68 Country Report: Information Network
Zelin Dai
Introduction:
Hong Kong is very special place, as it has a period of history as colonization and leased to the Britain. It is a special administrative region of China. However, throughout years, its free press is “under fire from the Chinese government, critics say.” (The free press in Hong Kong is under fire from the Chinese government, critics say, Jan 2022)
To look into its information network, I started with searching the most popular and commonly used news medias in Hong Kong on Google, and found the following sources that could provide me with in-depth understandings of using sources and accessing the information network in Hong Kong.
“Traditional” periodicals:
1. East Week: This is one of the most popular traditional periodicals in Hong Kong. It is a weekly Chinese language magazine, which was established by Oriental Press Group on 29 October 1992 and sold to the Emperor Group in September 2001. It is now owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, and published by China Touch Media Solutions & Services Limited. (Wikipedia) They publish every Wednesday and focus on various topics includes entertainment, political, social and financial issue in the Hong Kong society, and discovering food in Hong Kong.
It is accessed at https://eastweek.my-magazine.me/main/ and their Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/eastweek.com.hk/
I chose this site because it is one of the major periodicals in Hong Kong, and it covers relatively wide and diverse types of news topics. This media outlet does not seems to have any political bias just based on their past published articles.
2. Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ): This is daily Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong. It also have Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly (HKEJ Monthly), which was a monthly magazine associated with the newspaper. (Wikipedia) The HKEJ is sold around HK, whereas the HKEJ Monthly magazine is sold around the world.
The HKEJ website can be accessed at https://www2.hkej.com/landing/index and it’s subsidiary English website at https://www.ejinsight.com/
I chose this site because it cover broad economic and social topics, and I’m an economics major students, so it brought my attention immediately while I was doing research on HK medias. This media outlet focus on not only business environment, but also analyze other social phenomenon such as inequalities in the business world from economic perspective. I think their articles are quite neutralized without political biases. It also focus on both Hong Kong’s and global society.
3. Tatler Asia: This is a monthly English language magazine in Hong Kong. It focus on the fashion news throughout Asia. It includes various categories, not just focus on the beauty news, but it also has the Power & Purpose category which includes influential women, business, technology and education articles. It also has a section for cultural news. I really like such broad contents that they covered.
It is accessed at https://www.tatlerasia.com/ and their Twitter account at https://twitter.com/tatlerasia
I chose this site because it is a beauty and fashion magazine that focus throughout Asia, yet they also includes and blend in the business perspectives and social problems such as the Female & Front section. The rich content and wide range of topics on the site brought my interests.
I think they do not have any political bias involved in their articles so far, since most of their sociocultural topics are just about the ‘Feminism’ and mostly fashion trends.
4. East Touch: This is a weekly updated Chineses magazine but written in Cantonese in Hong Kong. It was published every Tuesday East Touch Publishing Ltd., part of Global China Group Holdings Ltd.. It is not quite as popular as East Week, but it covers a very broad topics, including stories of celebrities, entertainment news, fashion trends and lifestyle topics, and it targeted at young adults. (Wikipedia)
It can be accessed at http://easttouch.my-magazine.me/main/
I chose this media outlet because of its broad topics and their long history of publication. East Touch also update very frequently on every Tuesday. About 86.6% of its content is related to entertainments and consumptions, according to a survey conducted by the Society for Truth and Light in Hong Kong. Though it does not have political bias, it could possibly be considered as prioritizing men’s fashion news over women’s fashion news and lifestyle reports. (Wikipedia). However, from my perspective, this could just be their own magazine content choice, perhaps have nothing to do with feminism. I think it is a relatively fair and considerable magazine to follow for people in Hong Kong seeking entertainments and fashion advices.
“New media” text-based sources
1. Foodie Hong Kong: This is a blog media about social tastes in Hong Kong, and especially new restaurants in Hong Kong. It belongs to the 2016 Foodie Group Ltd..
It is accessed at https://www.afoodieworld.com/ with further instagram, facebook, twitter accounts that could all be accessed from their website.
I chose this blog for new media text-based sources because of two reasons. First, I’m a foodie myself, so when I was searching for new medias on Google for Hong Kong information network, it immediately brought my attention. Second, I think this is a very unique new media blog, which focus on social tastes standards in Hong Kong and provide guidance for foreigners for tours, while other news medias mostly focused on regimented political and economic topics.
2. Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong: This is a blog media that focus on the lifestyle, fashion, consumptions and entertainment in Asia, not just in Hong Kong. It is sited by Rush Hour Media.
It could be accessed at its website: https://www.lifestyleasia.com/hk/
I chose this media outlets because it provides many different cultural elements such as entertainments and foods across Asia. It also just focus on the lifestyles and cultures, so it does not include any political biases. It is a good guide for business activities, tourists, and even local people in Hong Kong to find nice dining places and lifestyles in Hong Kong.
3. Coconut Hong Kong Lifestyle: This is also a lifestyle website. They target at the people who live in Hong Kong, and deliver the lifestyle of “Work hard play harder”. The website includes concert announcements, article on where to take the best instagram photos, and even the listicles of the best things to do in rain or shine. All rights reserved to Coconuts Media Limited.
It is accessed at https://coconuts.co/hongkong/lifestyle/
I chose this article because I love the lifestyle they are delivering “Work hard play harder”. And of course also because of their beautiful article layouts and wonderful contents that covers broad topics.
Social media sources
1. Facebook: This is a global social media platform giant, which also hold more that 59 percent of the market share among all major social media platforms in Hong Kong as of February, 2021. Below is a chart from statcounter.com that shows its huge markets share from Feb 2021 to Feb 2022:
Statcounter GlobalStats. (2022). Social Media Stats Hong Kong.
https://gs.statcounter.com/social-media-stats/all/hong-kong
While Facebook was still officially blocked in China, according to the “Blocked in China” website, Facebook is not blocked in Hong Kong and Macau, which are special administrative regions operating under different systems. (Censorship of Facebook, Wikipedia).
I chose Facebook as one of my social media sources because it is the biggest and most popular social media platform in Hong Kong, according to the Social Media Stats Hong Kong, Statcounter GlobalStats. (2022). It would give me enough variation of topics in Hong Kong, and get to know what topics or social problems that people in Hong Kong are focusing.
Personally speaking, since I’m going to Hong Kong for my graduate study, I would follow the account of PolyU in Hong Kong for sure. However, for living and lifestyles, I also found these 10 most popular Facebook account in Hong Kong. Below is the chart of the ten most popular brands on Facebook in HK as of March 2021, ranked by number of fans from Statista:
Statista. (2021). Most popular Facebook brands in Hong Kong 2021, ranked by number of fans.
2. Twitter: it is also one of the global media platform giants, and is the second most popular media platform in Hong Kong.
Statista. (2021). Most followed media on Twitter in Hong Kong 2021
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1171999/hong-kong-most-followed-twitter-media-profiles/
Similar to the accounts worth followed in Hong Kong, I will also following the Twitter account of PolyU, and then the most famous and popular media accounts shown on Statista.
3. Instagram: Though instagram is only at the status of the fifth most popular social media outlets in Hong Kong, it is my personal favorite social media outlets, and I will surely keep my current instagram’s account.
Instagram is also not much influenced by the enhanced restrictions from mainland China, especially since my current followed account are mostly celebrities such as Kendall and Kylie, my personal user experiences are expected to remain unchanged in the near future in Hong Kong.
Data Sources:
1. DATA.GOV.HK: This the Hong Kong government official website to access datasets in Hong Kong. It is funded by the Kong Kong government, developed and supported by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) at https://www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/. Both these two websites are available in English.
It can be accessed at https://data.gov.hk/en/.
I chose this data source because it is creditable since its data sets are offered and developed through the OGCIO officially. It provides just the data without any political views, very creditable and considerable website to find data.
2. Google Scholar: this is a worldwide popular data sources searching tool. It is also very popular to be used in Hong Kong. I think I’ll keep using it when I was in Hong Kong completing my graduate study, it is really convenient to use, yet still credible. PolyU even has a website to teach students and staffs to create and regulate their Google Scholar profile and data exportation at: https://libguides.lb.polyu.edu.hk/research_visibility/googlescholarprofile.
Though China has banned Google Scholar in the mainland, it is still a freely accessible search engine in Hong Kong.
