Hong Kong & the Press, 1997 & Press Freedom

TITLE OF THE THESIS HONG KONG & THE PRESS, 1997 & PRESS FREEDOM NAME: FU YUK-SZE DEPT.: POLITICS DEPARTMENT, THE ADELAIDE UMVERSITY DATE OF SUBMISSION: 30th Januny 2003 CONTENTS Abstract Declaration Acknowledgements Introduction... .. The first period (1842-1949).... .. ...p.8 Consolidatingperiod (L949-1984)...... ....p.21 The transition period (1984-L997)...... ....p.32 After the handover........ p53 Conclusion...... p60 Appendix Bibliography ABSTRACT The return of Hong Kong's sovereignty back to China aroused great anxiety amongst the Hong Kong people who enjoyed quite a high degree of freedom. And the press, apart from that in Japan, enjoyed arare degree of independency found. Enormous concern was raised both locally and internationally on the likely threat on the local press freedom highly regarded worldwide, with the unlikely compatibility of the capitalist Hong Kong and the communist China. The worry is understandable when one considers the huge difference of the press systems practised in the two places concerned. With a journey of Hong Kong from the time it became a British colony to the present time when it is back to be part of China: it began with a period of immense Chinese political influence, it slowly entered into a consolidating period which saw the development of the press and the Hong Kong society with the formation of a relatively "free" press and a distinguishing Hong Kong identity, subsequently it went into the transitional period with all the fear and anxiety, and "adjustment" shown by the society and the press when the imminent fate of going back to China was fixed, and finally it came into the new phrase when Hong Kong was tumed into a Special Administrative Region under China. Independent the local press seemed to be under the instrumental British rule; the author would like to show the inadequacy of the press independency found in the territory. Nevertheless, when the relatively unrestricted Hong Kong press meets the rather restrictive Chinese press, clash is unavoidable with the tremendous different ideology and theory working behind the respective press systems. Indeed, the promise of "One country, two systems",formula could not really allay the fear of the Hong Kong people. But the press and the pragmatic public chose to adopt the accommodating gesture, instead of the confronting one, to deal with the "ne\ry" master. In a way, this helped smooth the transition. And we could not deny an emergence of a possible more open press on the mainland with the consideration of all the positive factors. DECLARATION This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University library, being available for loan and photocopying. Sign: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to my supervisor, Mr. Felix Patrikeeff of the Politics Department in the Adelaide University for his patience and assistance. With his expertise in Hong Kong, Mr. Patrikeeff offered valuable ideas during the thinking process. And I appreciate very much for his generous advice during the writing process. I must also thank the staff members in the office of the Politics Department who offered tremendous help, in particular with technical computer problems. Last but not lest, I must thank my friend, Mr. John McCarron and my husband in providing psychological and financial support, without which I could not be able to finish writing this thesis. Adelaide, Australia, January, 2003 CONTENTS Introduction...... ........p.1 The first period (1842-1949)...... ....p.8 Consolidating period (1949-1984).. .. .. .. p.2l Thetransitionperiod (L984-1997)...... ....p.3:2 After the handover. .. ... ....p.53 Conclusion p.60 Appendix Bibliography INTRODUCTION Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opiníons without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. This is article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948 protecting people worldwide their freedom of expression. Press freedom is one of the main concerns. In an ideal world, journalists are supposed to be independent in arriving at the truth, and in conveying this to the public without being interfered with. Political stance or cofitmercial interest should not alter what a journalist writes. In the real world, however, absolute press freedom never exits. The press industry is constantly under different forms of pressure. Editors, spurred on by demands of the market place, may exert pressure on reporters to focus on certain topics and discard others. Newspaper owners may exert pressure on editors to refrain from being critical of certain people or companies because of commercial interests, whether of these result from direct investment or pressure from their advertisers. Governments too may exert pressure on the press through rules or regulations in guiding the industry. Such constraints