Bing

The answer to a question, in most circumstances needs to be balanced. In this instance, the answer is quite simply, yes.

The Inter net has changed absolutely everything. Everything we do today is different because of the world wide web and the Internet. It was about as instrumental as the invention of electricity. At a click of a button we have online banking, gambling, dating, courses and many, many more.

The Internet has largely brought into play three key factors:

Accessibility
Speed of Service
Simplicity

However, the Internet with it’s wonderful time and hassle-saving interface has also brought with it it’s share of complexities. Namely that of authenticity and reliability… something journalists are all too familiar with.

The definition of a journalist is a vague one which ranges from as simplistic a definition as somebody who keeps a journal, to somebody who practices journalism. You can see how this loose definition can be problematic when one’s whole career and integrity as a journalist, lie in being truthful, accurate, un-biased and trustworthy. And yet with the Internet, this definition has never rung so true.

Practically anyone can be a journalist with the Internet. With the rise and proliferation of bloggers and tagging, each and everyone has a voice, and a voice that can reach sometimes more readers than a best-selling newspaper columnist. The thing is, we don’t necessarily know the real identity of these people, nor their true intentions. They can be as biased and one-sided or fictitious as they like and have no editor to answer to. What’s more, it costs them nothing.

This doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad thing – it clearly isn’t. The Internet has allowed many a good writer and journalist to have their work read by an appreciative audience, seeking the real truth. This is particularly true in countries whose press do not enjoy the same freedoms the western hemisphere does. It facilitates communication and the spread of information – in a nutshell - journalism.

Finally, journalists can be anywhere in the world reporting on a story. The Internet allows us to quickly and easily search, locate and communicate with interviewees. Better still, it means a word/audio/video file can be dispatched to your editor within seconds of completing your story, while you’re still in a different zip code.

And yet, all this facilitation comes at a price. Everything we do on the Internet can be traced back to us. Like entering a store, every time we visit a web site, our information is recorded. So, as journalists, this poses a greater threat. In trying to get to the ‘truth’ of a story, we must be extremely careful. Particularly when dealing with sensitive issues relating to less diplomatic governments which won’t exactly be welcoming the bad press.

I leave you with the latest example of mainland journalist Shi Tao, who was given a ten year jail sentence for leaking state secrets. Yahoo!, one of the Internet’s most popular search engines and at least one of my email account service providers, provided his Internet Protocol address to the mainland authorities. So, the very vehicle that had helped release the information he sought, ultimately led to his imprisonment.

Today, being a journalist is both easier and harder. The internet has facilitated our trade and yet with it, brought our credibility further more into question.

Well, Sudalina and I will be trying to gather public opinion on the District Council Elections and voter sentiment by vox-popping people on the street in Central and Wanchai. We have done a few interviews so far but have always set out to dedicate the whole day to it this coming Tuesday. Therefore so far, there is little to tell.

We’re going to act as sponges and try and ascertain whether the people of Hong Kong really care about local politics. We will also try and gather information on what their concerns are for their their district, so that post election we can see if these issues are being addressed. It will also be interesting to see if they’ve even heard of some of the candidates!

Here’s a little snippet of what one Mid-Levels resident had to say about it all:

Vox Pop 1

So, in a nutshell, watch this space - there’s more to come and we should have our findings up by the end of Friday!

The city is littered with posters of candidates promising to improve and aid the lives of Hong Kongers, but do the people really care? This is what Sudalina and I intend to find out.

How informed is the general public, of the duties and responsibilities of the district councils? Do they perceive them to be effective or a defunct governmental organism? Have they had any experiences dealing with their local district councillor - positive or not?

We want feedback. Unadulterated, local electoral feedback.

In order to obtain this, I think we need to find locations/venues which do NOT discriminate. Such as outside supermarkets - everybody shops for food, right? Timing will be more important however, if we are to get a good cross-section of society and not just those who do not work. Therefore, I would also suggest that we go in the evening. Alternatively, outside a food outlet, such as Maxim or Canteen, during a busy lunchtime, we should also be able to capture a good spread of opinion from different age groups.

We need, male, female, 20-30’s, 30’s-40’s, 50’s and above (it will be difficult to determine this as age is a sensitive issue so we will just have to estimate). We also need voters from at least 2 different districts.

