The Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong

FCC Journalism Conference: Covering News in the Era of Digital Disruption

FCC Journalism Conference:
Covering News in the Era of Digital Disruption

A day of expert panels and workshops for journalists at every stage of their career

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2016
09:30 – 18:30
HK$395

The FCC’s inaugural conference Covering News in the Era of Digital Disruption offers a day of expert panels and workshops focusing on the multiple challenges facing journalists in a rapidly changing media landscape.

With speakers from many of the world’s news leaders, the conference will give insight and practical advice on such issues as cybersecurity, sourcing through social media, writing for online and mobile, conflict reporting, following the money using documents, the art of long-form journalism, maximising photo impact and challenging sources.

The conference opens with a session on how to kick-start your career in journalism and ends with a look into the future of media. Speakers are from such industry leaders as CNN, the BBC, Reuters, AFP, Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Guardian, Storyful and Quartz. Please see the attached programme for details.

We hope the event will prove rewarding for all journalists, from beginners to seasoned correspondents, at a fraction of the price of typical conferences at $395 for the whole day, including a light breakfast, lunch and post-event drinks.

	Sign-up will first be open exclusively to Correspondent and Journalist members who register by Friday 08 April 2016, on a first-come first-saved basis
	To sign-up contact concierge at 2521-1511 or [email protected]
	Once signed-up you will be contacted to select your preferred workshops
	No cancellations will be accepted after noon on Friday 15 April 2016

Elections & Voting Rules

Venue Hire

From conferences to cocktails to wedding receptions, the FCC has had the privilege of organising and hosting many special events for members. We offer a variety of venue spaces and catering packages. The venues, subject to availability, include: Dining Room, Verandah, Bert’s, Hughes room and Burton room. Please contact our experienced Banqueting team to explore whether any of our venues are suitable for your next event.

For bookings, please email [email protected], or call [telnumlink]+852 2521 1511[/telnumlink] / [telnumlink]+852 2844 2828[/telnumlink]

Digital age

Digital fallout also reaches The Correspondent from time to time as some argue that we don’t really need an expensive magazine when we can put it online. At some future time it may be online, however the demand for a magazine remains as the FCC’s November 2015 survey overwhelmingly shows.

During 2015 Club news and news features from The Correspondent plus website-only stories have appeared on the website. With the launch of the redesigned website in January 2016 there will be a greater an interaction between the website and the magazine which will enhance the effectiveness of both.

The combination produces the best from both worlds – as the likes of the FT, SCMP, New York Times, Monocle, The Economist and others are attempting, mostly successfully, to do. The publications that get this formula right will be the ones left standing.

Meanwhile, the magazine goes on as it should. A correspondents’ club without one would be a strange beast.

An integral part of the magazine is the production house that makes it all possible. Since the late 80s, production has been in the hands of Viswa Nathan, Mike Bishara, Firstline, Richard Cook at WordAsia and Terry and Aira Duckham at Asiapix. In fact, Asiapix, through two separate stints has the longest connection to the magazine,

The Communications Committee oversees the magazine, website and other publications usually in a very hands-on way.

Saul Lockhart was editor of the magazine for about four years until he left Hong Kong in 2002. Other editors who served for varying lengths of time include Simon Twiston-Davies, Peter Cordingly, Karl Wilson, Diane Stormont, Richard Cook and Paul Bayfield.

If you want to catch up with past issues of the magazine please refer to the FCC’s website.

The Correspondent lives on

It might surprise you to know that it wasn’t until 1987 that The Correspondent magazine began to appear regularly in its current format. Other issues had appeared from time to time in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, but not on a regular basis. By the mid-80s it had been reduced to an eight-page newsletter that came out infrequently.

We have been only able to locate some surviving 1970s issues and one or two from the 1960s. Mind you, some of those issues were not dated inside or outside magazine, but given paper quality and style they probably date from the late-70s.

It was in 1987 that Club member Viswa Nathan came up with the idea of publishing a monthly glossy magazine that would be supported by advertising. Viswa made a go of it from the first issue. It’s not an easy business to find enough ads to cover the costs of producing the magazine, but these were boom days in Hong Kong and all the hongs had ad budgets for small-circulation magazines.

By the mid-1990s it became harder to get ads and it was no longer possible to take for granted ads from the hongs. The exception was the 50^th anniversary of the FCC in Hong Kong special issue (1999) which was fully supported by ads due to the hard work of editor Saul Lockhart. From that time the magazine became financed fully by the Club, with the occasional ad income as a supplement to the budget.

Many of the ads in that issue were from the media industry; including one gem (as you would expect) from The Economist, which read, “Congratulating the FCC on 50 years of intoxicating journalism”. Sadly, as the media industry struggles with the digital revolution and the consequent falling ad revenue and diffuse readership, budget for ads has dried up.

Expulsion of Ursula Gauthier

Human Rights Press Awards

Press release
For immediate release
26 January, 2016

Human Rights Press Awards Continue Youth Initiatives

The Human Rights Press Awards, now in their 20th year, are once again holding both Student Human Rights Press Awards, as well as a Youth Essay Contest.

Entries for the Student Human Rights Press Awards are due on 31 January, 2016. They have been expanded to include submissions by Hong Kong secondary school students, as well as tertiary-level students. Works must have been published or broadcast in the professional or campus media from 1 January 2015 to 31 January 2016. Rules and entry forms are available at http://humanrightspressawards.org/1102.html

Enquiries: Joyce Chiang, Amnesty International Hong Kong, Tel. 2151-3001, [email protected].

The HRPA is also holding a Youth Essay Contest, with a deadline of 29 February, 2016. Judges will chose one talented young Hong Kong writer, aged 18 to 25. The winner will be flown to Italy to cover the Far East Film Festival in April, which has a special Campus for young journalists. The Youth Essay Contest is supported by the Far East Film Festival and Cathay Pacific. Rules and entry forms are available at http://humanrightspressawards.org/1110.html. You can also pick up an entry form at the FCC.

Enquiries: Joyce Lau, [email protected].

Winners of both initiatives will be announced during the Human Rights Press Awards’ 20th anniversary gala on 6 May, 2016. The HRPA are organized by the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
The 20th Annual Human Rights Press Awards 2015

Organized by The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong
Amnesty International Hong Kong
Hong Kong Journalists Association

Press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

23 December 2015

Entries have opened for the 2015 Human Rights Press Awards, the largest prize of its kind in Asia. The deadline is Jan. 11, 2016. Winners will be announced at our 20th anniversary gala on May 6, 2016.

We welcome reportage from across the Asia-Pacific region in both English and Chinese. Works must have been published or broadcast in the professional media during the 2015 calendar year. A full set of rules, procedures and downloadable PDF entry forms are available at HumanRightsPressAwards.org.

The Human Rights Press Awards are organized by The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

For more information, please email [email protected].

The Human Rights Press Awards were founded in 1994 by the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association to honor the best rights-related reporting from across Asia.

Winning List of the 19th Annual Human Rights Press Awards

Past Human Rights Press Awards …

History Right Panel

Demolition Trail, SCMP, 21st May 2011

FCC Celebrates 70th Anniversary, The Correspondent, 2013