Draft:The Hong Kong media controversy

The Hong Kong media controversy refers to the controversy in Hong Kong society caused by the Hong Kong media's reporting methods and lack of professionalism in interviews after the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty.

Credibility Assessment

2006 poll

According to the survey results on "local media credibility" conducted by the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2006, whether from the perspective of citizens or journalists, compared with previous data, Hong Kong's news credibility has fallen to a new low.

The chart on the right shows the scores of Hong Kong journalists and citizens on the credibility of local media. From the survey of journalists, it can be seen that in the 2006 survey, only 3 of the 24 media organizations received a "good" rating, with a score of 7 or above. Before 2001, there were 7. Among the 24 media organizations, except for Apple Daily, the scores of the rest all fell. The electronic media score fell the most was Asia Television, which fell by 1.03 points; the newspaper score was Sing Tao Daily, which fell by 0.85 points.

Professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Dominic Chan, pointed out that in the four journalist surveys conducted in 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2006, this time the score was the lowest. He believes that this is related to the political stance given by the media organizations and whether the media reports exaggerate violence, pornography and sensationalism. Dominic Chan said that in terms of political stance, "whether the (media) organization is independent, outspoken, or self-censors the power center" will affect the score. He said that self-censorship can come from the Beijing government, the Hong Kong government and even the financial group; the sharp drop in the score may be related to the impression that "the stance is not neutral enough and the stance is sidelined." As for the difference between the citizen's score and the reporter's, Dominic Chan explained that the citizen's impression and evaluation of the news media are often not as sensitive as the front-line reporters, so there is a "lag."

In the Hong Kong citizens' ratings of the local media's credibility, we can see that journalists and citizens have different evaluations. For example, in the evaluation of Apple Daily, journalists ranked it seventh out of 17 newspapers, while citizens ranked it 14th. In addition, there are also big differences in the evaluation of the CCP's official publications, Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po. On December 29, 2006, So Yue-ki and Chan Tao-wen, who were in charge of the survey, wrote in Ming Pao that this was because "journalists are in the industry, have a deeper understanding of news organizations, and can represent professional opinions. They are particularly sensitive to issues such as "self-censorship" in the industry and changes in the media environment. The perspective they take may not be the same as that of ordinary citizens, so the results of the credibility survey are also different. For example, they may pay more attention to the clear political stance and outspoken style of Apple Daily, which has improved its credibility score in recent years; but citizens may focus more on the sensational content of Apple Daily, and its impression score is still low. Journalists have different understandings of the credibility of Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao. They may think that their content has official authority in policy news, so they give these two newspapers higher scores than citizens, but due to their official background in the Communist Party, their ranking is still outside the top ten. In the citizen's ranking of the credibility of local media, Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po are at the bottom.

Su and Chen also pointed out that there are three factors that affect credibility, namely:

1.Media type (electronic media has an advantage over newspapers);

2.Media content (objective and less sensational media are more credible);

3.Media political stance (media based on the perspective of Hong Kong people have higher credibility).

In any case, the conclusion of this survey is that "the overall credibility of the Hong Kong press has hit a new low this year."

2007 polls

The results of a survey published by the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Research Project in October 2007 showed that although the public's satisfaction with press freedom has increased, nearly half of the respondents still believe that the Hong Kong media has self-censored, and more than 60% of the respondents believe that the media is cautious when criticizing the central government. The director of the Public Opinion Research Project, Chung Ting-yiu, who was responsible for the survey, believes that the public's overall satisfaction with the media has improved in the past six months, which is believed to be related to the fact that the media has not had any negative news.

The following will explore the problem from the controversial points of the media's credibility and a series of events.

2012 polls

According to the 2012 Hong Kong University Public Opinion Research Project, Hong Kong citizens' satisfaction with Hong Kong's press freedom has dropped significantly to the level of August 2005. Some citizens interviewed believe that Hong Kong media have misused or abused press freedom. The overall credibility of Hong Kong's news media has not changed much, with a score of 6.16, down 0.06 from six months ago. The satisfaction rate with press freedom is 54%, down 15%.

