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Me and the Media: Former Reuters chief David Schlesinger

David Schlesinger when he was Reuters' editor-in-chief. Photo: David Schlesinger David Schlesinger when he was Reuters’ editor-in-chief. Photo: David Schlesinger

David Schlesinger is the founder of Tripod Advisors

Previously: Journalist with Reuters for 25 years, rising to Editor-in-Chief and then Chairman, Thomas Reuters China

Now: Writer and consultant, still active in journalism and the media business

What made you want to work in media?

I needed to support my China habit! And while I dabbled in academia, one wise professor in graduate school pointed out that I liked closure – that feeling of finding something out, making a judgment and moving on (and of course academic work moves at a comparatively glacial pace!). So I became a news service journalist, trying on a minute-by-minute basis to make a sensible narrative out of the world’s chaos. 

What has been a career high point?

An early highlight was being named Reuters China bureau chief — my academic interests and my new profession came together in an exciting and stimulating way. Then, when I became global Editor-in-Chief, it was an extraordinary high to lead an organisation of truly talented and brave people through difficult and challenging times.

And a career low point?

David Schlesinger during his tenure as China bureau chief for Reuters. Photo: David Schlesinger David Schlesinger during his tenure as China bureau chief for Reuters. Photo: David Schlesinger

My time in senior editorial roles coincided with an extremely bloody, deadly and terrifying time for journalism. Too many Reuters journalists died in Iraq, in Israel, in Thailand when I was responsible for the operation – their deaths were far too high a price to pay. The struggle to balance our need as reporters to bear witness and our vital need to stay safe is one we as a profession still haven’t solved.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

You never can stop pushing – making that extra call, revising that one more time, asking that follow up question. I think that’s the kind of spirit that will survive all the technological and business challenges facing the profession and will always find a reward.

FCCT statement on the criminal prosecution of BBC Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head

The following is a statement issued by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand for its members.

FCCT statement on the criminal prosecution of BBC Southeast Asia
correspondent Jonathan Head

 

Due to laws in Thailand relating to contempt of court, the professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club is constrained in what can be said concerning criminal charges for defamation brought against BBC correspondent Jonathan Head, which are being tested in a Thai court at taxpayer’s expense.

This is an important case that merits the broadest attention. It tests the legal limits of how much a journalist can report in what he/she genuinely believes to be the public interest without fear of legal redress.

Of broader significance, it shines a light on how notarized signatures are sometimes used in Thailand on important documents, such as title deeds, shares, wills, company directorships, and so forth. This is therefore a case of considerable concern to everybody living in the country, not just foreign residents and investors.

We hope that this matter can be brought to a quick, unambiguous, and just conclusion for the benefit of all concerned.

It should be noted that Jonathan Head serves as chairman of the professional committee of the FCCT, and has recused himself from this statement.

Trump and China: OPC group discusses relationship that’s ‘simply too important’ to fail

This article by Eric Westervelt is reproduced with permission from the Overseas Press Club of America 

Left to right: Xiao Qiang, John Pomfret and Mary Kay Magistad. Photo: Eric Westervelt Left to right: Xiao Qiang, John Pomfret and Mary Kay Magistad. Photo: Eric Westervelt

Despite Donald Trump’s tough talk about China, author and journalist John Pomfret told an OPC/West gathering in the San Francisco area in early January that history shows that the relationship is deep, complex, and “simply too important” to fail.

Pomfret’s new book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present, charts the history of that relationship, and how, from the American Founding Fathers to the present, each country has influenced the other in abiding and often surprising ways, including how the Founding Fathers studied and admired aspects of Chinese culture, and how trade with China just after the birth of the American nation helped the US economy get going.

Donald Trump’s apparent preference for closer ties with Russia may over time prove to be a new twist on an old theme – US presidents coming in with one set of assumptions about China, and adjusting them upon realising how a constructive, multi-faceted relationship with China serves US interests. An added challenge this time is how to deal with China’s efforts to cement its desired role as the region’s predominant military, economic and political power, including by creating islands and putting military bases in the contested South China Sea.

