The Development of Television News and Broadcast Environment - Essay Example

Introduction to HK Television News: Public Broadcasting System can Provide News Programs with Quality and Commercial Value Introduction Located on mainland Asia, Hong Kong is a bustling, prosperous city-state that, under the tutelage of the British who ran the territory for over 50 years as their Crown Colony, successfully forged growth amidst the diversity of cultures and contrasting economic and political systems and struck a balance between capitalism and communism. Throughout that period before the British turned over Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997 in compliance with a 1984 agreement, the language of commerce and mass media here had been British English1. For this reason, the development of television news and broadcast environment in Hong Kong closely paralleled that of UK in that it is driven by public service broadcasting, which is confined to educational and community development programs in other countries. The public broadcasting concept was introduced in the US in the 1960s as university-related radio and television stations in response to mounting concerns that the commercial networks cater to the baser desires of audiences at the expense of socially meaningful programming. Thus, the very first public broadcasting station was called National Educational Television (NET), which up to now produces the popular children program “Sesame Street.” 10 Other such stations have since featured the American Civil War, documentaries and academic views on relevant issues such as medicine, AIDS, terrorism and scientific breakthroughs. Public service broadcasting is at the center of a contentious debate in Hong Kong now that the Chinese are its new masters. The reason is that public broadcasting is associated with regulation and state control, for which Chinese governance is known and still secretly feared and which are anathema to the free and unfettered presentation of television news. Already, Chinese officials from the Mainland are promoting Cantonese for wider use in Hong Kong, which is taken as a bad omen by the television news people who pursue their job mostly in British English. This research project gathers the views of people in the television news industry in Hong Kong as well as those with high stakes in its unruffled and dynamic operation like public relations, advertising and rating groups. The main focus of the research is whether public broadcasting can provide credible TV news programs and whether it does anything to lift the quality and commercial appeal of television news. Methodology The sample of interviewees from the television news industry consisted of 10 individuals, divided equally between those working for privately owned channels and those working for RTHK, the sole public broadcasting station in Hong Kong. For those in related fields, the research questionnaire was sent to 5 persons engaged in public relations, 5 in advertising and 5 in the rating game. Only 2 of the people in TV news begged off from the interview, citing a busy schedule, and only 4 of those in related fields returned the questionnaire with regrets, which meant a high response rate of 89 percent. Of the final respondents, 48 percent were women and the mean average of their length of employment in their respective organizations was 7 years. As method of measurement we used the 5-item SSPC scale, which lists whether the respondents agree, disagree, neutral, strongly agree or strongly disagree. In the questionnaire, 10 items were asked to assess the respondents’ perception of public broadcasting. These items included: 1) A public broadcasting station is incapable of providing balanced and objective television news. 2) Public funding affects and compromises the quality of TV news. 3) Television news programs of public broadcasting stations do not attract advertisers. 4) Television news programs of public broadcasting stations do not top the rating charts. 5) Public relations practitioners and advertising executives rarely socialize with people behind television news the way they do with those in commercial stations. Literature Review Television news is defined as a mere compilation of news bulletins that is inferior to the traditional notion of news as offered in newspapers. When you have heard the whole bulletin, the feeling is that you have heard all. Except for some changes in the news reading technique, the television news bulletin in the early days of broadcasting are no different from the news bulletins of today. In the early days of TV news, Hong Kong channels did not have newsgathering organizations of their own as BBC and other TV news channels. There were no editors and reporters and so-called copy tasters. Their bulletins for the most part were culled from the same wire services that provide messages to newspaper through subscription, the oldest of which is Reuters. The later news agencies include Agence France-Press, United Press International, and Associated Press. A handicap is that once spoken, a piece of telecast news is easily forgotten and cannot be placed on record for all time like the printed word. The TV news service is also greatly inhibited by policy decisions, although on the whole the bulletins are as free from bias. The range of news is restricted because broadcasting time is restricted, since TV news programs are of one-hour durations, 40 minutes only if you count the commercial gaps, which are often held at a frequency of 6 gaps per hour. You can’t include the human-interest stories and features that newspaper editors so love. The license in conjecture and interpretation, which newspapers allow themselves, would not do at all at a TV news service 1. The news bulletin suffers from the fact that in its presentation, the means which newspapers employ to bring out the main points are physically impossible in broadcasting. A newspaper sets a story in black type, with headings and cross headings and can illustrate it with pictures. The editors of broadcast bulletin and the men or women who read it have no such devices to help them. Important news is often read in the same tone of voice as trivial as news, a war or a revolution described with no more emphasis than fat stock prices. The organizational structure of TV news service follows lines rather similar to that of a newspaper office. There is a duty editor, corresponding to a night editor in newspapers, a chief sub-editor, a copy taster, a team of sub-editors and reporters, further down the line, a newsreader. The copy taster selects materials for the bulletins and, together with the chief