2016 polls

The Communication and Public Opinion Research Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong regularly tracks the credibility of Hong Kong's news media. The survey has been conducted 7 times since 1997. From August 15 to 25, 2016, the center conducted a random sampling survey by telephone, interviewing 907 citizens aged 18 or above, asking them to rate 29 news media organizations respectively, and another question asked about the credibility of the overall news industry. The methods and questions used in this survey are the same as those in previous surveys, and the results can be compared longitudinally. The most important finding is that the media credibility score this time is the lowest among the 7 surveys. The highest score was recorded in 2009, and then fell in 2010, 2013 and 2016.

Among the six electronic media, TVB's score and ranking continued to decline, with the latest score of 5.88 points, ranking last. RTHK still holds the first place, but the score has dropped, while the scores of NOW News Channel and Cable TV have risen.

The credibility of paid newspapers also hit a record low. The South China Morning Post had the highest credibility, followed by the Hong Kong Economic Journal and Ming Pao. However, the scores of all of them dropped. However, the score and ranking of Apple Daily went against the trend.

The survey also included seven online media and found that the credibility scores of all of them were lower than those of other media. Among them, Stand News and Hong Kong Inmedia scored the highest. The credibility of social media was lower than that of online media. However, Professor So Yue-ki of the School of Journalism and Communication and Vice Dean of the School of Social Sciences of CUHK pointed out that "the public is very familiar with social media, even higher than the average familiarity of electronic media".

So said that the low credibility in recent years is related to press freedom, self-censorship and difficulties in newspaper operations. He pointed out that with fierce competition, the emergence of social media and new news platforms, "the competition is fast and innovative, while increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. The difficulties can be imagined". He believes that paid newspapers face more challenges and the prospects of online media are also uncertain. "The key is the sustainability of their financial operations."

2019 polls

Among the six electronic media, TVB's score dropped again, by more than 1 point, ranking last. Now TV and Cable TV's scores rose.

The credibility scores of paid and free newspapers also hit a new low. The highest credibility paid newspaper was the South China Morning Post, followed by Ming Pao and Apple Daily. Apple Daily was also the only paid newspaper whose credibility improved. The three paid newspapers directly controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po and Hong Kong Commercial Daily, ranked last.

In terms of online media, the rankings were Stand News, Hong Kong Inmedia and Hong Kong Free Press, respectively, with the pro-communist media Speak Out HK ranking last. It is worth noting that the standard deviation of the scores of Stand News was relatively large, reflecting the large differences in the respondents' ratings of the media organization.

2022 polls

This survey is the first media credibility poll after the Hong Kong national security law. The overall credibility has fallen to 5.44, the lowest since 1990.

Among the six electronic media, TVB's score has risen, but it still ranks last. The rest of the electronic media have fallen. RTHK has the largest drop, which is more than 1 point, ranking second from the bottom.

The credibility score of paid newspapers has slightly rebounded. The highest credibility paid newspaper is the South China Morning Post, followed by Ming Pao and Hong Kong Economic Times. The credibility score of free newspapers has slightly dropped.

In terms of online media, the rankings are Hong Kong Inmedia, Hong Kong Free Press and Initium Media, and the pro-communist media Bastille Post ranks last.

The CUHK Communication and Public Opinion Research Center said that "due to the large number of institutions", only the figures of some institutions are listed and the institutions that have ceased operations are omitted.

