Press Freedom and Political Transition in Hong Kong:
A Summary of the Hong Kong Journalist Survey 1996
Foreword
This is a summary report of a survey with Hong Kong Journalists conducted by the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the summer of 1996. Twenty-two news media organizations in Hong Kong were represented. We sent out 897 effective questionnaires. A total of 553 questionnaires were returned, with a response rate of 62 percent.
Many journalists have expressed an interest in the results. We believe that these results may serve as a useful feedback to the news media.
This report includes basic characteristics of journalists and their views on press freedom and media credibility in the process of political transition.
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This survey was part of the “Mass Media and Political Transition” project funded by the Research Grants Committee. The principal researchers of the survey include Dr. Clement So, Prof. Joseph Chan and Prof. Chin-Chuan Lee , Department of Journalism and Communication, Chinese University of Hong Kong. The report was prepared by Mr. Anthony Fung, research associate.
Process
The “Hong Kong Journalist Survey” was conducted in summer 1996 by Dr Clement So, Prof. Joseph Chan and Prof. Chin-Chuan Lee of the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A detailed questionnaire (with both Chinese and English versions) was distributed to each of the sampled journalists in Hong Kong’s 22 news media organizations. We first compiled a list of staff from these organizations and then selected every other journalist on the list as our respondent. In technical terms, we adopted the systematic random sampling method with an interval of two. The resulting sample should represent the journalist population.
We obtained 553 of the 897 questionnaires we had distributed, representing a response rate of 62%. Participating in this survey were journalists covering social news, politics, finance, culture and education, news features, social services and international news. We did not include anyone from areas of sports, entertainment, photos, supplementary page, engineering, advertising, administration, publishing and printing.
The sample covered all media organizations in Hong Kong except Express, which was in recess at the time of the survey. These organizations include Sing Pao, Wen Wei Po, New Evening Post, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Oriental Daily News, Tin Tin Daily News, Hong Kong Daily News, Apple Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Hong Kong Economic Times, Hong Kong Commercial Daily, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong Standard, Ming Pao, Sing Tao Daily/Evening News, and news departments of the Radio Television Hong Kong, Metro Radio, Commercial Radio, Television Broadcasting Limited, Asia Television Limited and Wharf Cable.
Background
1. Basic characteristics of the respondents 1.1 Of the 553 respondents (Table 1), 79.2% are newspaper journalists, 11.0% work for television stations and 6.5% work for radio stations. Two-thirds of them are reporters (60.5%); 17.7% are editors, and 6.9% translators. More than half (55.1%) are male; 44.9% are female
(Tables 2,3,4).2. Basic characteristics of the news media 2.1 Hong Kong media have a high rate of turnover; half (53.9%) of the journalists have worked in the present organizations for less than two years. Journalists are young and well-educated. More than half of them (52.9%) are below age 30; 87.75 % have attained tertiary education or above and 59.7% have received some degree of journalistic education or training. 2.2 There has been significant improvement on journalists’ salary since 1990. Only 13.8% of journalists make less than HK$10,000 per month; one-third (33.4%) of them make more than HK$20,000. The median monthly salary is HK$16,500. Only 9.8% of them hold a part-time job
(Tables 7,8,9).3. Participation in journalistic organizations 3.1 It appears that Hong Kong journalists are not enthusiastic about joining professional organizations, as only 15.4% of our respondents are members of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, and 1.8% are members of the Hong Kong News Executive Association (Tables 10,11). 4. View on press freedom (Table 12) 4.1 Self-censorship is a sensitive topic during the political transition. We attempted to evaluate this phenomenon by asking journalists to tell us whether they agree or disagree to a battery of statements.
When asked if they agree that “most journalists hesitate to criticize the Hong Kong government,” only a small minority (5.2 %) answer positively. This means that most journalists think their colleagues are not afraid of criticizing the Hong Kong government.
One-third (36.7%) agree that “Most journalists hesitate to criticize large corporations in Hong Kong.”
Half (50.3%) agree that “Most journalists hesitate to criticize the Chinese government.”
In sum, Hong Kong journalists seem to be most hesitant to criticize the Chinese government, but not afraid to criticize the Hong Kong government.4.2 Since self-censorship is seen as professionally dishonorable, most journalists tend to think of themselves as more outspoken than their colleagues. Only 21.0%, 3.8% and 12.5% agree to the statements that “I hesitate to criticize the Chinese government (the Hong Kong government, or major corporations in Hong Kong).” Clearly they themselves are more hesitant to criticize the Chinese government than the Hong Kong government. 4.3 Asked if they agree that “‘One country, two systems’ will work,” half (49.2%) in our sample take a “neutral” attitude. Likewise, more than half of them (56.2%) are “neutral” to the statement that “Hong Kong’s future is becoming better and better.” These large proportions of “neutral” answers may be seen as journalists taking a “wait and see” attitude toward Hong Kong’s uncertain future.
