Reporting Hong Kong: Foreign Media and the Handover

In the summer of 1997, thousands of foreign journalists converged on Hong Kong to record one of the last episodes in Western colonialism. How foreign journalists chose to report the handover, and what they decided to ignore about it, reveals much about foreign news agendas and how they are framed by ideological and cultural assumptions. This book uses the handover of Hong Kong to illustrate the process of media reporting as well as the product. The authors consider how a "reality" is constructed through press releases and visual spectacles. Also featured are interviews with thirteen Hong Kong-based journalists from seven countries who took part in this media jamboree and who discuss the restrictions they worked under, including the pressure for colorful stories and the inability to pose questions to the key players.