The Foreign Correspondents' Club Hong Kong

Chris Patten: Hongkongers need to stop talking about killing one another and talk to each other

Chris Patten spoke about Hong Kong and its political issues at the FCC.

Chris Patten, Hong Kong’s last colonial governor, said he hopes Hongkongers on opposing political sides will have a “dialogue” instead of talking about “killing one another”, following a university campus spat over independence.

Lord Patten of Barnes, who was at the FCC to promote his new book, First Confession: A Sort of Memoir, which explores the former Conservative MP’s “obsession” with identity politics, also spoke about Joshua Wong’s incarceration, and the future of the One Country Two Systems framework.

During a discussion about the pro-democracy and pro-independence movements in the city, Lord Patten reiterated his view that the latter would only serve to dilute any campaign to bring democracy to the city.

His visit came just days after a university row saw pro-independence students clash with their peers from the mainland over posters advocating independence for Hong Kong, which were put up at the Chinese University campus, heightening simmering tensions in the city.

“What I hope is that people will start talking to one another again. I hope there’ll be a dialogue. You can’t simply expect people to accept your values or standards or political judgements without talking to them about it. You can’t trample ideas into the dust. You have to talk to people and listen to people,” he said.

“People should be prepared to talk to one another, not fight another, or not talk about killing one another, or not putting out posters welcoming people’s suicides,” he told the packed club lunch on September 19, where guests included former Hong Kong Finance Secretary John Tsang and ex-Chief Secretary Anson Chan.

Lord Patten said he hoped Hong Kong – “a city which I love as much as anywhere in the world” – would continue to thrive.

When asked what he would do if he were the UK’s leader, he said: “First of all I’d be pleased that the last six-monthly report by the Foreign Office was a bit more honest and outspoken than some reports had been in the past. Secondly, I would begin from the assumption that we shouldn’t believe that you can only do business with China over Hong Kong or over anything else from a position of supine deference. The fact that the Chinese do it is because other countries allow them to. I don’t think it should be something we necessarily criticise them for if they can get away with it. If they can get away with weaponising trade, for example, they’ll go on doing it. But I don’t think they respect you for it and I don’t think its the only way you can do business.

“I would come to Hong Kong, I would make a speech saying that I thought Hong Kong was fantastic, that I thought it was a jewel in the crown for China potentially as we go forward into the future; that it represented in the 21st century an issue which is going to be dominant – that is how you balance economic and political freedom and what sort of role China has in the world today, what sort of role it’s prepared to take in global governance, how it’s prepared to make more of the footprint that it should have because of its economic strength and power.

“And I would hope to go on to China and say similar things.” He add that he would also raise the issue of Liu Xiaobo’s wife. Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest since her husband, a prominent dissident since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, won the Nobel prize in 2010. She was last seen in a video recorded in August and posted on social media in which she asks for time to grieve. Many of her supporters and friends, however, have expressed concern for her welfare.

Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen also came in for criticism from Lord Patten as he was asked for his thoughts on the upcoming trials of nine pro-democracy activists involved in Occupy Central. Lord Patten said he was “loathe to comment on ongoing legal processes in Hong Kong”, and instead chose to speak specifically about Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law – jailed in August for their part in the 2014 protests.

He criticised the Justice Secretary’s decision to appeal their original non-custodial sentences, saying it was politically motivated. “He’s grown up. He must know, as I said earlier, that actions have consequences, and not to understand what signal that would send to the rest of the world, strikes me as being, to be frank, a little naive,” he said.

Referring to a Reuters report that Yuen had insisted on reviewing the sentences despite opposition from fellow prosecutors, Lord Patten added: “Perhaps it would have been wise to take the advice which we were told he was receiving from someone in his department.”

Curiosity, Adventure & Love: Last chance to book your seats for documentary screening

Producer Sunshine de Leon said the film took eight years to make. Photo: Sunshine de Leon

A documentary recounting the story of a young American woman’s life in the Philippines from the 1930s to today is set to be screened at its 6th film festival – but FCC members and guests will get a sneak preview of the film this week.

Curiosity, Adventure & Love is narrated by 105-year-old Jessie Lichauco, a Cuban-American migrated to the Philippines where she met her husband Marcial Lichauco, a Filipino diplomat and lawyer. She shares her experiences of the country as it went through war, occupation and reconstruction. It was announced on Monday that the film would be screened at LA Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles next month.