sub-editor, weeds out superfluous matter and takes the time factor into consideration. Then the chief sub-editor gives out the copy to his sub-editors with instructions as to length. Based on the importance of the story, the bulletin will consist of only a few lines or paragraphs but no story ever occupies more than one page. Once the sub-editor makes his summary, he dictates it to a typist and the sheet is passed on to the chief sub-editor, who will assemble it with the other sheets into a complete bulletin. Then, half an hour before going on air, the newsreader comes to the chief sub-editor to see what he will be up against. Avoidance of error in news reading depends on the preliminary work the reader put in the newsroom before going on air. He will probably have a system of his own for stressing or underlining passages that he feels need bringing out, and will often suggest a re-arrangement of a sentence to make it easier in speaking. There may also be names or words the pronunciation of which may be in doubt, and a ruling from some higher authority must be obtained at once. This poses a problem in Hong Kong where most newsreaders are non-English natives who must read in English. In TV news casting, the correct pronunciation rather than the spelling must be established. This is one of the headaches peculiar to broadcasting. According to Armstrong (2005), television news is the least attractive for TV stations because of its high cost of production and low audience. Of the types of television programs, drama requires the highest cost of production but it also attracts the largest viewership. Programs with lower costs of production are those related to sports, current events and art and religion but they also attract the least size of audience. These problems are being addressed by Radio-TV Hong Kong, which has codified its editorial policies and practices into a guidebook to enhance the transparency and accountability of its operations. This guidebook includes a mandatory referral system providing that before going on air, the editorial board must discuss sensitive issues such as: 1) interviews with criminals and people sought by police; 2) any plan to grant anonymity to anyone trying to evade the law; 3) payment to criminals or ex-criminals; 4) broadcasting any tapes taken surreptitiously; 5) disclosing details of kidnapping or any serious crime obtained surreptitiously or unofficially; 6) requests from outside parties to see or obtain records; and 7) commissioning of opinion polls on any political issue 11. The modern broadcasting environment is characterized by an explosion in the number of available channels that ironically results in a general decline in the quality of program content. This justifies the existence, even promotion of public service broadcasting. However, the public frowns on the concept because a “neo-liberal” environment of hostility to all things public, exacerbated by the crisis of public confidence, an aggressive and highly competitive commercial broadcasting sector and new forms of government interference.3 The central goal of public broadcasting is precisely public service because of its reach and assumed influence. Its common features are that government provides its funding but is independent from government, it is often an educational channel that caters to minority interests, and it is usually not dependent on advertisements and ratings for survival. In Hong Kong, a committee tasked to review public service broadcasting came up with the recommendation that a new public broadcasting system be constituted “based on a greater, more pronounced public demand.” The committee insists that a public broadcasting station is a credible source of accurate and impartial information, educational inspiration and resources as well as quality entertainment and enlightenment. The proposed name of the service is Hong Kong Public Broadcasting Corp., which shall operate under strict governance and accountability measures, such that it will be answerable to the public for the scope and the quality of service that it will provide at public expense. It will be established as a statutory body to publicly funded to ensure that it is genuinely universal, diverse, independent and distinctive. 11 The specific tasks of the proposed body are: Sustain citizenship and civil society and promote understanding of the concept “one country, two systems” of the Hong Kong community, nation and the world through accurate and impartial news, information, perspectives and analyses. Foster social harmony and pluralism. Establish value education and promote lifelong learning. Stimulate creativity and excellence to enrich the multi-cultural fabric of Hong Kong life.6 It is the considered opinion of many that public broadcasting can provide news programs with high quality and commercial value if it produces impartial news and information; gives access to a range of programs; disengages itself from political and commercial pressures; shows pluralism, quality and voice for all sections of the community; obtains public funding with guarantees of freedom and independence; involves license fees not tied to political considerations; and emphasizes fairness at work, social justice and right protection for journalists and whose who work in the industry. The respondents in the interviews for this research agree that these conditions must be in place for public broadcasting to achieve its noble objectives. References: 1. Armstrong, M., 2005, Public Service Broadcasting, University College London. 2. Arnote, R. 1997, Hong Kong, China, Tom Doherty Associates Inc., New York 3. Banerjee, I. & Seneviratne, K. (eds), Public Service Broadcasting: A Best Practices Sourcebook, Asian Media Information and Communication Center. 4. Barker, C. 1997, Global Television: An Introduction, Blackwell Publishers. Baughman, J., 2005, The Complications of Early Television, Diplomatic History Vol. 29, No. 4. 5. Chalaby, J. 2005, Transnational Television Worldwide: Towards a New Media Order, Tauris. 6. CITB, 2007, Report on Review of Public Service Broadcasting, Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau, webpage design (online) at: http://www.citb.gov.hk/ctb/eng/new/pr28032007.htm 7. Mendel, T., 2000, Public Service Broadcasting: A Legal Study, UNESCO/Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, Kuala Lumpur. 8. Rigby, C. 1950, The Staff Journalist, The Pitman Press, London. 9. RTHK, http://www..rthk.org.hk/index_eng.htm 10. GIA, 2007, Public Service Broadcasting, webpage design (online) at: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200703/28/P200703280149.htm Read More