DOCSLIB.ORG

UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Essays on Political Economy of the Media Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/76c987rx Author Lam, Onyi Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Essays on Political Economy of the Media A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Economics by Onyi Lam Committee in charge: Professor Roger Gordon, Chair Professor Gordon Dahl Professor James Rauch Professor Molly Roberts Professor Kenneth Wilbur 2017 Copyright Onyi Lam, 2017 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Onyi Lam is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2017 iii DEDICATION To my parents, Heung Wah Lam and Sau Man Ho, and my city, Hong Kong iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ....................................... iii Dedication ......................................... iv Table of Contents ..................................... v List of Figures ....................................... viii List of Tables ........................................ xi Acknowledgements ..................................... xiii Vita ............................................. xiv Abstract of Dissertation .................................. xv Chapter 1 Advertisers Capture: Evidence from Hong Kong ............. 1 1.1 Introduction .................................... 1 1.2 Suggestive Evidence ............................... 5 1.3 Institutional Context ............................... 6 1.3.1 Business and Politics ........................... 7 1.3.2 Participation in Mainland Politics ................... 8 1.3.3 Newspaper Market ............................ 8 1.4 Illustrative Model ................................. 9 1.5 Data ........................................ 15 1.5.1 Advertising ................................ 15 1.5.2 Politically Connected Advertisers .................... 16 1.5.3 Readers’ Demography .......................... 18 1.6 Measuring Slant Gap .............................. 19 1.6.1 Selecting Phrases ............................. 20 v 1.6.2 Mapping Phrases to Slant ........................ 21 1.7 Empirical Evidence ................................ 23 1.7.1 Persistence of Slant Gap’s Effect .................... 28 1.7.2 Real Estate Industry ........................... 29 1.7.3 Alternative Measure of Political Climate . 31 1.8 Mechanisms .................................... 32 1.9 Apple Daily’s Revenue Loss ........................... 33 1.10 Conclusions .................................... 35 1.11 Figures and Tables ................................ 40 1.12 Appendix ..................................... 60 1.12.1 Sample of Apple Daily and Oriental Daily Headline during Occupy Central .................................. 60 1.12.2 Endogenous Readers’ Choice of Newspaper . 61 1.12.3 Finer Time Unit for Slant Gap ..................... 64 1.12.4 Polarization of the Benchmark Language . 65 1.12.5 Time Series of the Number of Pro-Democracy Phrases . 68 1.12.6 Political Ads and Government Ads ................... 69 Chapter 2 Measuring Subjectivity in History Textbooks . 70 2.1 Introduction .................................... 70 2.2 History Textbooks in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan . 74 2.3 Descriptive Statistics ............................... 76 2.3.1 Major Historical Episodes ........................ 77 2.4 Subjectivity Analysis ............................... 78 2.4.1 Adjectives and Adverbs ......................... 79 2.4.2 Political Entities ............................. 80 2.4.3 Text Polarity ............................... 81 2.4.4 Word Embedding ............................. 82 2.5 Prior and After Textbooks Reform ....................... 84 2.6 Writing Style ................................... 86 2.7 Conclusion .................................... 87 vi 2.8 Figures and Tables ................................ 92 Chapter 3 Celebrities Capture: Evidence from Weibo in China . 106 3.1 Introduction .................................... 106 3.2 Media Market in Mainland China . 109 3.3 Model ....................................... 110 3.4 Data ........................................ 114 3.4.1 Summary Statistics ............................ 115 3.5 Empirical Analysis ................................ 117 3.5.1 Athletes .................................. 119 3.5.2 Followers’ Reactions . 120 3.5.3 Facebook Accounts ............................ 121 3.5.4 Banned Entertainers . 122 3.6 Conclusion .................................... 122 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Ad Share on print version of Apple Daily and Sing Tao relative to Sum of Apple, Oriental and Sing Tao. ..................... 40 Figure 1.2 Ad Share on print version of Apple Daily and Sing Tao relative to Oriental Only. ................................... 41 Figure 1.3 2016 Press Freedom Index issued by the Freedom House . 42 Figure 1.4 Hang Seng Index and relative Stock Price of the corporations that own Apple Daily (Next Digital, Ticker: 0282) and Oriental Daily (Oriental Press, Ticker: 0018) ............................... 44 Figure 1.5 Total number of ads assignments and ads assignments placed by con- nected organizations in each industry. ..................... 45 Figure 1.6 Ads Assignment by company characteristics . 45 Figure 1.7 Percentage of Connected Ad Assignment . 46 Figure 1.8 Percentage of Mainland Ad Assignment . 46 Figure 1.9 Difference in slant between the two newspapers. 48 Figure 1.10 Industry Fixed Effects Relative to the Real Estate Industry . 