dispute

Political stance

In the 1960s, when electronic media was not yet popular in Hong Kong and newspapers were still the mainstream media, the political stance of most Hong Kong media was already clear. In October 1963, Chen Yi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, delivered a "nuclear pants theory" to a Japanese journalist group in Beijing, claiming that "no matter how poor China is, I will make nuclear weapons even if I become a trouser!" Ming Pao then published an editorial entitled "We want pants, not nuclear weapons", refuting Chen Yi's point of view and pointing out that people's lives are still difficult at present, and the Chinese government's insistence on implementing the Two Bombs, One Satellite plan is useless. Even if it manufactures an atomic bomb, it will not be among the great powers. Instead of developing armaments, it is better to improve people's lives first. After this theory was published, it caused an uproar. The pro-communist left-wing newspapers such as Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, New Evening Post, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, and Tin Tin Daily News fiercely besieged Ming Pao. Ming Pao published an editorial entitled "Our Ten-Point Position on the Pants and Nuclear Issues", and even used all the pages to explain its position on the "nuclear pants theory" from beginning to end. At the end of October 1964, Ming Pao published a promotional advertisement for the film "Bloody Handprints" that contained some bloody and frightening words, but Ming Pao omitted the word "advertisement", which was mistaken for a news report. Ta Kung Pao used this to accuse Ming Pao of publishing "evil words and witchcraft" and even brought up the "nuclear pants theory" again, accusing Ming Pao of "spreading rumors and making trouble, and making anti-China evil remarks". Later, other left-wing newspapers (Wen Wei Po, New Evening News, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Jing Bao, Zhengwu Bao, Hong Kong Evening News, Xinsheng Evening News, etc.) joined the debate. This shows that in the 1960s, many newspapers and media in Hong Kong had clear political positions.

On July 1, 2003, 500,000 people in Hong Kong participated in the July 1st march to oppose the Article 23 legislation of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. At that time, Asia Times analyzed how 7 daily Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong reported on the march in terms of page length, headline content and editorials. The article pointed out that Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao are well-known pro-CCP newspapers, so they are not included. The editorials of the other 7 newspapers are all related to the march. The editorials of Oriental Daily and the Sun are the same, so there are only 6 editorials. Among them, the editorials of Hong Kong Daily News , Oriental Daily, Sing Pao and Sing Tao Daily all pointed out that the march was a manifestation of citizens' dissatisfaction with the SAR government after the handover, not against the Article 23 legislation. Only the editorials of Apple Daily and Ming Pao revolved around the theme of the march - opposing the Article 23 legislation and demanding that the government face up to the demands of 500,000 people. Oriental Daily and Sing Pao both stated in their editorials that the Article 23 legislation would not undermine Hong Kong's freedom and human rights, and pointed out that the legislative provisions were lenient. The article lists the ranking of Hong Kong newspapers in terms of their pro-communist stance; pro-CCP newspapers include Wen Wei Po, Ta Kung Pao, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Daily News, Sing Pao Daily News, The Sun, Oriental Daily, and Ming Pao.

Next Digital

Next Digital is one of the few mainstream media in Hong Kong that is pro-pan-democratic and is very popular among young people in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Whenever there are large-scale marches in Hong Kong, such as the Hong Kong 1 July marches and the December 2005 protest for democracy in Hong Kong, its Apple Daily will be accompanied by large-scale demonstration posters for the marchers to use. Some commentators question whether this violates the principle of media neutrality. The newspaper has also reported many scandals of government officials and pro-establishment figures, and whenever it reports news about pro-establishment figures, it will use derogatory writing. In the 2007 Hong Kong Legislative Council Hong Kong Island constituency by-election, Apple Daily supported one of the candidates in its "extra edition" on the day of the by-election - Anson Chan, a pro-democracy candidate who was later elected.

In the 2006 Hong Kong media credibility assessment, in the opinion survey of journalists, Apple Daily ranked 7th in credibility among 17 newspapers; in the opinion survey of citizens, Apple Daily ranked 14th.

Because its founder Jimmy Lai is a Catholic, Apple Daily often reports on Catholic news and rarely reports on sexual scandals that attack Catholics, which is different from the practices of Western liberal media.

In 2013, Next Digital was accused of supporting HKTV, which was not granted a free TV license, and of biased reporting on TVB, which opposed the license, and encouraging citizens to participate in attacks against TVB. As a result, it was finally listed as an "unwelcome media" by TVB and its artists were banned from accepting interviews. Chairman Jimmy Lai also stated that he would not be afraid of TVB's ban.

