HONG KONG: Many in Hong Kong consider press freedom as a trump card that distinguishes the Special Administrative Region from other Chinese cities.

But ten years after the SAR's handover to China, the role of the media in Hong Kong is changing.

Visit any newsstand along Hong Kong's busy streets and you will be spoilt for choice.

The city has more than 25 Chinese-language dailies and four English-language newspapers.

As for television stations, there are five of them, all providing round-the-clock news and information.

Serenade Woo Lai-Wan, Chairperson, Hong Kong Journalists Association, said: "Right now, all the media organisations are owned by the businessmen, unlike the period before 1997. At that time, we still had some newspapers or some media organisations which were owned by intellectual persons rather than businessmen."

When the former British colony reverted back to Chinese rule a decade ago, freedom of the press was enshrined in Article 27 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution.

Ms Woo said: "It's worrying – press freedom after 10 years is worsening and at the same time, we notice that the journalists themselves will try to do different degrees of self-censorship with regards to sensitive issues of our central government and matters that may conflict with the interests of their bosses."

Many journalists are concerned that with media ownership now in conglomerate hands, editorial independence is being compromised as media organisations err on the side of caution to protect their bottom-lines.

In a survey by the Journalists Association, three in ten respondents admitted to practising self-censorship and half of those polled felt that press freedom is on the decline.

But not everyone agrees with these sentiments.

Ho Ting Kwan, Chief Operating Officer, Asia Television, said: "I don't think there's any significant change as far as freedom of speech is concerned. Here in the SAR, we are free to report any news item that is for the benefit of the Hong Kong audience."

Terrestrial TV station Asia Television (ATV) is largely owned by two men with close ties to the mainland – Hong Kong businessman Chan Wing-Kee and former People's Liberation Army Colonel Liu Changle, who also founded Phoenix TV.

They recently brought in Mr Ho, a former director of rival TVB or Television Broadcasts, to breathe new life into ATV.

Viewers have long complained about the pro-Beijing slant in ATV's news programmes, a charge that Mr Ho denies.

He said: "That is the perception of the audience only. In actual fact, our news department has its independence. I don't see this affecting the news reporting. Even though our company has shareholders from mainland China, I don't think they'll intervene with our independence as far as news is concerned."

Telecom tycoon Richard Li also made headlines last year when he acquired a 50 percent stake in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, but he has pledged to keep the respected paper independent, and has, himself, been pushing for a faster pace of universal suffrage.

The news organisation that has been making a series of headlines is public broadcaster, Radio Television of Hong Kong (RTHK).

RTHK has been under repeated attacks by Beijing loyalists who are unhappy that public money is being used to fund a station that has, at times, been critical of the central government.

RTHK's fate now hangs on a thread as a review committee has proposed setting up a new public broadcaster.

Hong Kong is seen as China's window to the world and it is very much in Beijing's interest to keep Hong Kong free.

Moreover, the people of Hong Kong are also likely to react very negatively if there are any curbs on press freedom.


- CNA/so