55 Figure 1.11 Industry Fixed Effects Relative to the Real Estate Industry . 55 Figure 1.12 Interaction terms between Industry and Slant Gap relative to the Real Estate Industry ................................. 56 Figure 1.13 Interaction terms between Industry and Slant Gap relative to the Real Estate Industry ................................. 56 Figure 1.14 Interaction terms between industry fixed effects and firms’ connectiv- ity for ads appearing on Apple only ...................... 57 Figure 1.15 Interaction terms between industry fixed effects and firms’ connectiv- ity for ads appearing on both newspapers ................... 58 Figure 1.16 Headline of Apple Daily on December 12, 2014. Translated as ”Do not forget the original intention. We will be back” . 60 viii Figure 1.17 Headline of Oriental Daily on December 12, 2014. Translated as ”Financier Jimmy Lai Pan-Democratic politicians accept bribes. Occupy Central Schemers All Caught” .......................... 60 Figure 1.18 Slant Gap Using Monthly Data .................... 64 Figure 1.19 A measure of polarization of word choices used by the benchmark . 66 Figure 2.1 Screenshot of the dictionary application on Mac showing the word Important ..................................... 92 Figure 2.2 Screenshot of the dictionary application on Mac showing the word Very 92 Figure 2.3 Pro-CCP to pro-KMT entities ...................... 96 Figure 2.4 Adjective Ratio .............................. 96 Figure 2.5 Adverb Ratio ............................... 97 Figure 2.6 Adjective Ratio of pre-1949 events ................... 97 Figure 2.7 Adjective Ratio of post-1949 events ................... 98 Figure 2.8 Adjective Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 98 Figure 2.9 Adjective Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 99 Figure 2.10 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 99 Figure 2.11 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 100 Figure 2.12 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio in 4 major pre-1949 Historical Episodes ...................................... 100 Figure 2.13 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 101 Figure 2.14 Adjective Ratio in Old and New Versions . 101 Figure 2.15 Adjective Ratio in Old and New Versions in pre- and post-1949 . 102 Figure 2.16 Adjective Ratio in Old and New Versions in pre- and post-1949 . 102 Figure 2.17 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 103 Figure 2.18 Positive to Negative Phrase Ratio pre- and post- 1949 . 103 Figure 2.19 word embedding visualization of Mainland Chinese textbooks by t-SNE104 Figure 2.20 word embedding visualization of Hong Kong textbooks by t-SNE . 104 Figure 2.21 word embedding visualization of Taiwanese textbooks by t-SNE . 105 Figure 3.1 A popular post after the international tribunal in The Hague delivered its judgment ................................... 128 ix Figure 3.2 Number of Celebrities by Followers Group . 129 Figure 3.3 Number of celebrities Mentioned in Sina by Type . 129 Figure 3.4 Number of Celebrities (Performers only) Mentioned in Sina by Region 130 Figure 3.5 Number of celebrities Using Patriotic Phrases . 131 Figure 3.6 Number of celebrities Posting by Date Around 2016 July 13th . 132 Figure 3.7 Number of celebrities Posting by Date Around 2016 October 1st . 133 Figure 3.8 Number of times the celebrity is mentioned on Sina . 133 x LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Readership (’000) in 2014 (Including online readership) . 43 Table 1.2 Apple Daily’s Revenue Composition ................... 44 Table 1.3 Ad Price and Readership ........................ 47 Table 1.4 Readers Demography. The number indicates the fraction of readers reading the respective newspaper, except average Age, household income and totals. Source: AC Nielsen 2014. ........................ 47 Table 1.5 Phrases with highest χ2 and used by Wenwui Daily in each year and quarter
Load more

Recommended publications
  • European Parliament 2019-2024
    European Parliament 2019-2024 TEXTS ADOPTED P9_TA(2021)0356 Hong Kong, notably the case of Apple Daily European Parliament resolution of 8 July 2021 on Hong Kong, notably the case of Apple Daily (2021/2786(RSP)) The European Parliament, – having regard to all its previous resolutions on Hong Kong, in particular those of 21 January 2021 on the crackdown on the democratic opposition in Hong Kong1, of 19 June 2020 on the PRC national security law for Hong Kong and the need for the EU to defend Kong Kong’s high degree of autonomy2, of 18 July 2019 on the situation in Hong Kong3 and of 24 November 2016 on the case of Gui Minhai, jailed publisher in China4, – having regard to its previous resolutions on China, in particular those of 20 May 2021 on Chinese countersanctions on EU entities and MEPs and MPs5, of 12 September 2018 on the state of EU-China relations6 and of 16 December 2015 on EU-China relations7, – having regard to its recommendation of 13 December 2017 to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on Hong Kong, 20 years after handover8, – having regard to the joint statement by Members of the European Parliament David McAllister and Reinhard Bütikofer on the new national security law in Hong Kong of 1 July 2020, – having regard to the European Parliament Conference of Presidents’ press statement of 6 July 2020, – having regard to the statements by the Spokesperson of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of 23 June 2021 on the closure of Apple Daily’s Hong Kong operations 1 Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0027.