Joining the conversation was Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor in UC Berkeley’s School of Information, and founder and editor-in-chief of China Digital Times.net, which monitors and translates Chinese journalism and social media. He said while many Chinese on social media initially expressed a preference that Trump would win the election, because they figured a businessman would be all about transactional business and not about ideology, the post-election tone has become more uncertain.

“Right now, I see confusion and silence,” said Xiao Qiang, “There is uncertainty…people just don’t know what to do.”

John Pomfret's book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present John Pomfret’s book, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present

Xiao Qiang grew up in China and, like Pomfret, was in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 pro-democracy protests, Pomfret as a correspondent, Xiao as a protester. Shortly after, Pomfret was kicked out of the country, and Xiao went into exile in the United States, first helping to lead the human rights group Human Rights in China, and then founding China Digital Times.

Xiao recalled how, growing up under Mao Zedong’s leadership, during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and ‘70s, he heard plenty of anti-American propaganda, but as soon as China started opening up, American films, music and culture poured in, and his generation – like the pre-Mao generation – couldn’t get enough of them. America was initially idealised and emulated, both at the personal and the official levels – as China rose as a global power and global economy, America set the standard, but was also increasingly – and is still – seen as the competitor to beat.

How that will play out between President Trump and current Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has shown a willingness to be muscular in consolidating power at home and claiming territory in contested waters, will be a critical variable in determining the stability, or lack thereof, in the Asia/Pacific region, and whether the United States might get pulled into a conflict there – or choose to cooperate on an issue like halting North Korea’s progress on building up its nuclear weapons capabilities.

The conversation was moderated by OPC member Mary Kay Magistad, who opened NPR’s bureau in China in 1996, and returned to Beijing for more than a decade for the BBC/PRI program “The World.” She now hosts the “Whose Century Is It?” podcast with The World.

The Center for Investigative Reporting/Reveal hosted the event, attended by more than 30 former foreign correspondents, at its Emeryville headquarters, just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco.

Overseas Press Club of America logo

OPC/West is an informal affiliate of the OPC. The group of about 70 current and former foreign correspondents based in the San Francisco Bay Area, first formed in the spring of 2016. New members are welcome. Interested? Contact OPC members Markos Kounalakis at [email protected], or Mary Kay Magistad at [email protected].

Eric Westervelt served for more that a decade as foreign correspondent with NPR’s international desk, returning to domestic news in 2013 to cover a national beat covering American education.

Me and the Media: Ex-BBC News producer Nigel Sharman on his career highs and lows

Nigel Sharman is an FCC associate member governor. Nigel Sharman is an FCC associate member governor.

Nigel Sharman is an FCC associate member governor

Previously: Senior Producer, BBC News, London

Now: Solicitor, Clifford Chance, Hong Kong

What made you want to work in media?

My uncle Berkeley Smith used to run the old Southern Television ITV franchise famous for its Out of Town countryside programme, the precursor to Countryfile. I remember being given a tour of the Southampton studios when I was young and marvelled at the studio in which How! was made. I made it as a BBC television production trainee at the second attempt and worked on programmes such as Breakfast Time, That’s Life (with Esther, Cyril and the amusingly-shaped vegetables) and Newsnight.

What has been a career high point?

Working day-in, day-out with some truly talented and remarkable people, including presenters Martyn Lewis, Peter Sissons and Anna Ford. And, during a short sojourn at ITN, with the wonderful Sir Trevor McDonald, whose overall niceness I remember to this day.

And a career low point?

Berkeley Smith covering the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: BBC Berkeley Smith covering the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: BBC

Being shouted at by an irate John Prescott in the Norman Shaw North Parliamentary studio after Jeremy Paxman asked him, down the line from the studio, questions he didn’t want to be asked. Prescott later made out I had given him an assurance to that effect. I had done no such thing, which taught me a lot about politicians!

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Keep asking yourself if you are enjoying what you are doing and if you aren’t, do something else. Don’t stay in jobs that don’t make you happy.

FCC archive: Amid China’s tightening censorship, Hong Kong editors test the limits

This article is reproduced from the March 1997 edition of The Correspondent.