3. Baidu Baike/’Baidu Encyclopedia’: This is a semi-regulated Chinese-language collaborative online encyclopedia owned by the Chinese technology company Baidu. (Wikipedia) It is very popular to be used for research in China, though it has been criticized for censorship, copyright disputes and the abundance of unsourced information. In fact, It is still the largest number of entries in the world of any Chinese-language online encyclopedia.
I chose this search engine also because of its large editors and the popularity in mainland China, and I also used to search everything on Baidu Baike, and believed that everything was true on it. It is also accessible for people in Hong Kong, and I think it would be quite interesting for me to see if they have a different version of websites in Hong Kong.
Visual and/or audio-based sources
1. Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK): This is one of the government radio and television sites in Hong Kong. It provide latest anti-epidemic news and lives. We can find their recent news and TV timetable on its official website. It is directly supported by annual government funding, and operate as a government department under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. (RTHK, Wikipedia).
It is accessed at https://www.rthk.hk/?lang=en, also with access to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook on the front page.
I chose this source because it is creditable as it is operated under the guidance and regulations of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau in Hong Kong. It also has a very long history, as it has a predecessor called GOW, which was the first radio broadcasting station in Hong Kong funded by the British Hong Kong Government on 30 June 1928. (RTHK, Wikipedia)
2. Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK): This radio outlets is also know as the Hong Kong Commercial Broadcasting Company Limited, which is one of only two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong along with Metro Radio Hong Kong. (Wikipedia). It has both Cantonese and English-language station.
Its website could be accessed at https://www.881903.com/, in Cantonese.
I chose this radio outlet because it is credible since it is owned by one of the only two commercial radio broadcasting companies in Hong Kong. It also covers a very broad topics and social affairs with its different station programmes.
3. Metro Radio Hong Kong (MRHK): Metro Broadcast Corporation Ltd. is owned by the Hong Kong-listed CK Hutchison Holdings. As mentioned above, this is one of the only two radio stations in HK. It is established in 1991, a very mature one.
Its official website is at https://www.metroradio.com.hk/superhome/
I chose this radio outlet because it is one of the only two radio broadcasting in Hong Kong with a long history and mature development. It also covers various topics and sections, with most articles on the website are about finance, music, and life topics.
Additional sources
1. GovHK: This is the government official website for both residents and non-residents. It provides diverse and almost every topic covered “One-stop” information service for different social groups. On the “Residents” category, it includes government information and services, government forms, guidebooks, etc. For the “Non-Residents” categorical page, it also includes online government forms and topics, government information and services, etc., but from non-residential perspectives. Furthermore, GovHK also features “Trade & Business” link for companies and enterprises that are interested in doing foreign direct investments, could find relevant government forms, policies, regulations and business services.
It can be accessed at https://www.gov.hk/en/residents/
I chose this website sources because I’m not only studying economics as my major, but also international business as my minor. Marketing and operating business overseas have to look into regional culture, economic, political, and local competition information, and then analyze those information to an analysis report. I’m also going to continue studying economics and business management in Hong Kong for post-graduation academic study. This website provides lots of useful information to keep tracking on Hong Kong post-epidemic policies and news.
2. Wikipedia: This is a very well-known and globally used free encyclopedia. It is a non-profit organization owned by Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., and could be edited by anyone.
It can be accessed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page in English version.
I chose Wikipedia as one of my sources because I’m using it right now in the US, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll use it when I was in Hong Kong in the coming academic year, and there’s need to mention how credible and well-know it is! We also did the Wikipedia country report, which provides us with a chance to take a closer look at the Wikipedia restrictions and affairs in our selected country for the country report. It does not have any political bias.
3. BBC News, Hong Kong’s Profile: BBC is an English broadcast media, and was founded in 1922 with a 99 years history. It is the world’s oldest national broadcaster. (Wikipedia).
Hong Kong’s BBC News’ profile could be accessed at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16525992
I chose this media source because it is credible and authoritative based on its nature related to British politics. However, it could also be political biased because of its relationship with the British government. Their political objectivity is often under questioned: “The BBC is regularly accused by the government of the day of bias in favour of the opposition and, by the opposition, of bias in favour of the government.” (Wikipedia)