The Correspondent, Sep/Oct 2017

Over the past year, RTHK has faced increasing government pressure to promote national unity and axe controversial programmes. Tiffany Liang asks: Can the public broadcaster retain its independence?

Glued to Twitter for breaking news and announcements, some reporters can’t avoid the platform – even if they want to. Morgan Davis explores the pros and cons.

Katie Forster checks on press clubs around the region to learn how they’ve pivoted during the pandemic, from introducing virtual panels to new content strategies, healthcare and career support.

We asked press clubs around the region what they need most. Here’s what they said.

Having worked at the FCC for roughly 13 years, Joanne Chung keeps the club’s engines running as the Membership and Administration Manager, as well as the Board Executive Secretary.

This February, we are excited to ring in the Year of the Ox with nearly two weeks of special Chinese dishes for dine-in and takeaway.

Last year proved challenging for any business relying on food and beverage revenue, and the FCC is no exception.

Every February, the FCC’s Wine Tasting Group kick-starts the process for choosing the next Correspondents’ and Publishers’ Choice wines.

The FCC’s new website will be launching in the coming months. Here’s what you can look forward to.

With more than 30 years of bartending experience, John Ma makes you feel right at home at the FCC.

Amid the many challenges the club faced last year, one stood out: Choosing the FCC’s new signature beer, Headline Pilsner. Richard Macauley, who was instrumental in bringing the beer to life, spills the story.

Former BBC reporter Andrew Shaw is proof that there is life after journalism, even if it took extreme changes for him to achieve it. Kate Whitehead tells his unusual story.

Long-term FCC member, the late Walter Kent, will be remembered for his punctual time-keeping now that part of his bequest to the club has been put in its rightful place, at the Ice House Street end of the Main Bar.

The photojournalist who took the picture that will forever represent the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 died in September in Bali aged 64.

As a trading hub for wine, Hong Kong has seen the price and volume of Burgundy coming into Asia rocket. The region’s first Master of Wine – who’s an FCC member – has just launched a book on the subject.

Two incidents in recent years have seen Finland slip from first to fourth place in the world rankings for freedom of the press. Here FCC member Hannamiina Tanninen takes a look at this “public disgrace”.

Mind HK is helping journalists to approach the topic of mental health in a new way. Olivia Parker reports.

Prostate cancer is among the most common forms of cancer affecting men. Yet confusion and controversy still reign over how best to diagnose and treat the often fatal disease.

A respected former denizen of the FCC Hong Kong and the FCC Japan, Susumu spent two decades covering Asia and its role in global affairs for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.

Better known in photographic circles as Miguelitor, his candid and quirky style of street photography is “locally-grown” and has been inspired by Hong Kong’s street scenes and the people he found in them.

See Hong Kong-born photographer Vincent Yu’s award-winning pictures from North Korea.

In this member profile, Lynn recalls meeting, among many others, Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Hackman, and David Soul who was making a TV series called Harry’s Hong Kong.

Fake news continues to haunt social media sites. Facebook, for one, still struggles despite its well publicised steps to deal with it. 

With a growing number of news organisations pouring additional resources into delivering their content via the big social platforms, the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appear to hold all the cards.

David Tang had a long connection with the FCC: as a speaker on four occasions from the early 90s; and as a friend to a number of members.

The two journalists were detained in separate incidents by Chinese police in August and managed to alert their employers — and followers — via Twitter about their predicament.

As you would expect there’s a healthy mix of Correspondents, Journalists and Associates – and all have interesting tales to tell – so if you see a new face at the bar, please make them feel welcome.

A round-up of the latest incidents involving media organisations around the region.

Forty years on, a new country is emerging. But this nation is born out of the tragic events of that day, which are engraved on every Cambodian’s mind.

A selection of images from the newly released book of the same title.

With the news that Pizza Hut just delivered a pie to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, setting a new record for high-altitude PR stunts, Andrew Davison recalls his experiences in scaling Africa’s highest peak. The 12-man team had some 50 guides, porters an …

Roy Rowan died September 13 in Greenwich, Connecticut, aged 96. His passing was no ordinary event. He was the last of what was once a large band of legendary American journalists who covered the Chinese civil war.

Few writers may be aware of the role of Marilyn Monroe in the fight for freedom of creative expression, or indeed her connection with the opening of a new flank in that fight in Hong Kong.

Chan, who has been a regular speaker at the Club since the 90s when she was Chief Secretary before and after the handover, spoke about what to do with the troubled Legco and the importance of the Legco elections.

Hong Kong’s efforts to reform copyright law towards the US-based “fair-use” treatment of copyright versus the “fair-dealing” approach stall, writes Jonathan Hopfner.

Foreign correspondents have always trod warily around lese majeste, though some of their publications got into strife when they inadvertently did not place a photo of the King at the top of a page, or had someone else’s photo on top of his.

Agence France-Presse’s new bureau in Pyongyang, which opened in September, is already churning out the stories.