The Correspondent reports on censorship fears ahead of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong The Correspondent reports on censorship fears ahead of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong

Mainland censorship of major news stories has always been something of a problem. What will happen after the handover?

By Dinah Lee

“We knew it was nonsense the first day we saw it, but it’s something to hang onto while we’re drowning,” said Bill Chan of the Sino-British agreement under which Hong Kong reverts to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. Chan is the China editor of the news division of the territory’s leading television station, HK-TVB, owned by legendary movie car Run Run Shaw. Chan was speaking candidly late last year at a private dinner hosted by the National Committee on United States-China Relations.

Chan was there as part of a five-man delegation visiting New York. The group’s membership spanned Hong Kong’s political spectrum and included the deputy chief editor of the once-colonial English-language daily South China Morning Post, editorial writers from Tin Tin Daily and the left-wing Wen Wei Po and the international news editor of Hong Kong Commercial Daily, considered sympathetic to the mainland.

As a follow-up to the successful panel discussion sponsored by the Freedom Forum and OPC on the threats to Hong Kong’s press freedom, the informal chat gave members of the Overseas Press Club’s Freedom of the Press Committee a chance to better understand the problems that Hong Kong editors face daily, even before the official handover.

The topic must be specified ahead of time… Therefore, if there’s breaking news, it’s impossible to do our job legally.

Chan singled out broadcast journalism as the most precarious media because of its visibility. “I print you can run editorials or news stories without bylines, but our first priority must be to protect our staff. Under the seven regulations, which govern Hong Kong and (neighbouring) Macau journalists working on the mainland, we are only officially allowed to cover stories after receiving permission two to three weeks in advance,” Chan said. “The topic must be specified ahead of time. And we can’t go to Beijing and cover other stories on the side. Therefore, if there’s breaking news, it’s impossible to do our job legally.”

Chan’s comments were reference to the crackdown on Hong Kong journalists after the Tiananmen tragedy of 1989.

The post-1989 regulations have proved an effective carrot-and-stick system for controlling who and which organisations work inside China. For major events in Beijing, reporters’ names must be submitted for clearance to the new China News Agency in Hong Kong. The NCNA will demand a replacement if the nominated reporter has politically ‘transgressed’ in the past.

Chan described the current modus operandi as an uneasy accommodation whereby TVB reporters on the mainland bring their footage back to Hong Kong for standups or the packaging before being broadcast. TVB cannot establish and official news bureau in Beijing, so their reporters operate from a de facto bureau and are seen on the job regularly by Chinese authorities. “So of course, they know we’re there,” said Chan. TVB reporters on the mainland are always exposed to the risk of being arrested and formally charged and in fact they are detained constantly for many hours at a time, said Chan.

Self-censorship is a worrying trend among Hong Kong media. For the time being, none of the editors seemed too sure of how rigidly the Chinese would interpret the limits on criticism of Beijing leaders recently stated by the Chinese foreign minister, Qian Qichen. “It’s alright if our criticisms are based on facts, not rumours,” said Lui Kin Hung of the Hong Kong Commercial Daily.

“Does that mean we can call Li Peng an animal or not?” retorted Chan, a joke on Li Peng’s name in Chinese, which means ‘roc’, a gigantic bird of Eastern legend. Chan admitted his station has already refrained from moves that might brand TVB in Beijing as a troublemaker. For example, a controversial documentary on the life of Mao Zedung has stayed on the shelf for more than two years.

Asked, hypothetically, whether the South China Morning Post would drop columnists who are critical of the Communist Party such as legislators Emily Lau and Christine Loh under post-1997 intimidation from the Communists, Cambridge-educated Victor Fung said half-jokingly, “Sure.” Then he added, “Seriously, we would have to look at who owns us after 1997 and make a decision at that time.”

If somebody sits over me every day and tells me what to do, I would just get up and walk away

Currently the South China Morning Post is owned by Malaysian business tycoon Robert Kuok, but he has major business interests on the mainland and could easily be swayed by Communist interests – or even sell the paper to them. In fact, when the former head of the New China News Agency, Xi Jiantun, defected to a Buddhist temple in San Diego after the Tiananmen incident, he wrote in his memoirs of discussions with Beijing to take a controlling interest in the newspaper.