4.4 The number of those who agree (34.7%) that “News media should forbid their employees from joining political groups,” are about the same as those who disagree (36.9%). 4.5 One the question of press system, one-third (30.4%) take a “neutral” attack toward the statement that “Hong Kong mass media will become more similar to Singapore’s.” Another one-third (29.1%) disagree; only 13.6% agree.
It should be noted, however, more than half (52.3%) worry that press freedom of Hong Kong will be affected after 1997. One-third (32.0%) take a “neutral” attitude on the issue.4.6 Almost half (47.2%) of our respondents believe that the media should remain neutral if there should be a conflict of interest between China and Hong Kong. One-third (36.7%) believe the media should stand on the Hong Kong side, while only very few (1.4%) believe that they should stand on the China side (Table 13). 4.7 Almost two-thirds (57.7%) of the journalists disagree to the statement that “In pursuing ideals, journalists may not have to be neutral.” Those who take a neutral stand (18.3%) or believe that journalists may not have to be neutral (12.7%) are in the minority. 4.8 Six in ten journalists (59.5%) disagree to the statement that “For the sake of public interest as a whole, it is appropriate for the media to give up a little press freedom.” Two in ten remain neutral on this issue, while only one in ten agrees to the statement. 4.9 Eight in ten journalists (81.9%) object to the statement that “In order to maintain stability and prosperity during the transition, journalists should not expose too much dark side of the society.” 4.10 In sum, although Hong Kong journalists highly support the values of press freedom, they seem to develop considerable uncertainty about Hong Kong’s future. 5. Credibility of local news media (Table 14) Respondents were asked to rate the credibility of local media on a 1-10 scale. The lower the score, the less credible. 5.1 Among all of Hong Kong’s media, the 10 most credible news organizations are Hong Kong Economic Journal (7.38), South China Morning Post (7.20), Ming Pao (7.16), Radio Television Hong Kong (7.07), Hong Kong Government Information Service (6.81), Hong Kong Economic Times (6.75), Sing Tao Daily (6.72), Commercial Radio (6.72), Cable TV (6.69) and Television Broadcasting Limited (6.60). 5.2 The most credible newspapers are Hong Kong Economic Journal (7.38), South China Morning Post (7.20), Ming Pao (7.16), Hong Kong Economic Times (6.75), Sing Tao Daily (6.72), Hong Kong Standard (6.55), Oriental Daily News (5.85), Sing Pao (5.74), Sing Tao Evening (5.60) and Hong Kong Daily News (5.45). 5.3 Radio Television Hong Kong is perceived to be the most credible radio station (7.07). 5.4 Cable TV (6.69) and Television Broadcasting Limited (6.60) are perceived to be the most credible television stations. 5.5 In sum, non-partisan media are perceived to be more credible than party media. 5.6 The Government Information Service (6.81) is perceived to be considerably more credible than the Hong Kong Branch of Xinhua News Agency (4.68). 5.7 Two most popular infotainment weeklies, Next Magazine (3.97) and Eastweek (3.81), do not receive high credibility ratings. 6. Nationality and Emigration 6.1 The political transition has created concern about nationality and emigration. With respect to nationality, 69.8% of respondents are BDTC(HK) or BNO holders. 12.5% are CI holders. Only 4.0% are UK citizens or have the right of abode in Britain. Some (7.1%) hold passports from other countries; very few (0.4%) have a Taiwan passport (Table 15). 6.2 When asked about whether they would apply for emigration to other countries, 11% say yes but 81% say no. Of those who have not applied for emigration, 6.3% say they will do so (Table 16).
Appendix
Table 1: Respondents‘ News Organization
Percentage Apple Daily News 9.8 Hong Kong Commercial Daily 3.4 Hong Kong Daily News 5.1 Hong Kong Economic Times 3.6 Hong Kong Economic Journal 6.3 Hong Kong Standard 4.2 Ming Pao Daily News 4.2 New Evening Post 2.4 Oriental Daily News 10.5 Sing Pao 6.5 Sing Tao Daily/Evening Post 11.9 South China Morning Post 4.0 Ta Kung Pao 2.7 Tin Tin Daily News 1.3 Wen Wei Po 4.7 Wharf Cable 3.1 Asia Television Ltd. 3.4 Television Broadcasting Ltd. 5.4 Commercial Radio 1.6 Metro Radio 2.0 Radio Television Hong Kong 2.9 No answer 1.1 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 2: Type of organization
Percentage Newspaper 79.2 Television 11.0 Radio 6.5 Others 0.2 No answer 3.1 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 3: Position