The film’s producer, Sunshine de Leon, is Jessie’s granddaughter. A freelance journalist, Sunshine said from a young age she knew her grandmothers story was fascinating and had initially wanted to write a book. Over the years Sunshine began to collect anecdotes from Jessie. But a chance suggestion changed the course of the book.

“So, when one day, a film-maker friend suggested that since she could still tell stories at her age and she remembered history with details that made it come alive, she would make the perfect character for a documentary movie I said, with complete naivety, “You are absolutely right. I am going to make a film”,” she said

Simple? Not quite – it would be eight years before the film was made.

“I think the film took a long time to produce because 1) I was doing it while working as a freelance journalist and 2) it was my first film and I had no training whatsoever in filmmaking and for the first few years was working completely on my own. I eventually met my co-producer and co-director Suzanne Richiardone – and from that point it took another four years.”

she continued: “I knew I had a good story but how to weave together the elements of that story in the most powerful way was a challenge. We were trying to blend history and biography with lessons in life and humanity.“

By recounting her life in the Philippines, Jessie sheds light on the country’s turbulent history, including the Japanese invasion and occupation during World War II; and life under the corrupt Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.

Sunshine says she hopes the film reacquaints some Filipinos with the history of the country. “I have found that quite a lot of Filipinos are not very familiar with the history of the Philippines and I believe that the detail with which the main character, an American and my grandmother, remembers this history makes it come alive in a unique way.

“It’s important to understand the past in order to comprehend the present and move forward in the best way possible. I hope that they walk away with a greater understanding of what has made the country into what it is today and I hope they learn from the wisdom she shares about how to live our best lives. and are inspired to do more to help the country (and the world!)”

Curiosity, Adventure and Love is showing at the FCC on Wednesday, September 20 from 7pm, where Sunshine will give a short talk to introduce the film. $100 (MEMBERS) $150 (GUESTS). Fee will include one drink. Please reserve with the FCC concierge at (+852) 2521 1511 or (email) gro.khccf@tneveccf

China vs the U.S.: When it comes to caring about the environment, they’re both hit and miss

Who really cares about the environment – China or the U.S.? That was the question posed to two experts in the field of environment – and the answer was a little more complicated.

Professor Robert Gottlieb, founder and former Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College in Los Angeles, told guests at the September 12 club lunch that both countries displayed positive and negative attitudes towards the environment.

He said that the Barack Obama administration had eventually paid more attention to environmental policy creation following years of rolling back of environmental policies under previous presidents. A robust social movement in America had done much to pressure the government on the issue of the environment. However, Obama’s work that was largely undone after Donald Trump was elected president, he added.

Left to right: Simon Ng, Professor Robert Gottlieb, FCC hosts Enda Curran and Victor Mallet. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

“By the time President Obama was elected, the notion of environment as a priority issue really receded despite Obama’s own statements and the interest of those in congress who thought that environment was still a critical issue. In the 2012 election for example climate did not come up in the course of the election between Romney and Obama, but that changed partly because resistance in congress and in the last two years of the Obama administration there was a reconnection in the importance and significance of environment in areas such as air and climate and food thanks to Michelle Obama, the president’s wife, who made the idea of changes around food central to her agenda and subsequently her husband’s. But that didn’t last.”

Professor Gottlieb said that the election of Trump “and some critical appointments made that were significantly hostile to environmental issues” had seen a rolling back of policies: “Scott Pruitt (Environmental Protection Agency Administrator in the U.S.) came into office with an agenda to essentially dismantle both the agency and a wide range of environmental policies with the support of the president which culminated in the decision to begin a process of pulling out of the Paris Accord.”

He concluded: “Does the US care about environment? Yes and no. It does care when you think about citizen movements, it does care when you think about the level of resistance among certain policy makers particularly at the local and state level. And ultimately it does care in terms of wanting to sustain the changes that have been made since the 1970s and move it to the next level. But the answer is no when you come to the President and his head of EPA, the head of the energy department, head of the transportation departments who are actively hostile to this kind of environmental policy system that has been created since 1970 and doing their best to at least resist any further development if not pull it back.”

On China, Professor Gottlieb said it was almost in a reverse process to the United States: “In 2009 at the Copenhagen meeting China’s role was not hostile to but not willing to step up to the plate and in issues such as dealing with air quality, dealing with water quality, you had not necessarily resistance to the idea of the environment being important and crucial but it was not high on the agenda. High on the agenda was development, urbanisation, marketisation – this was the strategic direction of the government.”

He added that this situation has begun to change as China realised that environmental issues have a powerful economic impact and undercut some of the development strategies that have developed. “…there is a recognition that China, particularly now, as of 2016, can champion itself as an environmental leader whether it’s climate or any number of issues, particularly transportation shifting towards being the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles.

“But you haven’t seen a full transition. Take the issue of coal – China is committed tons with its new climate perspective to start reducing the level of coal …. used or particularly produced which has all the env impacts that are deeply felt in certain regions of the country. So in the last three years there’s been a very modest reduction in the production of coal for the first time but not a reduction at that same level in terms of the use of coal because you have an increase in the imports of coal.”

In conclusion, he said: “Does China care about the environment? Yes and no. China does care – it’s called the priority of priorities for example around air quality by government officials – but the implementation is uneven and you don’t necessarily have that robust social movement that you did have in the last 60 years in the United States that has created that ability to increase both awareness and the idea that we do care about the environment.”

Simon Ng of the Civic Society in Hong Kong discussed the government’s attitude towards environmental policy making. He said that two months into Carrie Lam’s administration he hoped she would honour the environmental pledges in her manifesto. He said though that other issues affecting the city – housing, education – were likely to take priority over environmental issues.

Mr Ng praised Hongkongers for their awareness of environmental issues and the fact that they were collecting air pollution information that was empowering them to take action and pressure leaders into doing so. He added that Hong Kong was the first city in Asia to tighten vehicle emissions standards. “When it comes to ship emissions Hong Kong is the first city in Asia to regulate ship emissions at city level.”

And he said that although Hong Kong universities are playing a big part in the development of sensors that measure air quality that are lighter, smaller, more sensitive and accurate, the city could do more. “Hong Kong can be a real leader – how come we have to wait until Beijing says ‘OK you should do this’ and we say ‘OK’ and in the next few days we follow?” He said this was bad for the city.

Professor Gottlieb and Mr Ng have written a book together, Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China, examining environmental issues in those locations.

Cambodia Daily closure: FCC Hong Kong calls on government to drop charges against proprietors

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong expresses deep regret over the closure of The Cambodia Daily, which ceased operations on September 4 under government threats of legal action over a tax dispute. The independent newspaper, established in 1993 to provide a foundation of press freedom in an emerging democracy, trained dozens of local journalists and boasts an alumni spread across media outlets around the region and the world. Its demise is a blow to press freedom and diversity.

As the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia has noted, the government calculated a huge tax bill without referring to The Cambodia Daily’s books, and gave no opportunity for the newspaper to appeal or negotiate. Moreover, the Tax Department has reportedly filed criminal charges against its founder and two directors that could see them jailed for six years.

The episode shows how quickly a government can use its powers to silence the press, particularly smaller local independent publications lacking in financial means and international reach.

The FCCHK calls on the Cambodian government to drop any criminal charges against the publishers and seek a fair resolution of the tax dispute with The Cambodia Daily. It also urges the government to refrain from any other actions that undermine press freedom in the country, bearing in mind the benefits that a robust media environment serves in fostering democracy and promoting transparency.

The Cambodia Daily, whose motto was “All the News Without Fear or Favor”, sought to be a voice for the voiceless. Its abrupt closure after a quarter of a century shows that press freedom cannot be taken for granted.

Democracy across Southeast Asia is in danger – but all is not lost, says armed conflict mediator

Michael Vatikiotis discussed Southeast Asia’s political and economic issues at the FCC. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

A “democracy deficit” fuelled by conflict, religious division and widespread corruption has led to instability in Southeast Asia – and things will improve but at a cost, according to a mediator in armed conflict.

Michael Vatikiotis, whose new book Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia examines the region’s dynamics of power, said that in the next 30 years Southeast Asia will look like it did before it was colonised by European powers.

But currently, he warned: “Across Southeast Asia, democracy is in peril.

“Myanmar’s democratic transition is faltering; Thailand is enduring fourth year of military rule; Cambodia has launched an aggressive campaign against the opposition and threatens to wage war if it loses elections in 2018. Malaysia’s angry electorate is unlikely to be able to vote out of power a ruling party that has governed the country since independence; whilst in the Philippines, the number of people killed without due process this past year has already exceeded the total number killed by Marcos the dictator in the 1970s and 80s.