According to a 1995 report by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the Communist government stepped up their infiltration of Hong Kong media organisations after June 4, 1989. Lui of the Commercial Daily said it was now no secret who was the so-called mainland ‘uncle’ from the Communist Party on their editorial staff, as the person in question also serves in Beijing as a high-ranking Communist Party official in the State Council’s office of press affairs. In other newspapers China’s agents might adopt a much lower profile.

Chan says that the Communists cannot afford to interfere too openly in the early days of the coming transition. “If somebody sits over me every day and tells me what to do, I would just get up and walk away,” he said. “They can’t afford to have everybody walk out, so it will be alright for at least the first five years. Then we have to see.”

Chan said it’s a question of constantly testing the limits. He also saw some comfort in that Hong Kong issues are still referred in Beijing to Lu Ping, head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, who seems to understand Hong Kong better than most of the leadership in Beijing.

The author, a former member and officer of the FCC, spent 20 years reporting on Chinese affairs from Hong Kong and the mainland, notably for The Economist, Business Week, and the International Herald Tribune. Her first Asian reporting job was with the South China Morning Post as a local reporter in 1974. She is the recipient of the Overseas Press Club’s 1991 human rights award for her coverage of Chinese prison labor exports and has served since 1993 as co-chair of the OPC’s Freedom of the Press Committee.

Reprinted courtesy of the Overseas Press Club

Income Statement – January 2017

January 21, 2017 Board minutes

FCC archive: The rise and fall of Hong Kong’s Eastern Express newspaper

This article is reproduced from the November 1994 edition of The Correspondent 

The Correspondent's coverage of the 1994 saga of the Eastern Express newspaper The Correspondent’s coverage of the 1994 saga of the Eastern Express newspaper

Since its launch last February, the Eastern Express has been making almost as much news as it has been reporting. The Correspondent examines its recent history, talks to the Oriental Press Group’s C.K. Ma and prints a plea from ex-chief editor of the Express, Steve Vines.

Nobody can deny it’s been a heart-stopping, roller-coaster nine months since the hoopla of the launch of the Oriental Press Group’s (OPG) Eastern Express. The stylishly-designed broadsheet was expected by many to give both the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the Hong Kong Standard serious competition and to change he face of the local English-language newspaper market.

However, as most FCC members know, the story didn’t evolve as many would have hoped. To begin with, there was bad blood between some defecting members of the SCMP and its management as the journalists took up senior positions at the Express. Then the launch of the paper was delayed because of highly technical computer problems. Although the design of the paper was almost universally admired, when it finally hit the streets many professionals were surprised by some of the early news selections.

Even so, chief editor and former club president Steve Vines managed to create the feeling of an authoritative, modern publication with excellent foreign and comment pages. The Weekend magazine was a first-class product. Above all, the quality of the photography astonished readers with its clarity of reproduction and its imaginative execution. The uncounted hours of hard work by all concerned were apparently paying off.

However, as was inevitable with a new product, the paper soon began to show signs of wear and tear. Within weeks questions were raised about the paucity of advertising. It was said there were few financial controls and that relations between the OPG management and staff were growing tense. In the end Vines departed. Talk of treachery was also abroad and accusations of ‘spying’ and disloyalty emerged from several quarters. It wasn’t an elevating spectacle.

The cover story of November 1994 The cover story of November 1994

Club member Jon Marsh, one of the most vociferous ex-SCMP staffers, took over as acting editor. Further rumours of poor staff management/relations went spinning through the always-voracious newspaper gossip mill. Then C.K. Ma, the OPG chairman, was said to be in London offering the job of chief editor to high-priced Fleet Street journalists. The paper would close within weeks. The Weekend magazine was to be closed or, at best, relaunched on newsprint rather than high-grade paper.

In the event, while personalities clashed, the management had, indeed, decided to take the printing of the Saturday magazine in-house on lower-grade newsprint to save some $500,000 per month. Senior staffers, including Marsh, production editor Ewen Campbell and magazine editor Steve Procter threatened to resign and the magazine’s paper quality was given a reprieve.

