This book explores the challenges to news professionalism and media autonomy stemming from the state, market pressure, the digitalization of communication, and a polarized civil society in Hong Kong. China is tightening its control over post-handover Hong Kong, which includes press freedom. Harsh market competition, coupled with shifting readership from mainstream media to digital platforms, is squeezing the business viability of media organizations. The polarization of civil society in post-handover Hong Kong had degraded consensual values upon which news professionalism relies. Journalists have had to reorient news professionalism and media power in the midst of state-society tension, market pressure, and the shifting communication mode driven by digitalization. These are the key questions for Hong Kong media. This dynamic intervention will be of interest to journalists, scholars of civil society, and scholars of Asian politics.
Author(s): Chi Kit Chan, Gary Tang, Francis L. F. Lee
Series: Hong Kong Studies Reader Series
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 294
City: Singapore
Praise for Hong Kong Media
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction
Theoretical Considerations: Media, State, Market and Civil Society
Media and the State
Media and the Market
Media and Civil Society
Media, State, Market, and Civil Society
The Context: Post-Handover Hong Kong and the Politics of Liberal Exceptionalism
Before 1997: Colonial Hong Kong
1997–2019: Politics of Liberal Exceptionalism
2019 and Afterward: The Anti-ELAB Movement and Its Repercussions
Final Remarks and Chapter Outline
References
2 Press Freedom and Political Change
Brief History of Press Freedom in the Colonial Era
Political Economy of the Post-handover Hong Kong Media
Professionalism, Self-Censorship, and Constitutive Censorship
Evolution of the Media System and the Implications of Digital Transformation
Press Freedom between 2012 and 2019: From China to Hong Kong
After the National Security Law
Concluding Remarks
References
3 The News Professionals
Understanding News Professionals
Colonial Hong Kong: A Historical Continency to the News Profession
Post-handover Hong Kong: Defensive News Profession Under Liberal Enclave
Journalistic Corps in the 2010s and Beyond: In Search of a New Paradigm
Conclusion
References
4 The News Audience
Levels of News Consumption and Interest
News Consumption and Participation Through Digital and Social Media
Perceptions of Press Freedom and Trust in the Media
Willingness to Pay for Online News
Concluding Discussion
References
5 Transformation of Media, Social Values, and Hong Kong Identification
The Birth of Hong Kong Identity in the Post-War Period
Government’s Initiative of an Accountable Government and RTHK
The Rise of “Local” Newspapers
Hong Kongers in TV Drama and Cinema
Identity Crisis During the Early Post-Handover Period
Identity Shift in the Second Decade of the HKSAR
Intertwining Impact of Value Change and Social Media on Identity Shift
Hong Kong Identification After the Anti-ELAB Protest
Concluding Discussion: Socio-Political Structure, Media Development, and Hong Kong Identity
Phase I: The Birth of Hong Kong Identity
Phase II: Post-Handover Anxiety
Phase III: The Rise of Localism
Phase IV: Post-NSL Period
References
6 Media and Social Mobilisation
Political Opportunity Structure and Social Protests in Hong Kong
“Rule of Mass Media” and July 1 Rally
Digitally Enabled Actions at the Early Stage
The Umbrella Movement and the Disputes of the Movement Leader
The Anti-ELAB Movement—LIHKG as the Window of Public Opinion
Pro-Government Online Media and Counter-Mobilisation
Pro-Government Online Influencers
Conclusion
References
7 Final Remarks
Structure Versus Agency in the Struggle for Press Freedom in Hong Kong
The Question of Media Effects
Digitalisation and Media Politics
The Question of Generalisability
Missing Topics
The Future of Media Research in or on Hong Kong
References
References
Index