“Even in Indonesia, where democracy seems secure, there are indications that popular demand for equality and security are starting to outweigh respect for one-man one-vote.”

Factors contributing towards this “democracy deficit” in a region of 600 million people include enduring impunity and lack of accountability of governments; unresolved violent conflict; chronic levels of corruption; and alarmingly high levels of economic inequality, said Vatikiotis, who is Mediator in Armed Conflict, Asia Regional Director at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Scroll to the bottom to watch Michael Vatikiotis at the FCC

“Despite the gloomy perspectives elaborated above, I am reasonably confident that the region will continue to prosper; its people will achieve significant levels of wealth and security. But there will be costs.”

He said the democracy deficit would deepen; sectarian and ethnic strife would intensify; and China would dominate the geo-political domain. He added that there would be less tolerance of the region’s traditional balancing of powers impulse; less economic and financial autonomy; and the threat of China’s particular form of extra-territoriality with regard to the overseas Chinese.

Why such a pessimistic outlook?, asked host and board member Victor Mallet (read his Blood and Silk: Power and Conflict in Modern Southeast Asia review here). Vatikiotis cited Cambodia as an example: economic growth of over 7% which has been a huge benefit to workers who have been pulled out of poverty. “Yet you have a PM that doesn’t believe anyone has the right to turf him out of power,” he said, adding: “He’s decided if the opposition wins the election he’ll go to war.” Vatikiotis said this undermines stability in society and sets up inevitable conflict.

On China, Vatikiotis said that President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) had stirred suspicion in Southeast Asia that the chief beneficiaries would be further away – South Asia and beyond. He added: “For the time being it’s mainly seen as a metaphor for China’s strategic ambitions.”

He said there was a great fear in the region that if China’s economy “went pair-shaped” there would be mass migration that would affect its neighbours.

Despite the gloomy outlook for the region in the interim, Vatikiotis believes that ultimately stability will return.

He said: “Fortunately, both access to technology and a sufficient degree of what I call ‘demi-democracy’ will enable civil society to address to a degree the need for some capacity to represent people, and push back on the state. This is ‘democracy you can eat’; it bypasses the political parties that have failed to deliver to communities at the grass roots, it ignores increasingly onerous security restrictions, and asserts popular will.”

Trump ‘could have done better’ over Charlottesville reaction: Supporter Ying Ma defends U.S. president

President Donald Trump could have done better in denouncing white supremacists in Charlottesville but he has a tendency to be extremely imprecise, said his supporter and campaigner, Ying Ma.

The question was raised during the August 29 club lunch at which Ms Ma, an author and former deputy director of the Committee for American Sovereignty – a national political organisation formed to support the candidacy of Donald J. Trump – told members why she supported the controversial American president who in recent weeks has been at the centre of a storm over his comments following riots which left one counter-protester dead. Ms Ma said Trump “has a tendency to be extremely imprecise” and his comments – that both sides were to blame for the violence – reflected that.

Ying Ma, a supporter of President Donald Trump, explained why she backed the controversial leader. Photo: FCC/Sarah Graham

Ms Ma kicked off her talk by explaining why she believed Americans voted for Trump in last November’s election. She said people were tired of being lectured by the elites about benefits of free trade – the same people who were then losing their jobs as the country’s economic state worsened. She said they were the voters who were also sick of being told they can’t say anything about Islam “except that it’s a religion of peace”. She agreed many who voted for Trump were from disadvantaged areas, and that these were people to whom the Trump political movement had offered a reminder that “average Americans do not need to and shouldn’t have to speak in the same way as politicians” in order to have their concerns heard.

Referring to Trump’s personal style, Ms Ma said he “stabbed political correctness politics in the heart” and that he was a man who “makes a lot of threats, a man who believes in very drastic opening positions”.

If Donald Trump does something that is in fact egregious to me yes, I could see myself withdrawing my support.

Several times Ms Ma, a senior advisor at Avenue Strategies, a government affairs and political consulting firm in Washington, D.C, conceded that she doesn’t always agree with the president’s decision-making, particularly in the case of his Twitter criticism of his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. She said: “One thing I thought was very unseemly was the way he went after his attorney general Jeff Sessions. You don’t go after someone who’s been loyal to you for a very long time and someone who helped you become president.”

