Hong Kong
Hope Reigns in SARS Capital
19th March 2003. It was a day no one in Hong Kong will ever forget.
A panel discussion sponsored by Images and Voices of Hope took place in
the city's famous Foreign Correspondents' Club in March. But that wasn't all.
It was also the day that panic over SARS reached fever pitch in the city.
And it was the day America invaded Iraq.
The first of these three events, the discussion on media balance and
responsibility, reflected greatly on people's perception of the other two
events.
It was a fascinating period, since the IVH discussion formed part of a
series of meetings under the banner of the Hong Kong International Literary
Festival. Even if there were many reasons to stay away from Hong Kong, Yann
Martel and other leading authors all came. Most authors--and one hopes, most
people in general---were far too intelligent to base their decisions on the
sensational media reporting in without considering the actual facts.
Questions about personal safety and welfare were surely in the minds of
many individuals as they came for the discussion. There was a risk that any
discussion of media coverage might have dramatically broadened in scope as
people revealed their opinions about Iraq, the killer flu and other hot
topics. But the threat of SARS only seemed to heighten notions of individual
responsibility about how we work and live. And so the stimulating two-hour
conversation - in two parts - stayed largely focused on political writing and
investigative journalism and formed a key part of a fabulous festival.
The first part was called "News Ethics & The New Ethics" and was billed as
"A compelling conversation about impending changes in the
bad-news-is-good-news ethic, which dominates today's journalism."
The second part was called "The Media and Responsibility". This focused on
a new trend: increasing concern that, as media organizations move into China,
they will abandon their responsibility to present balanced coverage.
Dan Kubiske, Co-Chairman of the International Society for Professional
Journalists, Robyn Meredith, Senior Editor with Forbes Magazine, Neville
Hodgkinson, who has worked with the Times and the Daily Mail in London, and
KC Chan, Chief Editor, Hong Kong Economic Journal, spoke.
Robyn Meredith was on call at the news desk for the latest on the Iraq
scene. Based in Hong Kong, Robyn writes about Asian business for Forbes and
its sister publication, Forbes Global magazine. Her most recent cover story,
"Microsoft takes on the Pirates," appeared in the February 17, 2003 issue of
Forbes and Forbes Global magazines.
Neville Hodgkinson, who flew in from the UK, works as a writer and
journalist based in Oxfordshire, England. He specializes in health, medicine
and science, having become interested in these fields while employed as
social policy correspondent on the London Times in the mid-1970s. He later
worked as medical and science correspondent of the London Daily Mail, Sunday
Express, and Sunday Times. In his last full-time journalistic post, as
science correspondent of the Sunday Times, he became involved in major
controversy over the causes of AIDS, reporting from several central African
countries as well as from Australia and Germany in the course of an
investigation that challenged the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) theory.
Dan is a keen proponent of fair, accurate and balanced reporting, free of
party loyalty, 'without fear or favour'. A freelance journalist since 1990,
he has worked in Taiwan, Shanghai, Washington, DC, and now Hong Kong. He was
president of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional
Journalists (SPJ) and is a correspondent member of the Foreign
Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong. About to relocate to the Dominican
Republic, Dan is primarily a print journalist, covering trade, environmental
and commodity issues for specialty publications in the States. He has also
worked in radio in Taiwan, Washington, DC and Hong Kong.
Nury Vittachi, Managing Director, Hong Kong International Literary
Festival, guided the sessions which were attended by a floating population of
20 or so media personnel, free to come, stay and depart from the sessions as
they felt best!
Overall, the topic was well received and people expressed an interest in
future events such as this.
A team of 25+ enthusiastic, over-worked and civic-minded journalists got
together, for lunch at the monthly professional lunch on Jan 29th at the FCC
in Hong Kong to hear John Corcoran share news and views on the IMAGES AND
VOICES OF HOPE project, which has been holding 'conversations about hope'
around the globe. John, a travel veteran and businessman in the
diamond-engineering field may have felt daunted by these hard-edged,
fact-seeking serious journalists but the results testify that 'images and
voices of hope' are on the mind's agenda for media professionals as they find
their desks flooded with 'bad and sad' news daily and perhaps want a way to
keep the right balance so that the consumers keep the paper profitable and so
they keep their jobs! and their souls...
The 'chat' has continued since the lunch, around the bar, in the office,
at the coffee shop; affirming that this is a real issue and deserves real
attention. John's visit to Hong Kong opened this dialogue and it is planned
to see what can be done in mid 2002 to develop the project in the Far East.
Nury Vittachi, journalist with the "Far Eastern Economic Review" is keen to
make the best happen and is working with Ken Gangwani, Helen Northey and
Celia Wong and to pull together the next IMAGES AND VOICES OF HOPE
conversation in Hong Kong.
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