This is my last report as being the chairperson of the HKJA. First of all, I must thank your trust and support in the last three years; also I thank every executive committee member and the HKJA staff. Without any them, the work of the HKJA would not be done. As I believe firmly that the HKJA never belongs to any individual, but to a team as a whole.
On 24 May, journalists from ATV and Cable TV were attacked outside the Shenzhen Fuhua Hospital when covering the lawsuit case of that hospital. Afterward, many media and media organizations condemned this violent act. The HKJA considered in this case it made the danger journalists face when covering sensitive news on Mainland prominent. Therefore, reporters should pay extra attention to their own safeties as no single news worth to trade with your life. The SAR Government should take initiative to actively protect journalists’ safeties in China. In this case, the Mainland Authorities arrested the suspects in this case, but for the case of Taishi Village, the authorities still have not responded to our request.
As Hong Kong journalists need to work in China more frequently, the HKJA invited our Chinese Law Legal Advisor Mr. Ong Yew Kim to rewrite the “China Reporting Manual”. We hope this could help our colleagues to finish their jobs confidently by know more about the Mainland. Each media would receive 15 copies and each member will receive one. For enquiries please contact the HKJA office.
The owning salaries by Sing Pao to its employees still haven’t been settled. The HKJA has been talking with the Sing Pao reporters regularly to provide prompt assistance whenever it needs. We also publicly appeal to all media organizations to inform HKJA when they have vacancies for the resigned Sing Pao’s staff. The lacking of collective bargaining right weakens the role of trade union of the HKJA.
One of the major tasks of the HKJA this year is to study and provide suggestions for the Public Broadcasting Service Policy. We invited Mr. Chris Warren (the President of International Federation of Journalists) and Ms. Jacqueline Park (the Director of the IFJ Asia-Pacific) to Hong Kong and meet the Chairman of the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting, Mr. Raymond R Wong, and other committee members to discuss and provide opinions regarding the policy.
After a long preparation, the 38th Annual Gala Dinner was held successfully on 2nd June. The night we broke the record by holding all together 53 tables, I would like to take this chance to thank our staff for all the effort they paid.
In these years, I kept looking for possibilities and opportunities for further development of the association. The HKJA has strived for press freedom in Hong Kong. We always voice out and represent the mainstream opinions for example the anti-legislation of Article 23. However, we did not do well in the role of trade union by lacking the collective bargaining power. As the biggest asset of a trade union is its members, we also face problems because the Hong Kong journalists are not enthusiastic in joining the union.
As an international city in China, what could we do in connecting between the International Societies and China? We definitely could do more to the journalists associations on Mainland and other Asia countries, e.g. training, exchanging information of the press freedom and freedom of expression, building a supporting network, participating the join action of global press freedom, etc. In this year’s autumn, the IFJ will hold a four-day regional training workshop in Hong Kong, including participants from Korea, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Also the annual IFJ Executive Committee Meeting is also planned to be held in Hong Kong.
Time flies and soon I will leave my position as a chairperson. I would like to thank all my friends who supported me. Besides, I sincerely apologize to those who felt uncomfortable because my working style in these three years.
Please cast your vote to choose your trustworthy executive committee. Also, I wish we will have a new executive committee with more wisdom and foresight to face the coming challenges of the HKJA.
|
Attendance of the 2005-2006 Executive Committee*
|
|
Name
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Total
|
|
Lo King Wah
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
100%
|
|
Tang Kong Fai**
|
x
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
91%
|
|
Tam Chi Keung
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
83%
|
|
Cheung Ping Ling
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
83%
|
|
Una So
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
67%
|
|
Yim Kim Ho
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
67%
|
|
Raymond Cheng
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
67%
|
|
Patsy Moy
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
42%
|
|
Kenny Coyle**
|
x
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
36%
|
|
Don Gasper**
|
x
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
36%
|
|
Mary Ann Benitez
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
17%
|
Remark:
* 0 = Absent; 1 = Present
** Kenny Coyle, Don Gasper, and Tang Kong Fai became ExCo Members after the by-election in July.