Media of Hong Kong


Hong Kong's media consists of several different types of communications of mass media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, websites and other online platforms.

Overview

Hong Kong is home to many of Asia's biggest media entities and remains one of the world's largest film industries. The loose regulation over the establishment of a newspaper makes Hong Kong home to many international media such as the Asian Wall Street Journal and Far Eastern Economic Review, and publications with anti-Communist backgrounds such as The Epoch Times. It also once had numerous newspapers funded by Kuomintang of Taiwan but all of them were terminated due to poor financial performance. The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong publishes Kung Kao Po, a weekly newspaper. Until the increased repression of freedom of expression in Hong Kong following the passing of the national security law in 2020, Apple Daily being the most read newspaper in the city; it was eventually forced to disband in 2021. Traditional PRC government-friendly journals, Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po, are owned by the Central Government Liaison Office. In December 2015, the South China Morning Post – Hong Kong's newspaper of record – was acquired by the Alibaba Group, with the declared aim of promoting an alternative pro-China narrative to international media.
The freedom of press nominally is protected by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, in contrast to the rest of the People's Republic of China, where control over media is pervasive under the General Administration of Press and Publication. However, this freedom has been in decline since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, and further still since the passing of the 2020 Hong Kong National Security Law. Before 2020, Hong Kong enjoyed "real press freedom" and ranked second in Asia after Japan in the Press Freedom Index, although it has been rapidly declining. Different views over topics sensitive in mainland China, such as the 1989 democracy movement culminating in the massacre of protestors in Tiananmen Square, Chinese Communist Party rule, and democracy are still dynamically discussed among the media. Many books banned in China, such as the memoir of Zhao Ziyang, a former CCP party leader who stepped down in 1989, were able to be published in Hong Kong, until the crackdowns on free expression from 2020.
As of 31 December 2023, Hong Kong had:
  • Daily newspapers: 90
  • *Chinese-language dailies: 61
  • *English-language dailies: 11
  • *Bilingual dailies: 14
  • *Japanese dailies: 3
  • Periodicals : 376
As of June 2024, Hong Kong had:
  • Television services licensees: 34
  • *Domestic free television programme licensees: 3
  • *Domestic pay television programme licensees: 1
  • *Non-domestic television programme licensees: 9
  • Government radio-television stations: 1
  • Commercial radio stations / Sound broadcasting licensees: 2

    Law

Media authorities

Formerly, three statutory bodies regulated media in Hong Kong, with another statutory body acting as an independent broadcaster:
  • Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority regulates broadcasters in Hong Kong by licensing and penalties according to the Broadcasting Regulation.
  • Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority is responsible for monitoring television and radio broadcasting to secure proper standards.
  • Telecommunications Authority, the regulatory agency which applied held legislative power over antitrust, spectrum allocation and telecommunications legislation.
  • Radio Television Hong Kong operates as an independent government broadcaster with 7 radio channels and 3 television channels, whilst also producing programmes for public dissemination.
In 2012, BA, OFCA and TELA were merged into one to form the new Communications Authority, which combined all the functions of its three predecessor organisations in one.
Non-Governmental bodies:
  • was established in July 2000. The objective of the council is to promote the professional and ethical standards of the newspaper industry, defend press freedom, and deal with public complaints against local newspapers. It is an independent organisation.