Oriental Press Group

The group's newspapers claim to be "patriotic and love Hong Kong". Their stance is quite extreme, as reflected in the Oriental Daily's contempt of court case and the "So Fab" incident. Its newspapers also frequently criticize the SAR government for its inappropriate governance. The group is in opposition to the Next Digital Group and the pan-democratic camp (especially the founding chairman of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee). The group is hostile to Next Digital. Oriental Daily and The Sun often target it, such as the "Easy Finder" candid photo incident and a series of targeted reports after the launch of "Sharp Daily" (but their newspapers also have similar reports). In the columns of the other two newspapers, signed articles often criticize Next Digital and the Pro-democracy camp.

In the editorial "More than 20 villains, more than 200 pieces of garbage" of "The Sun" on August 6, 2006, the Democratic Party legislators were openly called "more than 20 villains", which was accused of personal attack and insult. Lin Hui published a response to the Sun's editorial in the independent media. The column "Ji Xiaolan Iron Pen" of the Sun even published an article on August 9, 2006 titled "No need to reason with the traitors, just beat them up violently", publicly declaring that the "opposition and traitors" in Hong Kong should be "beaten up violently".

In the 2006 Hong Kong media credibility assessment, in the opinion survey of journalists, the Oriental Daily ranked 15th in credibility among 17 newspapers, and the Sun ranked 17th; in the opinion survey of citizens, the Oriental Daily ranked 9th, and the Sun ranked 15th.

Commercial Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po

The Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po are traditional pro-communist media with official Chinese Communist Party backgrounds. Ordinary citizens believe that these two newspapers "report good news but not bad news" about mainland China and Hong Kong. In the 2006 Hong Kong media credibility assessment, in the opinion survey of journalists, Ta Kung Pao ranked 14th in credibility among 17 newspapers, while Wen Wei Po ranked 11th; in the opinion survey of citizens, Ta Kung Pao ranked 16th and Wen Wei Po ranked 17th.

Bad consciousness

The Hong Kong media has long been criticized for its tendency to exaggerate pornography, violence and secretly photograph celebrities, which has a negative impact on Hong Kong society, especially the ideology of young people.

Sexual Content

In early 2006, Oriental Daily installed a small astronomical telescope in Tai Tam Country Park and recorded Leon Lai's residence in Wong Chuk Hang 24 hours a day. After waiting for more than a month, they finally captured a scene of Gaile Lok giving Leon Lai a blowjob. The photo was published on the cover with a revealing title, and the inside pages also published candid photos of their 30-day "battle of lust".

In early June 2006, Commercial Radio's "Jia Shi Tang" program held an election for "Hong Kong female artists I most want to molest", which caused an uproar. More than a thousand people complained. Many women's groups and even the Education Bureau complained to the Broadcasting Authority, saying that the program violated the dignity of women and insulted women, and would have a negative impact on young people. The Broadcasting Authority ruled that the program was "of poor taste" and that Commercial Radio had violated the "Radio Code of Practice - Program Standards". As a result, Commercial Radio was fined HK$140,000 and required its senior management to apologize publicly and submit an internal supervision report. On the other hand, the voices supporting Sammi and Yi are also growing online, with more than 10,000 signatures accumulating to support them, reflecting the differences in values ​​between the general public and young people.

At the end of June 2006, "Easy Finder" attracted widespread attention from the public due to the publication of the sexy wet photos of Li Yun, a 14-year-old member of the girl group Cream. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received 138 complaints. It was accused of exaggerating pornography and poisoning young people, and called on the government to strengthen education on children's rights. The police crime squad also took over the investigation of the matter, studying whether the magazine had violated the "Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance" and the "Protection of Children and Juveniles Ordinance" by publishing 6 sexy photos. However, the court later ruled that "One Book Convenience" was not guilty.

In early 2008, the indecent photos of Hong Kong artists shocked the city. "Apple Daily" reported the incident in a high-profile manner at the time, and even reported it on the front page for three consecutive weeks. Other important news during the period were ignored, and it was criticized for exaggerating the report of this incident in order to stimulate sales. In addition, during the incident, Next Magazine collected the indecent photos posted online into a special issue, recording the incident, which was criticized for being pornographic and indecent.