Percentage Reporter 46.3 Senior, Principal Reporter 13.6 Editor 11.9 Translator 6.9 Others 5.8 News Assignment Editor 6.3 Senior/Executive Editor 4.2 Team, Beat Leader 2.5 Deputy/Chief Editor 0.9 Chief Editor 0.5 No Answer 1.0 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 4: Sex
Percentage Male 55.3 Female 43.4 No Answer 3.3 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 5: Age
Percentage Below 21 0.5 21-25 21.9 26-30 30.4 31-35 15.7 36-40 12.7 41-45 6.5 46-50 4.0 51-55 0.5 56-60 0.9 61-65 1.1 No Answer 5.8 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 6: Time serving in the present organization
Percentage Less than 1 Year 17.9 1-2 Years 35.6 above 2 Year 45.8 No Answer 0.7 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 7: Journalism Training
Percentage Yes 59.7 No 36.7 No Opinion 3.6 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 8: Monthly Salary (HK$)
Percentage Below $5,001 13.7 $5,001-10,000 11.8 $10,001-20,000 38.5 $20,001-30,000 17.7 $30,001-40,000 6.7 $40,001 8.5 No Answer 3.1 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 9: Part-time Job
Percentage Yes 9.8 No 86.8 No Answer 3.4 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 10: Member of HK Journalist Association
Percentage Yes 15.4 No 64.6 No Answer 20.1 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 11: Member of HK News Executive Association
Percentage Yes 1.8 No 68.9 No Answer 29.3 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 12: Views on press freedom
Percentage (N = 553)
Agree Neutral disagree No Answer Total 1. Nowadays most journalists hesitate to criticize the Chinese government 50.3 29.5 16.3 4.0 100 2. Nowadays most journalists hesitate to criticize the large corporations in HK 36.7 28.4 29.8 5.1 100 3. Nowadays most journalists hesitate to criticize the Hong Kong government 5.2 14.3 76.7 3.8 100 4. I hesitate to criticize China 21.0 20.3 49.9 8.9 100 5. I hesitate to criticize large corporations in Hong Kong 12.5 18.3 60.4 8.9 100 6. I hesitate to criticize Hong Kong government 3.8 11.6 77.2 7.4 100 7. News media should forbid their employees from joining political groups 34.7 18.8 36.9 9.6 100 8. Hong Kong‘s future is becoming better and better 16.5 56.2 17.4 9.9 100 9. “One Country, Two Systems” will work 15.2 49.2 21.9 13.7 100 10. HK‘s news media will gradually resemble Singapore’s 13.6 30.4 29.1 26.9 100 11. In the pursuit of ideals, journalists may not have to be neutral 12.7 18.3 57.7 11.4 100 12. For the sake of public interest as a whole, it‘s appropriate for the media to give up a little press freedom 11.6 21.9 59.5 7.1 100 13. To maintain stability and prosperity during the transition, journalists should not expose too much dark side of the society 5.1 8.9 81.9 4.2 100 14. HK's press freedom will not be greatly affected too much after 1997 7.4 32.0 52.3 8.3 100
* Note 1 : We combined answers "strongly disagree" and "disagree" into "disagree" and combined "strongly agree" and "agree" into "agree".
Table 13: When there the interests of Hong Kong should conflict with those of China, which side would Hong Kong‘s media support
Percentage Central 47.2 Hong Kong 36.7 China 1.4 Other 5.2 No opinion 9.4 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 14: Media Credibilty of local media organization
(1-10: 1 = the lowest, 5 = the highest)
Mean High N 1. Hong Kong Economic Journal 7.38 1.53 505 2. South China Morning Post 7.20 1.47 519 3. Ming Pao Daily News 7.16 1.54 513 4. Radio Television Hong Kong 7.07 1.61 523 5. Government Information Services 6.81 1.97 515 6. Hong Kong Economic Times 6.75 1.51 501 7. Sing Tao Daily News 6.72 1.54 509 8. Commercial Radio 6.72 1.58 514 9. Wharf Cable 6.69 1.50 473 10. Television Broadcasting Ltd. 6.60 1.57 529 11. Hong Kong Standard 6.55 1.51 494 12. Asia Television Ltd. 6.48 1.53 529 13. The Nineties Monthly 6.47 1.76 439 14. Metro Radio 5.92 1.71 472 15. Wide Angle Monthly 5.90 1.75 387 16. Oriental Daily News 5.85 1.73 507 17. Sing Pao 5.74 1.64 494 18. Sing Tao Evening Post 5.60 1.87 481 19. Hong Kong Daily News 5.45 1.59 476 20. Tin Tin Daily News 5.11 1.61 485 21. New Evening Post 5.04 1.86 464 22. Apple Daily 5.03 1.93 513 23. Hong Kong Commercial Daily 4.90 1.88 457 24. Wen Wei Po 4.68 1.98 492 25. New China News Agency, HK branch 4.68 2.32 496 26. Ta Kung Pao 4.66 2.05 483 27. Next Magazine 3.97 1.82 509 28. Eastweek 3.81 1.78 510 29. Mad Dog Daily 3.77 1.94 448
Table 15: Nationality
Percentage BDTC(HK)/BN(O) 69.8 CI holders 12.5 Foreigners
(US/Canada/Australia/Singapore/Portugal)7.1 British/Right of Abode 4.0 Taiwan 0.4 Others 1.8 No Answer 4.5 Total 100
(N = 553)
Table 16: Emigration
Percentage Yes 11.0 No 81.0 No Answer 7.9 Total 100
(N =553)