    Media regulation

and publication are enshrined in Article 27 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, and are also protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under Article 39 of the Basic Law.
There is no law called "media law" in Hong Kong. Instead, the media are governed by statutory laws. In brief, there are 31 Ordinances that are directly related to mass media. Six of which are highlighted below.
  • Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance , provides for the registration of local newspapers and news agencies and the licensing of newspaper distributors.
  • Books Registration Ordinance , provides for the registration and preservation of copies of books first printed, produced or published in Hong Kong.
  • Telecommunications Ordinance , makes better provision for the licensing and control of telecommunications, telecommunications services and telecommunications apparatus and equipment.
  • Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance controls and classifies articles which consist of or contain material that is obscene or indecent. Obscene Articles Tribunals are established to determine whether an article is obscene or indecent.
  • Broadcasting Authority Ordinance , provides for the establishment and functions of a Broadcasting Authority.
  • Broadcasting Ordinance , licenses companies to provide broadcasting services and regulate the provision of broadcasting services by licensees.
The rest of the Ordinances are of less importance since they do not aim at regulating mass media, but some of their provisions do affect the operation of media organisations and also the freedom of press.
The passing of Bill of Rights Ordinance in 1986 strengthened the protection of fundamental human rights like press freedom or freedom of speech. This has been reflected in the loosening of control over mass media. Laws that violate the principle of press freedom are gradually amended. For example, section 27 of Public Order Ordinance, which criminalised the publishing of false news, was repealed in 1989.
Nonetheless, there are still concerns among the media sector that some existing laws may still undermine the freedom of the press and publication, e.g. Official Secrets Ordinance and Public Order Ordinance .

Media

Television

Hong Kong has three broadcast television stations, ViuTV, HOY TV and TVB. The latter, launched in 1967, was the territory's first free-to-air commercial station, and is currently the predominant TV station in the territory. Paid cable and satellite television have also been widespread. The production of Hong Kong's soap drama, comedy series and variety shows have reached mass audiences throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Many international and pan-Asian broadcasters are based in Hong Kong, including News Corporation's STAR TV. Hong Kong's terrestrial commercial TV networks, Christian Broadcasting Network of Hong Kong and TVB can also be seen in neighbouring Guangdong and Macau.
However, Asia Television, Hong Kong's first TV station, has seen a gradual decline in production quality and audience rating in recent years and faces financial difficulties. Its false report of death of Jiang Zemin severely damaged its credibility. On 1 April 2015, Hong Kong's Executive Council gave notice that ATV's terrestrial television licence would not be renewed and that it would instead end on 1 April 2016. RTHK and newcomer HKTVE took over the frequencies of ATV since 2 April 2016. In May 2017, Fantastic Television started its free-to-air broadcast.

Radio

  • Radio Television Hong Kong – government-funded, operates eight networks in Cantonese, Mandarin and English
  • Commercial Radio – operates CR1, CR2 networks in Cantonese and mediumwave English-language station AM 864
  • Metro Radio Hong Kong – operates Metro Showbiz, Metro Finance and English-language Metro Plus

    Book publishers

Sino United Publishing, formed in 1988 through merger of some of the historic publishing agencies, is Hong Kong's largest integrated publishing group. It has an estimated 80% share of the book publishing market. It is Hong Kong's largest Chinese-language publishing group, has 51 retail outlets in the territory, and is wholly owned by Central Government Liaison Office, which also owns newspaper titles Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po.

Newspapers

According to independent surveys conducted by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, South China Morning Post and Ming Pao are the most trusted newspapers in Hong Kong.
The Chinese language newspapers Headline Daily, Oriental Daily News, Apple Daily and Sun Daily have the highest shares in the Hong Kong newspaper market, while the Hong Kong Economic Times is the best-selling financial newspaper. The Standard, a free tabloid with a mass market strategy, is the most widely circulated English newspaper by a significant margin. Its rival, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's newspaper of record, has the most paid subscribers among English-language papers in Hong Kong. Since its purchase by Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok's Kerry Media The South China Morning Post has publication. It was announced on 11 December 2015 that Alibaba Group would acquire the South China Morning Post from Robert Kuok, who has owned it since 1993. Alibaba said that the acquisition was made out of the desire to improve China's image in light of the western bias of the journal. The latest to join the newspaper scene is HK01, which launched in March 2016. As a Hong Kong–based advocacy media, HK01 are dedicated to disrupting discussion with interactive multimedia storytelling through the Web, print and physical space. Readers can take advantage of its in-depth reporting and all-round analysis in current affairs, local stories and lifestyle features that will help them evolve into critical thinkers.