Hong Kong's mass media at the end of 2006 included 49 daily newspapers, a number of electronic newspapers, 699 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 production of regional publications in Hong Kong underlines its importance as a financial, industrial, trading and communications centre.

The Press

The registered Hong Kong press at year-end included 22 Chinese-language dailies, 14 English-language dailies (one of them in Braille and one in internet edition), eight bilingual dailies and five in Japanese. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 15 cover mainly local and overseas news, five 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 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, as well as an internet edition. Two 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 and business and trade magazines. The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal Asia, USA Today International, International Herald Tribune and The Nihon Keizai Shimbun are printed in Hong Kong.

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 and one of the most active. Formed in 1968, it has more than 400 members. It pays special attention to a range of press freedoms and ethics concerns as well as to professional training and the handling of labour disputes. Other media organisations include 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 and briefings.

During the year, the Mass Communications Training Board of the Vocational Training Council continued to run training programmes to help people working in the media, advertising and public relations sectors to improve their skills. An allocation of $220,000 from the council enabled the board to arrange courses, talks and seminars with professional bodies such as the Hong Kong News Executives' Association, the Hong Kong Advertisers Association, the Hong Kong Public Relations Professionals' Association, the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists.