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Mass Media Urged to Devote More to Reporting Environment
An environment reporting project was launched in Hong Kong Wednesday to encourage the local mass media to devote more efforts to reporting environmental issues.
"It is with a sense of urgency that we are launching what we believe is Asia's first university-based program for training professional and student reporters in environmental journalism," Lily Yam, secretary for the environment and food, said when announcing the project at a conference on environmental journalism at the University of Hong Kong.
A recent poll conducted by the university's public opinion program shows that about half of the Hong Kong residents think the media pay too little attention to environmental issues. It also shows that nearly 70 percent of residents think the public has a low level of awareness about environmental issues.
Criticism also came from academic studies that illustrate little efforts the local newspapers have devoted to reporting environmental issues.
Hung Wing-tat, director of Hong Kong Conservancy Association attributed lower financial incentives to reduce air and water pollution to less devotion given by the mass media to the issue. "We depend on the mass media to win support, but we are disappointed, because TV stations only devote 15 seconds to environmental reporting every day with no features and analyses," Hung added.
The panelists of the conference, who have dealt extensively with the media in their various roles as policymaker, expert and activist, believed that the new environmental reporting project will help working journalists across the region acquire the tools, information and training they need to produce quality environmental reporting.
According to the Journalism and Media Studies Center, under the project, seminars, workshops and short courses will be held in the coming years for working journalists and interested parties in Hong Kong, China's mainland and the Asia Pacific region.
As one key ingredient of the project, a website designed especially for reporters working on environment-related stories was unveiled at the conference.
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