Hong Kong's mass media at the end of 2004 included 46 daily newspapers, a number of electronic newspapers, 799 periodicals, two domestic free television programme service licensees, three domestic pay television programme service licensees, 13 non-domestic television programme service licensees, one government-funded public service broadcaster, and two sound broadcasting licensees.

The availability of the latest telecommunications technology and keen interest in Hong Kong's affairs have attracted many international news agencies, newspapers with international readership and overseas broadcasting corporations to establish regional headquarters or representative offices here. The successful regional publications produced in Hong Kong underline its important position as a financial, industrial, trading and communications centre.

The Press

The Hong Kong press registered at year-end included 21 Chinese-language dailies, 13 English-language dailies (one of them in Braille and one an Internet edition), seven bilingual dailies and five in Japanese. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 14 cover mainly local and overseas general news; four specialise in finance; and the rest cover horse racing. The larger papers include overseas Chinese communities in their distribution networks, and some have editions printed outside Hong Kong, in particular in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

One of the English dailies publishes a daily Braille edition, in conjunction with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind, and also an Internet edition. Three Chinese dailies and four bilingual dailies are published on the Internet. Hong Kong is the base for a number of regional publications such as the Far Eastern Economic Review (which changed from a weekly to a monthly publication) and business and trade magazines. The Financial Times, Asian Wall Street Journal, USA Today, International Herald Tribune and Nihon Keizai Shimbun are printed here.

Several organisations represent people working in the news media in Hong Kong. The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong represents Chinese and English newspaper proprietors. It is empowered to act in matters that affect the interests of its members. The Hong Kong Journalists Association is the biggest industry-wide union of journalists in the HKSAR and one of the most active. Formed in 1968, it has around 600 members and promotes the right to freedom of expression. It focuses its attention on a range of press freedom and ethics concerns as well as on professional training. Among media organisations formed more recently are the Hong Kong News Executives' Association, the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, and the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association. The long-established Foreign Correspondents' Club offers its members social facilities and a range of professional activities, including news conferences, briefings and films.

During the year, the Mass Communications Training Board of the Vocational Training Council continued to organise upgrading training for those working in the media, advertising and public relations sectors. An allocation of $300,000 from the Council enabled the board to arrange courses, talks and seminars with professional bodies such as the Hong Kong Advertisers Association, the Hong Kong Press Council, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association and the Hong Kong Public Relations Professionals' Association.