    [Show full text]
  • China Media Bulletin
    Issue No. 154: May 2021 CHINA MEDIA BULLETIN Headlines ANALYSIS The Gutting of Hong Kong’s Public Broadcaster P2 IN THE NEWS • Regulators “clean up” internet ahead of CCP anniversary alongside censorship of Oscars, Bible apps, and Weibo P5 • Surveillance updates: Personal data-protection law advances, Apple compromises on user data, citizen backlash P6 • Criminal charges for COVID commentary, Uyghur religious expression, Tibetan WeChat use P7 • Hong Kong: Website blocks, netizen arrests, journalist beating, and Phoenix TV ownership change P9 • Beyond China: Beijing’s COVID-19 media strategy, waning propaganda impact in Europe, new US regulations to enhance transparency P10 FEATURED PUSHBACK Netizens demand transparency on Chengdu student’s death P12 WHAT TO WATCH FOR P13 TAKE ACTION P14 IMAGE OF THE MONTH Is RTHK History? This cartoon published on April 5 by a Hong Kong visual arts teacher is part of a series called “Hong Kong Today.” It depicts a fictional Hong Kong Museum of History, which includes among its exhibits two institutions that have been critical to the city’s freedom, but are being undermined by Chinese and Hong Kong government actions. The first is the Basic Law, the mini-constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression and other fundamental rights; the other is Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the once-respected public broadcaster now facing a government takeover. The teacher who posted the cartoon is facing disciplinary action from the Education Department. Credit: @vawongsir Instagram Visit http://freedomhou.se/cmb_signup or email [email protected] to subscribe or submit items. CHINA MEDIA BULLETIN: MAY 2021 ANALYSIS The Gutting of Hong Kong’s Public Broadcaster By Sarah Cook A government takeover of Radio Television Hong Kong has far-reaching Sarah Cook is the implications.
    [Show full text]
  • DEFENDING a LANGUAGE: the CANTONESE UMBRELLA MOVEMENT by Joshua S
    DEFENDING A LANGUAGE: THE CANTONESE UMBRELLA MOVEMENT by Joshua S. Bacon A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Communication at Purdue Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana May 2020 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Wei Luo, Chair Department of Communication Dr. Steven A. Carr Department of Communication Dr. Assem A. Nasr Department of Communication Dr. Lee M. Roberts Department of International Language and Culture Studies Approved by: Dr. Wei Luo 2 Dedicated to the Cantonese people 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................6 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................... 15 Cantonese as a Hong Kong Identity Language ........................................................................ 15 Putonghua as a Colonizing Language ..................................................................................... 18 Cantonese in the Umbrella Movement .................................................................................... 23 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 3. THEORY AND METHODS
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study of Hong Kong SAR and Its Implications to Chinese Foreign Policy
    Paradiplomacy and its Constraints in a Quasi-Federal System – A Case Study of Hong Kong SAR and its Implications to Chinese Foreign Policy Wai-shun Wilson CHAN ([email protected]) Introduction Thank for the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Hong Kong has once again become the focal point of international media. Apart from focusing the tensions built among the government, the pro-Beijing camp and the protestors on the pathway and the pace for local democratization, some media reports have linked the movement with the Tiananmen Incident, and serves as a testing case whether “One Country, Two Systems” could be uphold under the new Xin Jinping leadership.1 While academics and commentators in Hong Kong and overseas tend to evaluate the proposition from increasing presence of Beijing in domestic politics and the decline of freedoms and rights enjoyed by civil society,2 little evaluation is conducted from the perspective of the external autonomy enjoyed by Hong Kong under “One Country, Two Systems”. In fact, the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the subsequent Basic Law have defined and elaborated the scope of Hong Kong’s autonomy in conducting external relations ‘with states, regions and relevant international organizations.’ 3 It is therefore tempted to suggest that the external autonomy enjoyed by Hong Kong SAR Government serves as the other pillar of “One Country, Two Systems”, giving an unique identity of Hong Kong in global politics which may be different from that possessed by mainland China. Though officially “One Country, Two Systems” practiced in Hong Kong (and Macao) is not recognized by Beijing as a federal arrangement between the Central People’s Government and Hong Kong SAR Government, the internal and external autonomy stipulated in the Basic Law gives Hong Kong similar, to some extent even more, power as a typical federated unit.