When asked whether, in her mind, there could ever be a line over which the president would step that would lead her to stop supporting him, Ms Ma said: “If Donald Trump does something that is in fact egregious to me yes, I could see myself withdrawing my support. I’m not seeing an example of that right now.”

During the talk Ms Ma made a point of highlighting the Trump administration’s successes, including tax and regulatory reform, and the construction of pipeline delivering crude oil across the country whilst creating jobs. She said Trump had “proven himself to be somebody who can make executive decisions” such as the Syria air strikes, and was “less confrontational on the China front than people expected him to be”.

She did, however, concede that Trump had so far failed to repeal former president Barack Obama’s healthcare bill. But she described him as a jobs creator, saying that he would deliver on his campaign promises of negotiating better trade deals and getting rid of cumbersome energy and financial regulations that prevent economic growth.

In response to a question from a member, Ms Ma also commented on former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the election: “Are you asking if I think the Russian investigation is full of crap? Yes, I do.”

Calling all FCC members: here’s your chance to make a difference

Do you have a charity in Hong Kong you feel passionately about? Want to raise its profile and generate some funds to help it develop further? If so, the FCC Charity Committee would like to hear from you.

A key to the development of the FCC’s charity programme is to encourage as many members as possible to get involved in the charities we support, including nominating our chosen charities.

The China Coast Community care home in Hong Kong.

Our focus is on charities that fall under ‘The Three E’s’, namely, elderly care, early learning and educational special needs (any age and can be re-training). Whilst many charities in Hong Kong are high profile and receive substantial funding, we will focus on organisations that sometimes ‘fall between the cracks’ though quietly do great work in the community.

The organisation we are supporting in 2017 is the China Coast Community, where we have assisted in the purchase of specialised beds, organised physiotherapy for the residents and are organising visits to the Home. To help us select the cause we will support in 2018, we are inviting members and staff to make their suggestions on the attached form. A panel comprising the Charity Committee and Members of the Board of Governors will choose one of the qualifying charities nominated.

Thank you for taking the time to nominate a charity you know will benefit from the support of the FCCHK.

Please click here to download the FCC Charity Nomination Form.

Sincerely,

FCCHK Charity Committee

Hong Kong Media Moves: August 2017

Find out who’s moving where in Hong Kong’s busy media landscape, in association with Telum Media. Also, see job listings for the region.

Debbie Yong joins Time Inc. in Hong Kong

Debbie Yong has moved to Hong Kong from Singapore to join Time Inc.’s Hong Kong office as Assignment Editor. In addition to producing a weekly newsletter on China, she will create, commission and curate editorial content on design and design-thinking for Time Inc.’s Fortune, Time Asia and Wallpaper* magazine. She will also assist with the programming of Fortune‘s Brainstorm Design conference in Singapore and Brainstorm Tech International in Guangzhou. She was previously a Correspondent with Singapore’s The Business Times and The Straits Times, and was most recently a Digital Editor with Michelin Guide Singapore and Hong Kong Macau.

Bloomberg’s Colin Simpson moves to Asia cross-assets team

Colin Simpson has moved to Bloomberg’s Asia cross-assets team in Hong Kong as an Editor, where he writes market stories. He joined Bloomberg as an Editor in 2015, working primarily on the Bloomberg Brief newsletter Economics Asia. Prior to that, he was a Senior Copy Editor at China Daily in Beijing and a Reporter at The National in the United Arab Emirates. He also worked at several UK national newspapers for more than 20 years.

Running Wong appointed Digital Media Editor at now.com

Having recently joined as Digital Media Editor at now.com, Running Wong now covers celebrity events, F&B, travel, fashion and beauty and other updates on the website, app and digital platforms.

Chloe Chu joins ArtAsiaPacific

Chloe Chu has recently been named Associate Editor at ArtAsiaPacific magazine, where she covers contemporary art and culture from Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.

Jennifer Hughes to join Reuters in November

Jennifer Hughes has been appointed Reuters’ Asia Finance Editor, leading its coverage of the financial services sector across the region. She joins Reuters from the Financial Times, where she is currently the Asia Capital Markets Editor. Jennifer will be based in Hong Kong and starts in the role on 1^st November.