In addition, some newspapers such as Oriental Daily and The Sun allowed a large number of one-on-one-prostitute advertisements in their erotic pages and classified advertisements, which also caused controversy. Sing Pao and New Paper eventually cancelled their erotic pages to protect children's health.

On September 19, 2011, Sung Pao was officially launched. Sung Pao used a lot of controversial implicit "sexual" content in its supplements, which caused strong protests from the education sector and related groups. For example, Tao Jie's column "Eye Charm" wrote erotic novels, Niu Lao used comics to report news stories, and some pictures of sexy female models, which were criticized by the education sector and parents for being pornographic and not suitable for students to read. Many education groups issued a joint statement, strongly condemning Sung Pao, which can be obtained at will on the street, for wantonly exaggerating pornography and poisoning the next generation of Hong Kong, and calling on all Hong Kong citizens to boycott the pornographic Sung Pao. On the first day, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received 13 complaints about the indecent content of the "Shuang Bao". The "Shuang Bao" later cancelled the relevant section and replaced it with a column commentary.

Violence

During the 1967 riots, leftist media such as Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po were accused of promoting violence. For example, editorials threatened Lin Bin and Jin Yong to "kill Trench", insulted "white pigs" and "yellow dogs", and praised terrorist activities such as bomb attacks.

On August 9, 2006, the column "Ji Xiaolan Iron Pen" of the Oriental Press Group's Sun Daily published an article titled "There is no need to reason with the traitors, just beat them up violently", publicly declaring that "not only should we beat them up, but we should also beat them up violently" against the "opposition and traitors" in Hong Kong. However, at the end of August, after participating in an anti-GST march, Democratic Party Vice Chairman Ho Chun-yan was attacked in a McDonald's restaurant and was severely injured by the assailant with a wooden stick. Some people believe that the comments in the column were related to this incident.

Hidden camera

In 2006, the Hong Kong Women's Union published a "joint statement condemning Eastweek for secretly photographing gay activities", accusing the 159th issue of Eastweek published on September 13, 2006, which was titled "Directly Hit the Summer Party of Gays and Lesbians". The photos of lesbian activities in the report were obtained by secretly photographing a similar event held by the Hong Kong Women's Union a month ago; the report did not seek the consent of any of the Women's Union's officers, and the Women's Union has never accepted any interviews from the magazine.

In August 2006, the 761st issue of Next Digital's "Easy Finder" published secretly photographed celebrity Gillian Chung changing clothes backstage in Malaysia, and published it on the cover of the magazine. It caused condemnation from all walks of life in Hong Kong, and Jimmy Lai had no choice but to change "One Book Convenience" to "Face" weekly.

On October 1, 2006, an Indonesian maid sneaked into the ward of Hong Kong famous artist Lydia Shum, who was receiving treatment in the intensive care unit, and took secret photos. This caused a huge uproar, and Lydia Shum was moved out of the intensive care unit due to shock. Afterwards, East Week, which is affiliated with Sing Tao News Group, issued a statement on October 6, admitting that an editor's domestic helper was involved in secretly photographing Lydia Shum, and apologized for the incident.

Breaking and Entering

After Chen Baolian committed suicide by jumping off a building, some Hong Kong media brought locksmiths to Taiwan, broke into Chen Baolian's residence, and stole her daily photos and documents. When neighbors found them, they falsely claimed to be Chen Baolian's friends.

bloody

When reporting suicides by jumping from a building, some media outlets, such as Apple Daily, Oriental Daily, and The Sun, would put photos of bloody bodies on the front page, or even publish "comic strips of suicides", which show the process of the suicide falling from a height in multiple photos. After Hong Kong actress Pauline Chan committed suicide by jumping from a building, Next Magazine sent people to sneak into the morgue to take photos of the body, which resulted in a rating of Level 2.

