For the weeks to come, I have lined up several interviews with people that have worked in the Hong Kong news industry and/or was involved with the demonstrations in 2019/2020.
On a side note, translating interviews take time, and after inquiring with several staff of Falmouth University there is no clear answer on how to handle material in a foreign language. So what I am prepared to do is to translate all the passages on my own and to send a copy back to the interviewee for their signed approval. Especially dealing with content that could be sensitive nowadays, there is a need to take precaution in assuring safety for both sides. Yet again, I am to steer away from politica mentionings as hard as I could.
For this week I have translated the interview I had with Moment Hung (to be referred to as MH). An active civil journalist who has spent years working for New Ears Music, a music / entertainment branch of HK01 and the following are some of the highlights.
MH = Moment Hung ME = Andy
MH : I actually consider 2019 as a great time, it brought many of us together into cultural groups and people were actually meeting each other and agreeing with each other. A rare occurrence compared to a normal state.
A : During your time working for New Ears Music, were you in conversations with the public regarding feedback towards the platform or any other comments?
MH : There is a huge judgemental issue (known to be a common trait of Hong Kong citizens). Being under HK01, one of the biggest news media firms in HK, people doubt our sincerity in doing good for indie-music and the HK music scene in general. But I have always held a belief in which I mean musicians and bands do no harm and tell it as it was.
Over the years I was working there, I have also developed the habit of looking in to negative comments made by haters, I feel like I have the right to put up a debate and explain to people that might have misunderstood my / our intentions.
An interesting case which I was involved with and the popular app Clubhouse (chat rooms are created based on specific topics, and that a huge amount of people are able to join in these discussions in the form of voice messages).
One time a noise complaint from a band practice studio was picking up steam and became a hot topic, there are those that are in support of the band and vice-versa. What happened was I got in touch and lined up local area authorities, the landlord of the studio, neighbours, people living close by etc. I then basically hosted this massive conversation on Clubhouse in efforts to resolve the issue and was met with a happy ending where everyone came to a mutual understanding.
The interesting side to this whole happening was that it was ALL logged in forms of convos, Facebook and Instagram messages. Everyone made comments and suggestions as they pleased in the efforts of resolving the issue.
So this was a great example of an issue / piece of news being spread and catching attention all over social media, people taking matters into their own hands and ultimately resolving an issue. News has evolved a new function in informing the public so that people are able to take action.
A : As a content creator, which aspect of a post do you think is most important?
MH : The concept. How the whole idea is presented and framed is most crucial. Creativity was much needed to attract viewer’s attention especially when we were more entertainment focused.
A : What are your thoughts about the news you see in Hong Kong?
MH : The mainstream news ceased producing any pulse, all timelines and recaps of event happenings are done by civilians. Everything was happening too quickly at the time (2019) which is a hot bed for fake news and vague reporting.
Live broadcasting is a good method of reporting, but the problem lies with people choosing to only watch the highlights and recaps on the mainstream news, often coming to quick conclusions without fully understanding certain situations.
The other problem is that nobody is willing to write long articles due to how inefficient it is for a blogger, even if long pieces are done hosts would much rather break them in to parts upon release. The same goes with video content, go longer than a minute and you will lose your viewer’s attention.
A : Any news platforms you personally prefer?
MH : I would have to say Clubhouse, it is instant while enabling people to directly communicate with one another. There is difficulty in proving the legitimacy of any information obtained in such a way, yet discovering news this way and coming to conclusions in a collective manner is a very civil journalistic thing to do.
A : Do you consider Clubhouse as a media platform?
MH : Yes. Traditional media platforms work in frames, and I guess every chat room in Clubhouse is their own frame.
The environment has changed, the traditional media still serves it’s function of informing the general public, but in an open platform where no rules or laws apply the communication is more primal, edit free and without time restrictions.
1 The following are the advantages of a new media:
2 Better for understanding an event and people’s feelings.
3 Viewers are now most accustomed to this form of receiving and delivering, which has more draw compared to traditional media where topics are only discussed by one set of individuals.
4 Targeting a specific audience means not pleasing everybody, which is way more effective than wasting time trying to persuade people with opposite opinions.
It’s a really big contrast compared to William Pang from last week who was trained and worked with many traditional journalist values. To meet someone who embraces the new scene and is very much active on social media brings a new perspective and outlook towards the future of how people are to obtain information and news, but also expressing their opinions and to act on certain conflicts within their community.
To link this weeks findings with previous reading and interviews, it’s concluded that the citizens of Hong Kong are having major doubts and are choosing other alternatives as their source for news and information, that said the events of 2019 have resulted in the parting of major social media platforms and communication apps, more so the improvised methods by utilizing functions in smart devices. This being one of the major ripples of post 2019 protests deserves a closer look.
Reflection
It’s a really big contrast compared to William Pang from last week who was trained and worked with many traditional journalist values. To meet someone who embraces the new scene and is very much active on social media brings a new perspective and outlook towards the future of how people are to obtain information and news, but also expressing their opinions and to act on certain conflicts within their community.
In retrospect, I held the feeling of negativity walking out of Willaim’s studio a couple days prior and on the flip side ; there is hope and much to explore from talking to Moment.
Coming to think about it though, I need to distant myself from the emotions that are communicated through these interviews and construct my perspective based on content on it’s own. In order to do that, I find translating the content while it’s fresh is of help : emotions and tones of the interviews themseves seem to fade away with documentation, as if being filtered in the process and that is when actual facts and information would surface.
To link this weeks findings with previous reading and interviews, it’s concluded that the citizens of Hong Kong are having major doubts and are choosing other alternatives as their source for news and information, that said the events of 2019 have resulted in the parting of major social media platforms and communication apps, more so the improvised methods by utilizing functions in smart devices. This being one of the major ripples of post 2019 protests deserves a closer look.
ANDY WAS HERE
ANDY was here 🤓 