Reuters Breakingviews’ Jeffrey Goldfarb moving to Hong Kong

Veteran Reporter and Columnist Jeffrey Goldfarb is relocating to Hong Kong from New York as a Deputy Editor to oversee Reuters Breakingviews’ expanded editorial team in Asia. He will continue to write about corporate finance, mergers and tech companies. Jeffrey first joined Reuters as an M&A Correspondent in 2001, before going to London where he led the European Corporate Finance team. He started with Breakingviews in 2007.

To notify Telum about your move, or to sign up for Telum’s free alerts, please visit www.telummedia.com

JOBS

DDG Taipei – Media liaison

DDG Taipei is seeking a responsible, creative, and highly skilled person to fill the role of International Media Liaison, working for the culture industry in Taiwan. This is a permanent, full-time, salaried position in Taiwan. ARC and work permit provided where necessary. Application deadline: August 11; Start date: September 11. To apply for this position, please email your CV, a cover letter, and a writing or press release portfolio to Ally Shih ([email protected]), Clara Tsao ([email protected]) and Kate Nicholson ([email protected]). For full job description, visit LinkedIn: https://goo.gl/z3Zo9y.

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business – Content Manager – Global Marketing & Communications

Job description: create an editorial plan and schedule for CKGSB Global Marcom’s content production, including the identification of themes, frequency of articles and interviews, and plan to generate content around each event or milestone. Arrange and conduct interviews with CKGSB’ faculty, students and alumni on their areas of research or expertise, their businesses, their personal journeys, as well as reasons for choosing and benefits gained from CKGSB. Write articles (based on interviews and research) that promote CKGSB and highlight its differentiations from other business schools in China and globally. Edit and write all of the content for the website. Actively pitch and submit work to other publications. Contribute posts for CKGSB’s social media accounts. Native English speaker or equivalent Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Communications, Journalism or Economics 3-5 years of experience in PR, communications or journalism High-level writing abilities in English. Ability to identify trending topics and tailor articles to attract the interest of business editors and readers. Intermediate level in writing and speaking Chinese. To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume (CV) to Ms. Ira Zaka at [email protected]. For more information, please visit http://english.ckgsb.edu.cn/.

France 24 – Freelance TV reporter position

France 24 is looking for an Anglophone freelance TV reporter for our Beijing office. The position entails stand-up live reports (generally a couple per week on average) and occasional voice-overs. Strong preference for a native-speaking freelancer with TV or other broadcast news experience and press accreditation (not an absolute requirement, but close). Chinese language ability a plus but not necessary. Interested applicants are kindly requested to send CV and work samples to [email protected].

Bloomberg BNA – Freelance/Contract Correspondent

Bloomberg BNA, a subsidiary of Bloomberg producing legal and business information, is seeking a freelance correspondent in Beijing, China to cover regulatory, legal and business news of interest to multinational firms. Applicants should have reporting experience working on daily deadlines for English-language publications. Must be able to work well independently and be aggressive when it comes to pitching story ideas to numerous editors. Areas covered may include tax policy, trade, environment, infrastructure, data security, finance, labor and human resources. Qualifications include the ability to write on daily deadline for U.S.-based readership, knowledge of government and legal processes, the ability to write clearly and concisely about complex topics, and a highly developed nose for news. Freelance positions offer a competitive pay rate commensurate with experience, and correspondents will be expected to file stories on a regular basis. For consideration, please send a resume and published hard news or news analysis writing samples to [email protected].

BBC gender pay gap row highlights wider issue of disclosure, says the Beeb’s Jamie Angus

The BBC’s Jamie Angus addressed the gender pay gap row currently facing the corporation. Photo: FCC/Sarah Graham

The gender pay gap at the BBC is “not something any of us in senior management at the BBC feel comfortable about”, according to Deputy Director of BBC World Service Group Jamie Angus.

The former Today show editor added that the corporation’s controversial salaries, revealed by the BBC last week on the orders of the British Government, were last year’s figures and said that when next year’s figures were published “the direction of travel will be clear”.

The question of the row over discrepancies in the pay of male and female on-air talent was the first to be posed to Angus, also Editorial Director of BBC Global News Ltd, after he threw the floor open to members and guests following a presentation on the BBC’s global viewing figures.

