--Read the South China Morning Post Website (www.scmp.com) and write letters to the editor if you note weak coverage or kowtowing to Beijing or omissions. Look for any indications that the power struggle between the Tung ruling group and Xinhua News Agency is increasing; if it gets too serious it could spell the ouster of Tung, who is an enemy of press openness.
--Other areas which seem very normal but which China needs to get serious about are protection of intellectual property rights, copyrights and patents as well as a whole range of issues surrounding the rule of law and contracts. These all have a bearing on press freedom.
CHAPTER ELEVEN Conclusion & Recommendations
So there is plenty of anecdotal evidence, plus the studies of experts like my friend and colleague Ven-hwei Lo of National Chengchi University in Taipei and the work of Messrs. Bueno de Mesquita, Newman and Rabushka in California, various other surveys plus the weight of informed honest opinion all showing there is an ongoing decline of freedom of the press--a suffocation of press freedoms if you will--in Hong Kong.
It is a syndrome that is continuing day by day. It is not getting any better; it is getting worse.
Slow suffocation continues.
The diabolical thing is that to the casual business or tourism visitor to Hong Kong, the process is virtually invisible. It is only after being on the scene for a period, looking under the right rocks, investigating the pressure points, that the lack of press freedom becomes so obvious and its portent so damaging.
The people in the trenches, like the members of the Hong Kong Journalists Association deserve special credit for their courage in keeping this crucial issue alive.
For Americans, Nancy Bernkopf Tucker puts Hong Kong in unique historical perspective:
