ENG-1988 — Page 319

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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need for a post code system in Hong Kong. Letters bearing addresses which cannot be read by the OCR equipment will be delivered to video coding desks where operators will read the address and type the relevant abbreviated address codes on the envelopes. Thereafter all subsequent sorting processes can be done automatically by letter sorting machines. The new equipment is expected to be in use in 1990. When it is fully operational, it will process 90 per cent of the total letter mail traffic.

The Press

Hong Kong's flourishing free press consists of 67 newspapers and 614 periodicals, which have a high readership. The registered newspapers include 41 Chinese-language dailies and two English-language dailies. A number of news agency bulletins - Chinese, English and Japanese - are also registered as newspapers.

Of the Chinese-language dailies, 34 cover mainly general news, both local and overseas, while others cover solely entertainment, especially television and cinema news, and one concentrates on finance. The larger papers include Chinese communities overseas in their distribution networks, and some have editions printed outside Hong Kong, in particular in the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia.

Hong Kong is the Southeast Asian base for many newspapers, magazines, news agencies and the electronic media. Among the international news agencies with offices in Hong Kong are Associated Press, Reuters, United Press International and Agence France Presse. Newsweek and Time magazines have editions printed in Hong Kong, which is also the base for the regional magazines Asiaweek and the Far Eastern Economic Review, as well as the Asian Wall Street Journal and the International Herald Tribune.

Several organisations represent and cater for people working in the news media in Hong Kong.-The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong represents Chinese and English newspaper proprietors. It is empowered to act in matters affecting the interests of its members. The Hong Kong Journalists Association, founded in 1968, is the only territory-wide trade union for local journalists. It seeks to recommend better training, pay and conditions in journalism, and advises its members in the event of disputes with employers. As an active member of the International Federation of Journalists, it also plays a significant role in the international press freedom movement, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The Foreign Correspondents' Club offers its members social facilities and a range of professional activities, including news conferences, briefings and films. The Hong Kong Press Club provides an opportunity for journalists to meet socially.

The Journalism Training Board of the Vocational Training Council continues to play an important role in providing up-grading courses for working journalists in Hong Kong.

With an allocation of $250,000 as course subsidy from the Vocational Training Council, the board in 1988 conducted eight training courses, most of which proved to be very popular, especially among young journalists with less than three years of working experience.

The most popular course was the annual 'Journalism Symposium'. The highlight of this year's symposium was a two-day newsroom management seminar conducted by two veteran journalists from Malaysia and the Philippines. Part of the costs for conducting the seminar was borne by the Press Foundation of Asia. Thus, the board was able to continue charging the same low fee ($20 per day) for participants.

During the year, the board also conducted a 'training needs survey for reports' in collaboration with the Hong Kong Polytechnic. The up-to-date information collected would be useful for the board to formulate suitable training plans.