Angus, who was appearing at the FCC as part of the club’s Meet The Editor series, said the row had highlighted a much wider issue about pay disclosure, and that other employers would now be forced to look at their own salary structures.

When pressed further on whether veteran presenter John Humphrys, for example, should be paid more than other journalists, Angus agreed that salaries should based on merit and value to the audience. He added: “He’s a genuinely outstanding talent who the BBC is lucky to have and he should be paid a lot of money.” Angus said that the BBC should not pay full market rate salaries as it is a public service broadcaster but conceded that finding a pay scale that was fair to everyone would be a challenge.

In his presentation to members and guests, Angus had addressed the rise of the digital age and its effect on the BBC’s operations. He discussed the various forms of competition now faced by TV channels in live streaming services such as Netflix, and in turn their effect on advertising. He said services such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu had disruptive, ad-free subscription models that were causing big structural challenges for the TV market.

Watch Jamie Angus discuss the BBC’s efforts to evolve in the digital age

In spite of the rise of digital, Angus said viewing figures showed that World Service reach was up while digital traffic was flat. BBC world news currently reaches 99 million people a week globally – a 12% rise in a year. He attributed this to two factors: owning a state-of-the-art TV screen complete with TV bundle was aspirational for the rising middle classes; and people who consumed their breaking news on social media were turning to trusted TV sources to verify their information.

The real challenge was generating revenue from advertising, particularly in an age where more and more viewers are turning to ad-free formats like Netflix. Angus said the BBC was “immensely lucky” to have 3bn a year in public service funding in the UK – the British TV licence fee – that “sits behind everything we do”.

As for the inevitable rise of digital platforms, Angus was upbeat about the future of TV for news broadcasters: “TV generates cultural moments that audiences can share together that digital fails to provide,” he said, citing world news events, sports, events drama and entertainment that entire households and workplaces will watch together. “The power of TV is with news providers for many years to come.”

Me and the Media: Francis Moriarty’s career highlights – and a missed golden opportunity

Francis Moriarty was senior political correspondent for RTHK. Photo: realhongkongnews

Francis Moriarty was senior political correspondent for RTHK. Photo: Apple Daily

Francis Moriarty is a freelance journalist and former Secretary & Correspondent Governor of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong.

Previously: Senior Political Correspondent, RTHK; founder of Human Rights Press Awards.

What made you want to work in media?

The media – a term that did not appear in its collective form taking the singular until well into my career – was never that I sought to join. Not unlike other callings, journalism came out to find me. A nun teaching the eighth grade at St. Mary the Morningstar school volunteered me as the editor of the class newspaper. That led into being subsequently volunteered, also by the Sisters of St. Joseph, as a competitor at the statewide speech festival in the radio broadcasting category. My voice had not yet changed and I still had peach fuzz. I found myself finishing as a runner-up to a guy who looked like he needed to shave twice a day and sounded like a young Walter Cronkite. It was a crushing experience but a learning one. Several years later, I saw a student-wanted post on a school bulletin board seeking a part-time writer on the local paper’s sports desk. I’m not sure if anyone else even applied, so they hired me. That was exactly 50 years ago and the paper was the Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I now write a regular column for them. Such is progress.

What has been a career high point?

I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career and have had a lot of high points. Hitchhiking across the United States and ending up in the MJ degree program at U.C. Berkeley was one early high point. Another game-changer was being selected as a visiting fellow in the Journalists in Europe fellowship program in Paris, France, a decade on. This would turn out, years later, to lead me to Hong Kong.

One of the more satisfying career moments was getting sacked as editor a weekly paper in California after doing a lengthy series of articles that really angered some of the paper’s major advertisers. The publisher caved in to the pressure. Though it stung, and felt like a low at the time, it led to my moving from Silicon Valley up to San Francisco, opening a whole new world of opportunities and major stories, including the People’s Temple, the arrival of the Boat People from Vietnam, the rise of the gay political movement and the double assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. One of the more dramatic moments was being in Chicago for the first election of Barack Obama and seeing him and his family on the election night. There’s a fairly lengthy list of other major stories, including 4 June 1989, and the many events leading to Hong Kong’s handover.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t just do jobs, interesting though they may be, but conceive of a longer-range career and then seek to manage it – while remaining flexible and spontaneous. Also, should anyone ever again offer you the chance to be a full partner in the world’s first computer-game company, this time say yes.