ENG-1978 — Page 243

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THE MEDIA

The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong, consists of correspondent, jour- nalist and associate members and its professional activities include lectures, news conferences and film shows. Club premises at Sutherland House, Central District, contain bar, restaurant, library and games facilities, and visiting correspondents may use typewriters and office space.

Chinese and English language newspapers are represented by The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong, which has 15 members and three associate members. It is empowered to act in matters affecting the interests of local newspapers, the society or its members.

The activities of the local office of the Press Foundation of Asia (PFA) include consultations with other organisations to help develop and expand the press in Asia. The PFA is an association of Asian publishers and editors representing 300 publica- tions. It co-ordinates the functions of seven national press institutes - from New Delhi to Korea.

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

Printing and Publishing

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An important printing centre, Hong Kong companies handle work from many parts of the world, particularly Australia, Britain and the United States. The main attraction is that top-quality printing is available at substantial savings compared with other places, and first-class distribution and communication facilities are readily available. In 1978, exports of printed matter amounted to some $310 million, compared with $99 million in 1971.

About one-quarter of Hong Kong's 1,200 printing firms are responsible for the bulk of production. They run highly efficient offset printing works operating with machinery imported mainly from West Germany and Japan. Many specialise in printing books, glossy magazines, textbooks, calendars and diaries; others concentrate on wrappings and industrial packaging. The standard of offset printing is high, with printing and illustrative production techniques comparing favourably with other major printing nations. Electronic colour-engraving machines are widely used and colour separation technique is good. Two and four-colour printing machines are used and leading printers have eight-colour rotary and web-offset machines. In the first eight months of 1978, Hong Kong used 52,514 tonnes of newsprint valued at more than $86 million. The other 75 per cent of printing firms use the letterpress method and generally produce small-scale printing, such as letterheads, posters, wrappers and some textbooks.

Many overseas publishers have established offices or regional headquarters in Hong Kong. The Asian editions of Time, Newsweek, and more than half a million copies a month of Reader's Digest are printed in Hong Kong, as well as the regional publications Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek, and The Asian Wall Street Journal.

Television

At December 31, 1978, it was estimated that 860,000 - 90 per cent - of Hong Kong's households possessed one or more television sets. The price of radio and television sets