7,530 films were submitted for censorship, including 178 local productions. Early in the year, as part of the continuing effort to ensure that the film censor's decisions accurately reflect current local opinions on standards in filmed entertainment, the Television and Films Authority commissioned a survey to ascertain the views of the public on the question of sex and violence on the screen. This survey indicated among other things, that the public in Hong Kong considers that film censorship is a proper and necessary function of the government and that the fairly vigorous standards set by the censors relating to the portrayal of sex and violence are approximately_correct.

Government Information Services

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The Government Information Services is a major link between the government, the people of Hong Kong and the rest of the world. The department is organised in three main divisions-news, publicity and public relations-with certain services common to all three.

The news division, probably the most familiar service to the Hong Kong public, produces a daily information bulletin in English and Chinese. It is backed by a tele- printer service. The bulletins give factual information on both official policy and public projects, as well as routine notices and statistics. It is distributed to more than 120 newspapers, news agencies and broadcasting stations.

Following the successful experiment with facsimile transmission in 1969, a full 24-hour service was inaugurated in May 1974. As news in English is transmitted over the teleprinter network, news in Chinese is sent simultaneously over the facsimile transmitter. So are weather, police and other reports.

The new service was an instant success and the number of subscribers increased quickly from five to 27, covering almost the entire field of the local Chinese media.

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The news division also becomes the nerve centre of all communications during typhoons, severe rainstorms, and all other emergencies. Once the 'emergency roster' is in force, the division is manned round-the-clock by a team of officers. Liaison officers are also deployed to the Royal Observatory, the Social Welfare Department, the New Territories Administration, the Public Works Department, Medical and Health Department, Marine Department, Housing Department, Fire Services and to the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. These officers ensure that up-to-the-minute information on the situation reaches the news division for dissemination to the media and the public.

The department's editorial section which produces the annual report and most other government publications, is grouped with the marketing office, which is respon- sible for the distribution techniques for the whole department and the recently acquired responsibility of the sale of government publications.