    [Show full text]
  • Methodology Chinese Expat News Site Resists CCP Influence Stanford Internet Observatory
    Methodology Chinese Expat News Site Resists CCP Influence Stanford Internet Observatory Methodology: Our data set contained 41,861 articles (article title, timestamp, author, views, URL) shared in the news section on Wenxuecity.com between January 1, 2019, and August 28, 2020. We categorized all outlets with at least 100 articles on Wenxue City (59 outlets) as either a publicly funded Western outlet (e.g. Voice of America, BBC), international media (e.g. New York Times, Liberty Times, United Daily News, Apple Daily), Beijing-friendly media (e.g. Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily), Chinese private media (e.g. Southern Metropolis Daily, Sohu.com), General News (“综合新闻” on Wenxue City and news aggregator ZAKER), or Chinese state media (e.g. China Daily, Xinhua). See the full list of authors and categories below. Together, these authors account for 63.3% of all articles on Wenxuecity.com within the analyzed period. We reserved the Beijing-friendly categorization for private outlets, both domestic and international, that third parties had categorized as CCP-influenced, or that had a documented instance of major censorship or had undergone a transition in ownership that led them to self-censor or take on other CCP-oriented practices. For example, despite being published in the United States, the Chinese-language newspaper The China Press (侨报) was rated by the Jamestown Foundation as one of four major overseas Chinese newspapers directly or indirectly controlled by Beijing. Due to the censorship of Weibo, Weibo bloggers such as the famous blogger 牛弹琴 (“cow who plays piano”) were also categorized as Beijing-friendly. The categorization of Chinese state media was made based on the leadership of the outlet.
    [Show full text]
  • ENCROACHMENTS on PRESS FREEDOM in HONG KONG Threatened Harbor Encroachments on Press Freedom in Hong Kong
    THREATENED HARBOR ENCROACHMENTS ON PRESS FREEDOM IN HONG KONG Threatened Harbor Encroachments on Press Freedom in Hong Kong January 16, 2015 © PEN American Center 2015 All rights reserved PEN American Center is the largest branch of PEN International, the world’s leading literary and human rights organization. PEN works in more than 100 countries to protect free expression and to defend writers and journalists who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of their profession. PEN America’s 3,700 members stand together with more than 20,000 PEN writers worldwide in international literary fellowship to carry on the achievements of such past members as James Baldwin, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck. For more information, please visit www.pen.org. Cover photograph: © Gareth Hayes, Creative Commons CONTENTS Introduction 4 Report Framework and Methodology 6 Legal Framework 7 Challenges to Press Freedom in Hong Kong 9 Physical Assaults on Journalists 9 Attacks on and Obstruction of Media During the Pro-Democracy Protests 11 Threats to Free Expression Online 14 Politically Motivated Censorship and Removal of Media Figures 17 Politically Motivated Economic Pressures on Media Outlets 20 Recommendations 22 References 23 Appendix: Alleged Incidents of Violence Against Journalists During the 2014 Pro-Democracy Protests As Reported to the Hong Kong Journalists Association 23 INTRODUCTION Hong Kong has long enjoyed a vibrant, diverse, and independent passed in 1990 by the Chinese National People’s Congress, also media and a unique position as a window into mainland China. explicitly protects the rights of Hong Kong’s residents through Local and foreign correspondents make use of Hong Kong’s the year 2047, including the freedom of speech, freedom of unique geopolitical position, cosmopolitanism, and strong the press, and freedom of assembly.