At much the same time, while on assignment in China, a young female reporter ran into trouble over a story she had written about the political make-up of post ’97 Hong Kong. Accusations – not so unusual in newsrooms – about the irresponsible rewriting of the reporters’ copy, caused further tension.

Finally, Campbell was sacked for complex personnel reasons surrounding his proposed elevation to deputy chief editor. Marsh and Procter resigned in protest along with, among others China editor, Robert Delfs, and deputy foreign editor Gavin Greenwood, all members of the FCC.

As matters shook down, veteran local journalist and Club member Timothy Jim took the reins as a special assistant to C.K. Ma. He appointed foreign editor and former Correspondent editor Karl Wilson as an associate editor to liaise with the editorial staff, while veteran newspaper man Vernon Ram, with more than 40 years in the business, was reportedly hired to look into the launch of a Sunday edition of the Express. Peter Metrevelli, one of Hong Kong’s longest-serving turf correspondents, was appointed racing editor. Four new Chinese reporters joined the staff.

With a daily circulation rumoured to be anything between 10,000 and 30,000, the Eastern Express is now said to be metamorphosing into an “English-language newspaper with Chinese characteristics”. An amusing crack but probably not true.


Heading for strangulation: We print the outgoing chief editor’s op-ed that the Oriental Press Group dropped

Former Club president Steve Vines wrote the following article for publication in the Eastern Express shortly before he was removed as the paper’s chief editor. The Oriental Press Group, however, decided against publication. The Correspondent publishes it for the record.

Revolutions tend to eat their babies. This newspaper revolution is no exception. That is why I am writing for the last time as chief editor of Eastern Express. Some readers may feel that an exaggerated claim is being made here. They might well ask: can the launch of this newspaper really be described as a revolution? I think it can. Hong Kong has essentially been a one English-language newspaper town for more decades than most people care to count. The alternative to the market leader has been in the hands of an under-funded competitor, kept alive but rarely given the means to breathe with real life.

After the seal was set on the transfer of sovereignty in Hong Kong, it seemed even less likely that anyone would have the courage to start a new English-language newspaper. The pessimists were wrong. They underestimated the spirit of enterprise which pulsates through this place, they underestimated the thirst for untainted news and they underestimated the determination of Hong Kong people to preserve the freedoms which have made this famously barren rock one of the world’s greatest trading centres.

Ewen Campbell, Steve Proctor and Jon Marsh, EE Towers, 1994. Photo: Eastern Express Ewen Campbell, Steve Proctor and Jon Marsh, 1994. Photo: Eastern Express

This was the spirit which brought about the birth of the Eastern Express – a paper committed to independence in news reporting and dedicated to being an open market for the exchange of ideas and views.

What, you may ask, is so revolutionary about all that? The answer is very little in countries which enjoy a free press. It is only revolutionary in circumstances where this freedom has been extinguished or is in the process of being squeezed to the point of strangulation.

Fortunately Hong Kong’s press has yet to experience strangulation but we are heading in that direction.

One of our television stations is now reluctant to carry any news which reflects badly on the Chinese government, many newspapers are becoming increasingly selective about what they report and how they report news which is considered to be “sensitive”.

The Eastern Express chose to travel down the other path. This happens to be a more conventional path where news stories are treated according to merit, not the sensitivity of Chinese officials. It takes us in directions which may not lead to the winning of friends in high places but this was never our intention.

In other words, we have worked on the assumption that China must at least be given the benefit of the doubt in matters of press freedom. We saw no reason to retreat from the field of battle before the battle even began.

In many ways we could be considered to be Hong Kong’s true optimists – some may say, foolhardy optimists. We have carefully studied the territory’s new mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and found it to contain unequivocal guarantees of press freedom. We have listened carefully to the speeches of Chinese leaders about the “one country, two systems” concept and assumed that they meant what they said.

Eastern Express first issue, February 1994. Eastern Express first issue, February 1994.

In other words, we have worked on the assumption that China must at least be given the benefit of the doubt in matters of press freedom. We saw no reason to retreat from the field of battle before the battle even began. This seems pretty much like common sense but in some quarters is regarded as wild talk.

