ENG-1993 — Page 366

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

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The news media play a significant role in the territory's precautionary measures against sudden climatic threats alerting, informing and advising the public in the event of

typhoons or rainstorms.

The Press

The Hong Kong press consists of 77 newspapers and 619 periodicals, which have a high readership. They include 41 Chinese-language dailies and seven English-language dailies. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 33 cover mainly general news, both local and overseas; 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. One of the English dailies publishes a daily Braille edition, in conjunction with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind. A total of four news agency bulletins, issued in Chinese, English and Japanese, are also registered as newspapers.

Hong Kong is the Southeast Asian base for many newspapers, magazines, news agencies and electronic media. Among the international news agencies with offices in Hong Kong are Associated Press, Reuters, United Press International, Agence France-Presse, Kyodo News Service of Japan, Agencia EFE of Spain, and LUSA of Portugal. Newsweek and Time magazines have editions printed in Hong Kong, which is also the base for the =_regional magazines Asiaweek and Far Eastern Economic Review. The Asian Wall Street

Journal and the International Herald Tribune are also printed here.

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, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1993, is the only territory-wide trade union for journalists. It seeks to recommend better training, pay and conditions in journalism, and advises its members in the event of disputes with employers. The association is also active in issues related to freedom of the media and serves as a watchdog of professional ethical standards. 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.

A sum of $300,000 was allocated by the Vocational Training Council to its Journalism Training Board and Advertising, Public Relations and Publishing Training Board to conduct about a dozen upgrading courses for journalists working for the mass media. The most popular ones covered Putonghua for journalists (held by the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong), interviewing techniques (by the British Council), oral communication skills for journalists (by the Hong Kong Polytechnic) and advertising management (by the 4A's). The Journalism Training Board also provided a subsidy of $20,000 to the Hong Kong Journalists' Association for the conduct of a number of short seminars and talks for reporters.

Information Policy

The government's information machinery was reorganised with effect from October 15, 1993, when the Home Affairs Branch assumed overall responsibility for policy formulation on information and related matters.