    [Show full text]
  • Market Shocks and Newspaper Ideology: Evidence from Taiwan
    Market Shocks and Newspaper Ideology: Evidence from Taiwan Chun-Fang Chiang Long-Yu Chiou David Jinkins Abstract This paper investigates the influence of market forces on newspaper ideologies and readers’ choices in Taiwan. We measure a newspaper’s political position by counting a newspaper’s relative frequency of use of the terms “China” and “Mainland”. This captures a newspaper’s position on Taiwanese Independence, a major issue in Taiwanese politics. We find that Liberty Times had significantly changed its newspaper political position in 2003, when a tabloid newspaper owned by a Hong-Kong media firm entered the newspaper market in Taiwan. Using survey data, we estimate consumer preferences for newspaper consumption and examine the newspapers’ best strategies on choosing political positions. We find that the ideological change made by Liberty Times was necessary to maintain its market share in the face of competition. Finally, we analyze changes in newspaper ideologies in 2008 when China Times was sold to Want Want Group. --------------------------------------------------- Chiang (corresponding author): Department of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. TEL: 866-2-23519641; E-mail:[email protected]. Chiou: Department of Economics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Jinkins: Department of Economics, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA. Suppose Eve hadn't bitten into that forbidden fruit. There wouldn't be evil or wrongdoing in the world, and of course no news either. – The founder of Apple Daily 1. Introduction The naughties were frightening for a traditional Taiwanese newspaperman. In 2003, a tabloid newspaper from Hong Kong burst into the staid Taiwanese newspaper market. Apple Daily quickly devoured market share from established newspapers.
    [Show full text]
  • Hong Kong * Freedomhouse.Org
    https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2014/hong-kong#.VUk1eRqhizo.cleanprint Hong Kong * freedomhouse.org Freedom of expression is protected by law, and Hong Kong media remained lively in their criticism of the territory’s government and to a lesser extent the Chinese central government in 2013. However, press freedom was threatened by mainland China’s growing economic power, which has allowed it to exert greater influence over the media in Hong Kong. Over the course of the year, government restrictions on access to information persisted, and violent attacks against journalists and media executives increased significantly, with many cases remaining unsolved. Under Article 27 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong residents enjoy freedoms of speech, press, and publication, and these rights are generally upheld by the territory’s independent courts. However, they risk being undermined by the power of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s rubber-stamp parliament, to make final interpretations of the Basic Law, as well as by Chinese surveillance in the territory and the mainland economic interests of local media owners. Hong Kong’s Defamation Ordinance outlines defamation as a civil offense punishable by a fine. Although the ordinance includes a definition of criminal libel, that clause has rarely been used in court. In February 2013, the territory’s top leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, demanded the retraction of a news article that he considered “defamatory.” Hong Kong has no freedom of information (FOI) law. An administrative code is intended to ensure open access to government information, but official adherence is inconsistent, prompting local journalists and watchdog groups to urge the government to give freedom of information requirements the force of law.
    [Show full text]
  • Written Cantonese from a Folkloristic Viewpoint
    From Dialect to Grapholect: Written Cantonese from a folkloristic Viewpoint Chin Wan-kan Hong Kong Policy Research Institute Ltd. Abstract Written Cantonese used to prevail in Cantonese opera scripts, pop song lyrics, comic books and other forms of folk literature in the Cantonese dialect areas of southern China. With the economic boom of the 1980s and the export of culture to mainland China, Hong Kongers tend to take pride in their cultural identity and Cantonese is enjoying a resurgence. This paper discusses the spread of written Cantonese in the new media from the point of view of language rights as the right to diversity in post-industrial Hong Kong. The new media and local patriotism: the rising status of written Cantonese in Hong Kong Written Cantonese, or Cantonese transcribed in Chinese characters for the sake of communication (and not merely transliteration), is nothing new in Hong Kong. The earliest traceable documents in Cantonese are the yue ou 粵言區 (Cantonese Folksongs) compiled in 1828 and the New Testament in Cantonese published in 1873 (Cheung, 1996). Written Cantonese can be recognized almost immediately by its locally invented Chinese characters which go with its distinct grammar and vocabulary. It used to prevail in Cantonese opera and traditional folk songs scripts, pop song lyrics, comic books, advertisement captions, popular newspapers and other forms of folk literature. Traditionally it appears in a text accompanied by standard Chinese either with or without quotation marks. In 1990's Hong Kong a new type of written Cantonese is advocated by popular newspapers, trendy magazines and political journals. Contrary to its traditional folkish image, the new written Cantonese is a virtual transcription of the spoken language of the local urban people, with a growing number of locally coined Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 2,2 (1997); pp.