What does it mean in practice? How can we claim that the Eastern Express is really different from any other English-language newspaper in Hong Kong? Allow me to provide some examples.

Let’s start with China coverage. Other newspapers cover a national People’s Congress meeting as if it really is a decision-making occasion – filled with debates likely to shape China’s future. This is nonsense and created as such on our pages because we believe our readers to be intelligent enough to want to know the true function of the congress meeting. Another example is more telling.

We published in full the only document we have published in full in the newspaper’s history, the extraordinary speech made by former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Zhou Ziyang, prepared (but not delivered) for a meeting of the party’s central committee on the eve of his removal from power in 1989. This is probably the most revealing internal document from the Communist Party to reach the public domain since the revolution.

We claim no credit for securing the document, this honour goes to the Hong Kong Economic Journal which generously made it available to the media as a whole. We merely translated the speech into English. We were the only Hong Kong newspaper to take advantage of EJ’s offer. This is quite extraordinary because in terms of significance the speech is at least as important as Nikita Khrushchev’s address to the twentieth congress of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party at which he revealed the crimes committed by dictator Stalin. Very few newspapers in countries with a free press would show the kind of restraint displayed by the Hong Kong press over the Zhou speech.

For the record, we cover China seriously because the fate of Hong Kong is firmly tied to the mainland and readers have a right to as much information as possible about the new sovereign power.

The creeping polarisation of Hong Kong society has led our critics to assume that because we have covered China in such a fearless manner, we must therefore be pro-British, or at the very least pro-Chris Patten. It is depressing that news coverage is viewed through the narrow prism which classifies reportage into the tight categories of pro or anti this, that or the other. For the record, we cover China seriously because the fate of Hong Kong is firmly tied to the mainland and readers have a right to as much information as possible about the new sovereign power. We never set out to be pro-British and the idea that this paper is pro-government will produce howls of hollow laughter from a great many civil servants in Lower Albert Road who can barely contain their anger when the words Eastern Express are uttered.

It is a matter of pride that this newspaper has forced the government to act in circumstances where it should have acted on its own accord. Our revelations about the April attack on the Whitehead Detention Centre compelled the Governor to order an independent inquiry. Our coverage of the fate of illegal Chinese immigrants held in detention for months while they waited to give evidence in criminal trials rightly led to their release These are examples of good, old-fashioned campaigning journalism, rooted in hard-nosed reporting. The reporters did not set out to embarrass the government of the day. They set out to unearth the truth.

Aside from content, the Eastern Express has been revolutionary in form. We ventured where other newspapers feared to tread in terms of design, use of photographs, daring to have a magazine with real substance rather than easy-on-the-eye wallpaper and we dared to be different in the way we covered the news, abandoning the predictable and routine in favour of the interesting and exciting.

Am I being self-serving and self-indulgent? I plead guilty, but can only say in mitigation that a departing editor should be allowed a small piece of self-indulgence. Fortunately you have the choice of whether you want to put up with it. There is still a choice here. Newspapers live and die by virtue of the choices readers make. Hong Kong will never be the same if the media offers no choice.


Chasing a cool $4 billion – Simon Twiston Davies’ exclusive Q&A with OPG chairman C.K. Ma.

The Correspondent: What was the chronology of the founding of the Eastern Express? What kind of market research was carried out?

C.K. Ma: When we moved into our existing premises in Kowloon Bay in 1990 provision was made for expansion. After that we launched the Oriental Sunday, Jade Magazine, The Sun Racing Journal and Eastweek Magazine. Expanding into the English-language market was a natural and logical step for the Oriental Press Group. Such a move not only gave us a good corporate image it also gave us a springboard into the international market.

I made the decision to launch the Eastern Express after hearing the news that there was to be change in management at the South China Morning Post.

According to figures released at the time, one third of the issued shares of the SCMP were worth about HK$3 billion, based on a daily circulation of about 100,000. That meant that a successful English-language newspaper could be worth something like HK$10 billion. Moreover, the Chinese newspaper publishing business has almost reached saturation point and there is very little potential for growth.