Paid News

Chen Jiankang incident

Main article: Chen Jiankang incident

The Chan Jiankang incident occurred in Hong Kong in 1998. The male protagonist of the incident, Chan Jiankang, was suspected to have found a new love in mainland China and was at odds with his wife. On October 19, his wife threw their son from their home in Tin Ping Estate, Sheung Shui, and then jumped off a building to commit suicide. Hong Kong media rushed to report the incident, tracking Chan Jiankang's whereabouts and the details of his affair. Among them, a reporter from Apple Daily offered Chan Jiankang HK$5,000 to hire a prostitute and took exclusive photos. The incident caused an uproar among the public, and the case also became a case and teaching material for discussing the professional ethics of Hong Kong media.

The Bus Uncle Incident

Main article: Bus uncle incident

In May 2006, the Bus Uncle incident caused a stir in Hong Kong and attracted extensive media coverage.

At the end of May 2006, Next Magazine revealed that the Bus Uncle was Chen Yidong. The next day, many Hong Kong newspapers said that Chen Yidong asked the media for "interview fees" ranging from 8,000 to 100,000 yuan. Later, some newspapers suspected that Next Magazine had provided benefits to Chen Yidong in exchange for interviews, but the allegations were not supported by evidence.

On June 4, 2006, Oriental New Land published an article titled "Live Situation of Promiscuity, Directly Written by Bus Uncle Calling Prostitutes", claiming to have directly witnessed the protagonist of the Bus Uncle incident, Chen Yidong, calling prostitutes, and provided a live video of the day on the website for readers to download. Four days later, the magazine stated that the interview was originally conducted in the magazine's reception room, but Chen asked for entertainment, and the reporter "in the spirit of revealing his true nature" asked to accompany the interview and not comment. The itinerary of calling prostitutes in Shazui, Shenzhen and the obscene behavior in the on-site clips were all spontaneous by Chen. Before the reporter set off, he did not ask the company for an advance nor did he mention that he would pay for Chen. However, Chen had no intention and no money to pay the bill. In view of the complex flow of people at the venue, the reporter was "forced to" "temporarily advance the money".

Self-censorship

In 2009, marking the 20th anniversary of the June Fourth Incident, a feature report on the June Fourth Incident was temporarily withdrawn by the senior management of Esquire magazine, a subsidiary of the South China Media Group.The reporter was subsequently fired.

The US State Department published its 2009 Human Rights Report, pointing out that the Hong Kong media had self-censored, and specifically criticized Esquire magazine, a subsidiary of South China Media, for temporarily withdrawing 16 pages of its June Fourth feature report. When assessing the situation in Hong Kong, the Human Rights Report pointed out that some media outlets had self-censored, and many of the media organizations' owners had business dealings in China, which made people doubt whether the media would take the owners' business interests into consideration when reporting.

In April 2010, the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Research Project released its latest survey, in which 48% of respondents believed that the Hong Kong news media self-censored, and 59% believed that the media was cautious when criticizing the Beijing central government.

Fake access content

In 2000, Next Magazine published an article titled "Addicted to the Top Scholars Exam", in which the first interviewee said, "It's so boring to go back to work every day. If I don't take exams, I will feel tired all over." The interviewee complained to the Privacy Commissioner's Office and the Hong Kong Journalists Association that the content was fabricated.

Besieging mainland journalists

On August 20, 2019, during a Hong Kong police press conference, Chen Xiaoqian, the station chief of Guangdong Radio and Television’s Hong Kong news station, took photos of reporters asking questions with her mobile phone and sent them to the editorial department via WeChat. She was questioned and besieged by local reporters, who demanded that she show her press card. She asked in return whether the press conference should not record the reporters’ questions and the answers of the people being asked. “We are all colleagues. Isn’t it the professionalism that every journalist should have to present the live coverage of the press conference objectively and truthfully?” Guangdong Radio and Television issued a statement saying that she was treated rudely after the Hong Kong police press conference yesterday and was besieged by some Hong Kong reporters who questioned her identity as a reporter and her interviewing methods. The TV station strongly condemned this.

See also

• Pro-China Media
• Hong Kong Inmedia
• Taiwan media chaos

External links

• Radio Television Hong Kong - Media Insights
• Citizens' evaluation of media credibility