are to be found anywhere in the world, including nations which are supposed to have achieved a higher level of freedom. And in Asia where human rights are not generally observed and cultural consideration and respect of sovereignty are used as 'pretext' by the Asian government to prevent international interference of human rights abuse cases (as affirmed by the Bangkok 1 Declaration).1 Press, with one of its function as an expressing forum of the public, is strictly controlled by a number of Asian governments. For instance, joumalists in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia have to apply for licences and special visas from the governments.2 Nevertheless, one has to admit the relative press freedom enjoyed by the journalists in Hong Kong which has a degree of press freedom only second to Japan in the Asian region.3 The flourishing press industry in Hong Kong has more than seventy newspapers and sixty periodicals serving about six million people in an area of around 1000 square kilometre. Approximately 300 copies of newspapers are printed for every 1000 Hong Kong readers, compared to the world average of 102 for every 1000 people.o Itt fact, Hong Kong also serves as a communication hub in the Asian region which houses a number of international publications - Time, Newsweek, Business Week, UPI, The AsianWalI Street Journal, CNN, etc, as they believe press freedom is treasured and safeguarded in the territory.s In addition to the relatively free intellectual environment, there is also a well-developed infrastructure and the easy access to the world-atJarge. However, the advent of 1997 and the return of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, where journalists operate under a completely different logic has aroused enorTnous concerns both locally and, indeed, worldwide on the issue of preservation of press freedom. Amongst the organisations which raised the concern are the Hong Kong 1 "Reaffirming the principles ofrespect for national sovereignty, territorial integrity and non- interference in the international affairs of the State", see Asia-Pacific Human Riqhts Documents and Resources. Vol. 1, Fernand de Varennes, ed. (Maritinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1998) pp.88-92 2 A.LinNeumann, '?ress freedom under the Dragon-Can Hong Kong's media still breathe fire?", The Committee to Protect Journalists, September 1997, <http/lwww.cpj.org/Briefings/1996- 8/hong*kong97/ 3 Chan Man Joseph, "Media Internationalisation in Hong Kong: Patterns, Factors and Tensions", Hong Kong's Reunion with China: The Global Dimensions (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1991) p.230 4 ibid 5 Cohen Eliot, "Hong Kong - The Future of Press freedom", Columbia Journalism Review, May/June L997, <ht¡p fl w w. cj r. or g/y ear I 9 7 I 3 / hongkon g. asp> 2 Journalists Association, the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights in China.6 Whereas media are treated as a propaganda tool and are regarded as being subordinate to the state in the People's Republic of China (PRC)7, the capitalist territory earns its reputation as a financial hub and communications hub, at the heart of which is a freewheeling press. Despite China's repeated guarantees of the autonomy of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR, Hong Kong's name after 1997), as enshrined in the "one countr/, two systems" formula, fear of the loss of press freedom is most evident in the territory where freedom of expression is perceived as an inalienable part of the way of life of Hong Kong people. This paper would argue the enormous press freedom problem is essentially a clash of the differences of the two press systems operating on the mainland and in the territory. And the author would like to argue the Hong Kong press is not genuinely independent or "free" according to the Libertarian press theory. After an introduction of the spectrum of the four press theories which are the Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social responsibility and the Soviet Communist systems, the analysis is then broadly divided into four periods, based on the palpable changes in the political environment within which the territory's society functioned, and functions. The first period starts in 18428 (when Hong Kong became a British colony) to Ig4g (when the PRC was established on the mainland). The focus would be on the early press industry, the early colony, and later the social movements caused by the Sino-French War in the territory and Hong Kong involvement in the Republican revolution on the mainland. 6 See <http://www.ifec.ord >,< http://www.cjfe.org/releases/1998/hone.html> and <htþ://iso.hrichina.org: 8 1 5 1/old_site/pr/english/9080402.html> 7 Ruoshui Wang, "China's media also needs an open reform", Human Rishts Forum (Fall 1998) pp.

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