Clement Y. K. So

One Event, Three Stories Media Narratives of the Handover of Hong Kong in Cultural China

This article analyzes how the media from the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong constructed their respective narratives about the handover of Hong Kong - based on their institutional configurations, the relevance of the story to their home constituencies, their conventions of news-making and the cultural repertoire on which they drew to make the event intelligible. Domesticating a global media event reflects and reproduces each society as a discursive community; in a defining moment like this, the media bind each society through their shared ways of interpretations and expression.

Social media and Umbrella Movement: insurgent public sphere in formation

The study examines the role of social media during the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong that lasted from September to December 2014. By interviewing a random sample of 1011 respondents over the telephone before the end of the Umbrella Movement, it was found that social media had become an insurgent public sphere (IPS) in the protest movement. Data showed that acquisition of political news through social media was related positively to support for the Umbrella Movement and adversely with satisfaction and trust of established political authorities, including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the Hong Kong police, and the Chinese central government. The insurgent public sphere role of social media, its implications, and likely development vis-à-vis the state and the market are discussed.

Professionalism, Politics and Market Force: Survey Studies of Hong Kong Journalists 1996–2006

A comparison of three surveys of Hong Kong journalists from 1996 to 2006 finds that media professionalism remains intact in spite of significant socio-political changes. However, the medias performance has been in doubt as reflected in credibility decline and rising self-censorship. Factors accounting for this apparent disjunction between professionalism and performance include the proliferation of journalism education, the entrenchment of press freedom in Hong Kongs political culture, the journalists’ need for a self-defense and survival strategy, and the media market as a balancing force of political pressure. It is the interplay of all these factors that matters.

The rise of Asian communication research: a citation study of SSCI journals

This study addresses two research questions: whether interest in Asian communication has been growing over the past 20 years, and whether there is an increasing level of participation and growing contributions among Asian scholars in the field of communication. Using 23 communication journals in the SSCI database, we identify Asia-related journal article titles and count the number of authors of Asian origins. We find that both are clearly on the rise, especially in the fields of new media and public relations. China, Japan, and South Korea have the largest share of title references, followed by Israel, Taiwan, India, and Hong Kong.

The influence of individualism and collectivism on Internet pornography exposure, sexual attitudes, and sexual behavior among college students

This study examined associations between individualism/collectivism and exposure to Internet pornography, sexual attitudes, and behaviors. Three parallel surveys of college students in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei show that collectivism correlated more strongly and negatively than individualism with exposure to Internet pornography, attitudes toward premarital and extramarital sex, and sexual permissive behavior. More importantly, our study found that more collectivistic individuals, especially people with high vertical collectivism, were less likely to accept premarital and extramarital sex and engage in sexually permissive behavior. People with the highest individualistic orientation, namely, vertical individualism, were most likely to accept Internet pornography, premarital sex, and sexually permissive behavior. The findings indicate that an egalitarian orientation of people, including those with horizontal individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism, are more likely to abide by social norms and conform to community standard against deviance. On the other hand, people with highly individualistic and hierarchical orientation are more likely to accept social deviance which matches the desire of highly individualistic people to be distinct and unique.

Tapping ‘Yacht immigrants’: Overseas editions of Hong Kong newspapers as econo‐cultural spin‐off

This paper discusses the establishment of overseas editions by some Hong Kong newspapers under the context of the upcoming political transition of Hong Kong in 1997. These overseas editions are viewed as econo‐cultural spin‐off to tap the ‘yacht immigrants’ outflowing from Hong Kong. Various factors involved in the establishment of these overseas editions, as well as their effects and implications are also explored. The Ming Paos recently established Canada editions are chosen as a case to contrast with the earlier established Sing Tao and World Journal.

Evaluation of media and understanding of politics: The role of education among Hong Kong citizens

This article discusses the future of the liberal media system in Hong Kong. It examines whether the political culture in the city would support a media system that primarily understands itself as a watchdog and a critique of power holders. While local political scientists have pointed to the prominence of the idea of ‘consultative democracy’ in the citys political culture, the present authors argue that there are in fact competing visions of democracy in the public arena. As different conceptions of democracy imply different understandings of medias role in politics, this study analyzes a survey to examine citizens understanding of media and politics, especially with regard to the relative emphasis being put on the media as a watchdog versus the media as a platform for consultation. More specifically, the analysis focuses on the role of education in shaping peoples attitudes. Drawing upon political communication research in the West, the analysis also examines how peoples evaluations of the media and of political institutions are related to each other. The findings suggest that Hong Kong citizens in general are quite receptive to the idea of the media as independent from and even a critique of the government, while people with higher levels of education are the most fervent supporters of the liberal media. The implications of the findings will be discussed.

Electronic newspaper as digital marketplaces

This article examines the socio‐economic functions of electronic newspaper in the context of epochal change from the industrial society to the information society. We argue that electronic newspaper is expanding its social roles and performing new functions. This article conceptualizes electronic newspaper as providing three digital marketplaces for (1) news and information, (2) opinion, and (3) trading. Examples are drawn from electronic newspapers from the United States, the United Kingdom and the Chinese communities. The notion of the market is first explored and various characteristics of the marketplace are examined together with those of the electronic newspaper, which assumes the format of an open media code. Finally, implications of the advent of electronic newspaper on the changing role of journalism is discussed.

The struggle for hegemony: the emergence of a counter-public sphere in post-1997 Hong Kong

The present study examines the struggle for hegemony in the public sphere by two different systems, following Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997. It has been postulated that the new media, particularly social media, has become an important public sphere for the citizens of Hong Kong to engage in an anti-hegemonic struggle against China’s discursive encroachment into Hong Kong since 1997. Given that the public platform provided by legacy media has been bought out or coopted by China, new media has begun to serve as a subaltern public sphere to enable resisting the hegemony imposed by China. This was analyzed through a survey conducted as part of this study, which showed that people who are young, read the Apple Daily, have high expectations of local autonomy, and a high regard for press freedom are prone to using social media to obtain their social and political information. This article analyzes the implications of the emergence of a counter-China hegemonic public sphere.

Conditional impact of facebook as an information source on political opinions: the case of political reform in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This study is interested in the impact of Facebook as a source for political information on public opinion during political controversies. In a society where the mainstream media are under heavy influence by the dominant power and yet Internet communication is largely open and free, social media may become particularly important for the transmission of critical information and viewpoints. The social media information environment may exhibit an overall ‘anti-establishment bias.’ However, the impact of social media should vary across individuals depending on the extent and character of user selectivity. Analysis of data collected during the political reform debate in Hong Kong (N = 3,246) show that reliance on Facebook as an information source relates negatively to support for the government’s reform proposal. But the relationship is strongest for people without a strong political orientation and people who do not name any newspapers as their main information source. General theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.