The media has had its highs and lows over the past 10 years, and journalists are gloomy about the future.
Half of 506 journalists polled this year believed press freedom is declining, and 30 per cent admitted they practise self-censorship. The bleak outlook from the Journalists' Association survey says as much about problems within the industry as the broader environment for freedom of expression.
Among the highs has been the influence of Albert Cheng King-hon, former host of the Commercial Radio show Teacup in a Storm, who at the height of the 2003 Sars epidemic was crowned 'the chief executive before 10am', a nickname reflecting the popularity of his weekday morning show. He was largely driving the agenda, picking on officials who in his eyes had failed to perform. And his remarks were echoed in the print media.
But he was abruptly sacked by Commercial Radio in July 2004 after nine years of the show and six years after he was wounded in a brutal chopping as he went to work in 1998.
That was the year that saw one of the lows when an Apple Daily reporter paid HK$5,000 for Chan Kin-hong to engage a prostitute days after his wife jumped to her death with their two sons, aged 10 and six. The paper later apologised for paying for the 'exclusive'.
Another low was when Eastweek magazine suspended publication in November 2002 amid an outcry at a front-page photo of a naked and distressed actress taken against her will. More recently, Easyfinder magazine was caught in controversy for running pictures of Canto-pop idol Gillian Chung Yan-tung changing clothes in Malaysia, and of 14-year-old pop singer Renee Lee Wan in a wet shirt.
Controversies over ethical issues aside, To Yiu-ming, assistant journalism professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, also observed an increased homogeneity in news produced by the mainstream media. 'This is the outcome when you have three newspapers taking up 80 per cent of market share. Apart from a difference in political stance, they are basically after the same sort of news,' he said, noting a lack of in-depth investigation and inquisitive stories in local newspapers.
