Hong Kong’s leader has expressed renewed support for the local media industry, including strengthening its global reach and reviewing the code of practice for television to ensure it keeps abreast with the times.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu made the pledges in both the city’s first five-year plan and the policy address he unveiled on Wednesday.
In the section on “Develop an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange” under the five-year plan, Lee said: “We will strengthen the global reach of the mainstream media”.
And in the part discussing measures to strengthen the city’s status as an international trade centre in the policy address, Lee said: “The government will continue to assist the local media to expand their network beyond Hong Kong, telling the good stories of Hong Kong.”
The South China Morning Post earlier reported that the initiative would assist local media, which report in Chinese and English, in reaching readers beyond the city for the second consecutive year. The industry could offer media services particularly in countries under the umbrella of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Lee also said on Wednesday that the administration would review the Generic Codes of Practice for Television.
“We aim to ensure that regulation keeps pace with the times, and that diversified and quality programmes are broadcast, expanding the reach of the ‘Hong Kong Brand’ to the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
The codes govern the programme, advertising and technical standards of television broadcasting in Hong Kong. This includes regulating the use of language, violent and sexual content and indirect marketing in television programmes.
The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong News Executives’ Association welcomed the government’s inclusion of support for the media in the two blueprints.
“The society believes that such strategic direction and policy support will foster media development and competitiveness, promoting a healthier evolution of the industry amid the immense technological disruptions and challenging operating environment it currently faces,” it said.
The association said that with the government’s support over the past year, media organisations had been expanding their networks outside Hong Kong and exploring new directions to improve their competitiveness.
“The association firmly believes that the healthy development of the media industry is inextricably linked to Hong Kong’s overall prosperity,” it said. “The industry remains committed to upholding professional standards to ensure its continued healthy growth.”
The Hong Kong Federation of Journalists also welcomed the measure, saying it would foster the “healthy development” of the media industry and strengthen its global competitiveness and communication capacity.
Lawmaker Christine Fong Kwok-shan said traditional broadcasters operated under strict advertising and content restrictions while streaming platforms and social media such as Netflix and YouTube operated with minimal regulation, draining away advertising revenue.
She said she hoped the updated codes would allow broadcasters to diversify their revenue streams through more flexible sponsorship arrangements.
Fong also said generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools continued to scrape news and multimedia content without licensing, eroding the value of original intellectual property.
She said the government should take the lead in establishing guidelines or a legal framework to help protect copyright content created by media from AI data mining.
But lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said the emergence of AI had made copyright issues more complicated and harder to resolve.
Quat said that if AI absorbed different content and generated something on its own rather than copying it directly, it would be hard to define the copyright, as it was the AI’s own creation.
Regarding the code, Quat said it had been in place for many years with only minor amendments, yet it must contend with today’s industry competition and the development of the multimedia ecosystem. She said television broadcasters in many places were facing serious difficulties.
“So on one hand, they need to proactively transform themselves, but on the other hand we also need to look at whether the current codes of practice and regulations can keep pace with the times,” she said. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
