Hong Kong Free Press is hosting a talk at the 2017 Online Media Summit in December. The event, held mostly in Chinese, asks: How can online media defend press freedom in a city under siege?
After the Umbrella Movement, online media outlets across the political spectrum raced for a share of social media platforms, and successive transformations in conventional media organisations took place. New media looks like a giant new market with great potential. But does it offer genuine opportunities? Or is it all an illusion?
Capital-deficient civic media groups, however, are gradually being marginalised amid the glittering new media landscape. News stories become fragmented online and downgraded into objects for consumption. Can civic media groups continue exposing social injustice and setting the agenda to bring societal change?
When media operation depend on “clicks” and reader donations, winning “likes” becomes a route to survival. But is news reporting the same as merely attracting “likes”? Thought-provoking stories are usually not favoured by the general public, so how should we choose between “likes” and journalistic values and ethics? When the medium of dissemination changes, should the journalistic profession stay put or follow suit?
Online media practitioners, scholars and seasoned journalists will come together for this seminar on the space for new media outlets, and their means for their survival.
- Date/Time: Dec 3, 2017 (Sun) 2:00pm -6:30pm
- Venue: HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity (No. 135, Junction Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong)
Keynote Panel Discussion (2:00pm-4:15pm):
- Moderator: AU, Allan K. L. Professional Consultant of School of Journalism and Communication, CUHK
- Speakers: Annie Zhang, Editor-in-Chief (Initium Media), Li Ka Chung Edward, Chief News Editor (Apple Action News), Ken Lui , Assignment Editor (HK01), Iam-chong Ip, Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University and one of the founders of Hong Kong In-media and inmediahk.net [in Chinese].
Forum: Part 1 (4:15-5:15pm):
- CitizenNews: How can online media outlets cooperate to achieve a win-win? [in Chinese].
- WkNews: How to start up a media outlet if you are penniless? [in Chinese].
- InmediaHK: How to set yourself free from click rates and fake news? [in Chinese].
Forum: Part 2 (5:30-6:30pm):
- Stand News: Good wine needs no bush? In-depth news coverage online: inputs and challenges [in Chinese].
- Initium Media: Before entering into the discussion on cross-boundary connection, what are the questions we should ask? [in Chinese].
- Hong Kong Free Press: The importance of news literacy in an era of ‘fake news’ and ‘filter bubbles’ [in English].
