Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Political Sciences 8-7-2015 Newspaper portrayal and legislative voting process : a case study of statutory minimum wage in Hong Kong Ngai Chiu WONG Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Wong, N. C. (2015). Newspaper portrayal and legislative voting process: A case study of statutory minimum wage in Hong Kong (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/pol_etd/14/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Political Sciences at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. NEWSPAPER PORTRAYAL AND LEGISLATIVE VOTING PROCESS: A CASE STUDY OF STATUTORY MINIMUM WAGE IN HONG KONG WONG NGAI CHIU MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2015 NEWSPAPER PORTRAYAL AND LEGISLATIVE VOTING PROCESS: A CASE STUDY OF STATUTORY MINIMUM WAGE IN HONG KONG by WONG Ngai-chiu A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Social Sciences (Political Science) Lingnan University 2015 ABSTRACT Newspaper Portrayal and Legislative Voting Process: A Case Study of Statutory Minimum Wage in Hong Kong by WONG Ngai-chiu Master of Philosophy Statuary Minimum Wage (SMW) has been discussed for 13 years in post-colonial Hong Kong and was finally legislated for in 2010. Scholars have attempted to explain how and why SMW was legislated for in post-colonial Hong Kong. They have argued that the growing public demand for the legislation created huge pressure for legislators. Even though previous studies have provided explanations for how the policy was made, they have failed to articulate two fundamental questions: how the Legislative Council lawmakers took notice of the problem of working poor and the need to vote in favor of SMW in Hong Kong? These are important steps that might influence lawmakers’ voting actions. Studies of legislative voting processes and policy-making processes indicate that if lawmakers fail to take notice of a problem or the need to change, they will not then initiate any policy reform or vote in favor with the proposed policies. This thesis makes an attempt to remedy the weaknesses of previous research. It is assumed that the newspapers in Hong Kong acted as storytellers that facilitated the lawmakers in the city - identifying the problem of working poor and the need to vote in favor with the legislation of SMW. The study also pays attention to a specific question of why lawmakers changed their positions regarding SMW while they oversaw the issues with working poor and minimum wage legislation. The thesis assumes that the local newspapers’ portrayals of SMW might influence the lawmakers’ positions. Firstly, the research findings show that selected newspapers preferred positive themes to negative themes when discussing SMW since 2004. Before 2004, SMW portrayals were diverse. Secondly, the research findings show that the interaction between the readers’ attention to the issues and the newspapers’ attention to those issues were mutual. On the one hand, while the readers’ attention to the issue of SMW increased, the number of reports made by the newspapers on the subject increased - and vice versa. On the other hand, the newspapers successfully attracted and maintained their readers’ attention to SMW via their reporting techniques. Additionally, the research findings point out that the newspapers had an important role in affecting lawmakers’ voting actions to SMW. They show that lawmakers would take notice of the needs for the legislation of SMW via the newspapers’ reports and hence re-evaluated their positions regarding the case. Last but not least, the research findings show that there was a correlation between newspaper portrayals and the voting behavior of lawmakers. In general, the three major political parties in Hong Kong – Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Democratic Party and Liberal Party – changed their positions after the publication of newspaper articles addressing the parties’ consideration for the legislation of the minimum wage. Contents LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................vii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 1 Newspaper portrayals and SMW legislation ................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction and statement of purpose................................................... 1 1.2 Research questions .................................................................................. 4 1.3 Analytical framework ............................................................................... 4 1.4 Structure of the thesis .............................................................................. 9 1.5 Background of policy-processes of Statutory Minimum Wage .............. 10 1.5.1 Stage 1: The rise of the issue...................................................... 13 1.5.2 Stage 2: The turning points/rising demand for a SMW ............. 19 1.5.3 Stage 3: The Decision-making Stage .......................................... 22 1.6 Literature Review ................................................................................... 27 1.6.1 Policy-making Process ................................................................ 28 1.6.2 Effects of Mass Media to Society and Governmental decision- making 30 1.6.3 Difference between Print Media and Other Media ................... 33 1.6.4 Newspapers and readers’ voting positions in the context of social issues ................................................................................................ 35 1.6.5 Hong Kong’s Labour Politics ....................................................... 41 1.6.6 Newspaper Portrayals and legislators’ voting positions in the context of SMW .......................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................ 48 Research methodology .............................................................................................. 48 2.1 Research design ...................................................................................... 48 2.2 Content analysis ..................................................................................... 48 2.2.1 What is content analysis? .................................................................. 48 2.2.2 Why select content analysis? ............................................................ 49 2.2.3 Approaching the study of the SMW by content analysis .................. 51 2.3 The selection of political parties ............................................................ 53 2.4 The selection of newspapers.................................................................. 54 2.5 The arrangements for Interviews ........................................................... 57 2.6 Data gathering ........................................................................................ 59 2.7 Sampling ................................................................................................. 61 i 2.8 Coding .................................................................................................... 64 2.9 Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 66 2.9.1 Correlation ........................................................................................ 67 2.9.2 Interviews and official record of proceedings ................................... 70 CHAPTER THREE ......................................................................................................... 74 Newspaper portrayals of SMW .................................................................................. 74 3.1 Introduction............................................................................................ 74 3.2 How newspapers in Hong Kong portrayed the issue of SMW, in terms of themes, in the post-colonial era ........................................................................ 74 3.3 Were there any changes in the pattern of portrayals of SMW from 1998 to 2010? ............................................................................................................. 77 3.3.1 The major themes of SMW portrayals .............................................. 78 3.3.2 The change of positive and negative themes in SMW portrayals ..... 82 3.3.3 The reasons behind newspaper selections of particular themes when making news about the SMW from 1998 to 2010 ....................................