    [Show full text]
  • SNSD, PIKO TARO to Headline Webtvasia's All-Stars Second
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SNSD, PIKO TARO To Headline WebTVAsia’s All-Stars Second Annual Awards in Seoul Awards honors Asia's best digital talent and content creators SEOUL, South Korea. - 16 November 2016 – For the second year, Asia’s most anticipated annual digital creator awards show, WebTVAsia Awards 2016 makes a spectacular return on 26 November 2016 with K-pop mega stars, SNSD (Girls’ Generation) and Japan’s global viral sensation Piko Taro. They will headlinee an all-star line-up of over 500 leading artistes, digital creators and entertainment industry leaders from 12 countries in Asia. The awards ceremony is organized and hosted by WebTVAsia, a digital media and entertainment company that develops, produces, markets and distributes content across multiple digital platforms. “The WebTVAsia Awards, with the theme, “Celebrate Asia” is more than an awards show. It is a physical platform to showcase the best Asian content creators with the objective of creating the next regional or even global superstar, “said Fred Chong, group CEO, WebTVAsia. “Through this celebration of Asian digital content creators, we also aim to drive collaboration among the diverse talent across Asia to develop content that is uniquely for the Asian Millennial audience,” continued Chong. This year, WebTVAsia brings its Awards show to Korea, a country highly respected as a global leader in media and entertainment and as a way to showcase the country’s best digital talent, content and culture to the rest of the world. A total of 33 award categories including the most coveted Freaking Awesome Video of the Year, Channel of the Year and Breakout Creator of the Year are up for grabs this year among 150 nominees selected from China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and India.
    [Show full text]
  • Hong Kong, Apple Daily and Freedom of the Press Jocelyn
    Hong Kong, Apple Daily and freedom of the press By Jocelyn Chey John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal, Pearls and Irritations, 23 June 2021 Link: https://johnmenadue.com/jocelyn-chey-hong-kong-apple-daily-and- freedom-of-the-press/ The arrest of the chief editor and chief executive of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper signals the end to Hong Kong’s free press, according to Western press reports like Austin Ramzy and Tiffany May’s article in the New York Times of 16 June. It is taken as an indication of Beijing’s growing stranglehold over Hong Kong and its disregard of the rights and norms guaranteed under the framework known as “One Country Two Systems.” Freedom of the press is specifically protected under Article 27 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law and Article 16 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights. This latter document, passed before the handover to the PRC, incorporated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights into Hong Kong law. What is new is the National Security Law, passed by China’s National People’s Congress just one year ago, about which I have written previously. The Security Law overrides local legislation in cases with security implications, including collusion with foreign governments or organisations. Article 31 states that a company or organization that commits an offence under the law will be fined and suspended it is deemed to have committed an offence under the law. The owner and founder of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, is now in prison in Hong Kong on charges under this law.
    [Show full text]
  • Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021 Statement on Hong Kong's
    Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021 Statement on Hong Kong's Apple Daily Newspaper June 24, 2021 It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world. Intensifying repression by Beijing has reached such a level that Apple Daily, a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong, has now ceased publishing. Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a national security law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views. Independent media play an invaluable role in resilient and prosperous societies. Journalists are truthtellers who hold leaders accountable and keep information flowing freely, and that is needed now more than ever in Hong Kong and in places around the world where democracy is under threat. Beijing must stop targeting the independent press and release the journalists and media executives that have been detained. The act of journalism is not a crime. People in Hong Kong have the right to freedom of the press. Instead, Beijing is denying basic liberties and assaulting Hong Kong's autonomy and democratic institutions and processes, inconsistent with its international obligations. The United States will not waver in our support of people in Hong Kong and all those who stand up for the basic freedoms all people deserve. NOTE: The statement referred to Jimmy Lai, founder, Cheung Kim-hung, chief executive officer and Apple Daily publisher, Royston Chow, chief operating officer, Ryan Law Wai-kwong, Apple Daily editor-in-chief, Chan Pui-man, Apple Daily associate publisher, and Cheung Chi-wai, Apple Daily digital director, New Digital Ltd.
    [Show full text]