I estimated that if the OPG could put out an English-language newspaper just half as successful as the SCMP – that is with a daily circulation of around 50,000 copies per day – the value of the group would increase by a cool $4 billion. Doesn’t that sound like a good investment?

The publication of an English-language newspaper is a good fit for our existing facilities and mode of operation, especially as an English paper with a small print run would slot perfectly into our daily production schedule in our newly-upgraded, $200 million facilities.

I estimated that if the OPG could put out an English-language newspaper just half as successful as the SCMP – that is with a daily circulation of around 50,000 copies per day – the value of the group would increase by a cool $4 billion. Doesn’t that sound like a good investment? We took on the project as a long-term investment and hope it will straddle 1997.

TC: Having undertaken the launch of the paper, did you envisage the product you were given, or were you hoping for a more ‘racy’ tabloid as seen in the Oriental Daily News?

CKM: The aim of the Eastern Express is to capture a share of the SCMP group’s circulation. We have never considered the idea of a tabloid newspaper. From the start, our objective was to publish a modern, quality product. This conviction is reflected in our investment in state-of-the-art equipment and our decision to print on high-grade newsprint with top-quality ink that will not blacken readers’ hands when they flip through the pages.

TC: A recent issue of the Sunday Morning Post ran an interview with Mike Hanson, the outgoing government information co-ordinator. He admitted having had discussions with you prior to the launch of the Eastern Express. Could you comment?

CKM: I read the article in the Sunday Morning Post. It said that the government information co-ordinator had a hand in the creation of the Eastern Express. This is ironic. I would like to ask the management of the SCMP if it enjoyed special privileges from the government, like, the provision of exclusive stories and advertising and other support, in the “good old days”?

Since I publish a newspaper in Hong Kong, of course, a good relationship with the government of the day is vital to our operations. And since Mike Hanson is the information co-ordinator, who else should we turn to if we want to understand the government’s thinking? We would certainly like to develop a good relationship with his successor and hope to gain the same support from the administration as the SCMP has enjoyed in the past.

TC: Many questions have been raised about the circulation of the Eastern Express. What is it today?

CKM: We have joined the international ABC group for a circulation audit and we expect to publish the results around February. As a member of the ABC, we have to abide by its regulations which require the distribution of circulation figures one year after publication.

Where the Eastern Express will stand in a year’s time has to be judged by public support when the time comes.

TC: The fast start-up of the paper is seen by some as being at the root of many of the early editorial problems . Given a second chance, would you have taken longer to launch the Eastern Express?

CKM: The successful launch of a newspaper very much depends on good timing. Sufficient financial resources, up-to-date plant and first-class human resources are also vital elements. In my view, the success of a newspaper requires constant fine-tuning. Even the SCMP, after 90 years of publication, needs constant fine-tuning.

TC: Advertising has been sparse since the launch of the paper. Could you tell us about your advertising sales strategy?

CKM: The advertising volume of a newspaper usually takes time to grow. The Eastern Express is just another newspaper and should not be singled out for criticism. It is unfair to compare a nine-month-old venture with another product which has a 90-year history.

TC: “Cultural differences” have been widely quoted in reference to the management/staff relationship at the Eastern Express. Has “culture” played a role in the difficulties over the past four months or so?

CKM: That’s really a hypothetical question. To imply that a management with a Chinese cultural background would have difficulties managing a group of Western journalists would incite undue racial conflict. That is deplorable. However, I realise that such reasoning could provide a convenient excuse for those stepping down to cloud the real issues. Please remember, that Hong Kong’s success is due primarily to the fact that we have blended the cultures of East and West.

TC: Eventually a new chief editor will have to be appointed at the Eastern Express. Will it be an international appointment? Will more expatriate staff be appointed?

CKM: My philosophy is simple: to give the job to the right person.

TC: Where do you see the paper in 12 months’ time?

CKM: We will work hard in order to live up to public expectations. Where the Eastern Express will stand in a year’s time has to be judged by public support when the time comes.

Simon Twiston Davies is a contributing columnist to the Eastern Express.

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