Hong Kong

The News Media Scene

According to the government's record, by the end of 2006 there were 22 Chinese-language daily newspapers, 14 in English, 8 bilingual newspapers (Chinese and English), and 5 in Japanese. However, some of these newspapers serve very small and specific minority groups, and a few focus solely on horse-racing (one of the most popular sporting and, more importantly, gambling events in the city). Excluding these, 18 dailies (16 in Chinese and 2 in English) can be considered as the major sources of social, economic, and political news for Hong Kong's residents.

As of 2008 there are three radio and two television broadcasters, and three pay television services in operation. All produce their own newscasts. The Hong Kong public is also served by numerous local gossipy infotainment magazines, regional satellite broadcasters, and the full range of news outlets in the online world. It is particularly worth noting that Hong Kong has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in Asia. According to a government survey in 2007, 70.1 percent of Hong Kong households had Internet access.

Nevertheless, local newspapers and local television broadcasters remain the most important news sources for the citizens. The four most widely circulated Chinese-language newspapers—Oriental Daily, Apple Daily, the Sun, and Ming Pao Daily—have a combined daily circulation of about 1 million copies. The main evening newscasts of the two television broadcasters—Television Broadcasting Ltd. (TVB) and Asia Television (ATV)—have an audience of about or more than 1 million people each. Moreover, since the middle part of the first decade of the 2000s the city also witnessed the emergence of three free daily newspapers distributed through key locations such as Metro stations. It is estimated that the three dailies have a combined circulation of about 1 million copies.

All Hong Kong newspapers are commercial operations, although the three leftist newspapers (Wen Wei Pao, Ta Kung Pao, and Hong Kong Commercial Daily) are also financially supported by the Chinese government. The co-existence of a large number of newspapers in one city means that survival can by no means be taken for granted. One result is the competitive phenomenon of tab-loidization, discussed below.

Besides commercialism, the press in Hong Kong is also marked by a significant degree of political parallelism, that is, different newspapers support different political stances, and the spectrum of viewpoints largely corresponds to that existing in society. The nature of this political parallelism has changed historically. From the 1960s to 1980s, many newspapers in Hong Kong could be classified as either “rightist” or “leftist.” The former supported the regime in Taiwan, and the latter supported the Communist regime in Beijing. Into the 1980s and 1990s, the rightist papers declined as they faced both financial and political difficulties in a city preparing to return to Chinese control. Currently, the surviving newspapers can be roughly located on a continuum, anchored by the Apple Daily on the pro-democracy side and the three leftist papers on the pro-China side.

...