Recording their feedback and opinions on an MP3 player and taking photos of each person will best illustrate the point. That way we can have sound bites with attached photos for visual stimulation. We should also take a photo of the location where we vox-pop, and if possible with something in the background that shows what district we’re in. We will need to be aware of the district council candidates from that area before we go in and vox-pop - we want to find out if they have even heard of them or ever met them.

Suggestions:

Large Park & Shop in Wanchai - lunchtime
Queen’s Road Central Lanes - anytime
Sai Yin Pun Wet Market - anytime

Questions:

Are you aware that the District Council Elections are taking place on Sun 18th Nov?
Will you be voting?
Did you vote last time round?
What do you think is the purpose of a District Council, and do you think it is being carried out?
Do you know who the candidates are in your district for this coming election?
Have you had any contact with them - and if so what were your impressions?
Have you ever used the district council to help you with some issue/do you think you would ever use….?

This is just a general framework so of course we need to expand and change the line of questions according to feedback.

Yesterday I interviewed Stephen Chan, who is a district council member for the Central & Western district. Mr Chan was Chairman of the Central & Western district board between 1997-99 and today is Chairman of the Culture, Leisure & Social Affairs Committee. He also is a board member of the finance committee, the food, environment, hygiene and works committee and the traffic and transport committee.

Click below to hear what Mr Chan had to say about his past achievements for the district council and upcoming issues. Also, find out how Mr Chan balances it all with his full-time job!

Interview with Stephen Chan

Today in class I interviewed Denise to illustrate how an MP3 Recorder works and how to use Audacity to edit what someone has said. We talked about food.

The conversation went as follows:

Denise

King Yin Lei is a Chinese style mansion located at 45 Stubbs Road.

It had been up for sale for over two years when it was finally sold on September 6th to a mainland Chinese owner. The Stubbs Road site was sold for HK$430 million. Despite claims that it was highly likely that the new buyer would demolish the property and redevelop it, the Hong Kong government did not intervene. Shortly thereafter, as anticipated workers began demolition when an outcry prompted the Development Bureau to declare King Yin Lei a provisional monument, halting work for at least a year.

In January 2007, the Hong Kong Government listed nearly 500 buildings in Hong Kong as historical buildings. 70 year old King Yin Lane was not on the list.

On the District Council Elections web-page, it is outlined that a District Council advises the Government on the following:

matters affecting the well-being of the people in the district;
the provision and use of public facilities and services within the district;
the adequacy and priorities of Government programmes for the district; and
the use of public funds allocated to the district for local public works and community activities.

Where funds are made available, a District Council will also undertake the following within the district:

environmental improvements;
the promotion of recreational and cultural activities; and
community activities.

How is it therefore, that the beautiful and historic, King Yin Lei is in this depraved state? Whom are we to blame for the action/inaction that has resulted in this pitiful building site? Where does responsibility lie? Or rather, who lies?

Why is it that nothing was done to preserve this building? Does it stem for a lack of appreciation for the old and historic? Is Hong Kong too carried away with the new and economic progress that it fails to consider it’s past? Or is it that the government relies on the mainland ‘motherland’ to showcase it’s rich and vibrant history?

It’s like keeping the past and history behind ornate bars - imprisoned.

I believe Wanchai District Council should have fought for the preservation of this historic building. It should have petitioned and rallied and make such a stinking noise that the government would have had to sit up and act. It should not be left to the Conservation Association.

Which leads me to my next point - is there really any point in voting? Do the District Councils hold any power or are they really a redundant mechanism simply in place to have the ‘people’ think that they have a democracy - seeing as they voted them in.

King Yin Lei is just one such site, whose fate is at the mercy of a ‘cloak and daggers’ political system, which has little respect for it’s inhabitants feelings. Look at Queen’s Pier, Graham St and the Central Police Station. Perhaps it’s this feeling of helplessness that makes people apathetic towards politics and voting in Hong Kong.

All the more reason I say, to fight for universal suffrage, and make that vote count.

For a place with a population of almost 7 million people, a GDP of $23,627.34 per capita and all squeezed into barely over 1,000 square kilomotres of space (Hong Kong island taking up a mere 80 square kilometres), one would think that the business of district councils would feature high on the average Hong Kong person’s list of priorities. Well think again..

With such little space, what you do with it and how you use it/best manage it is key. Nevertheless, try finding information or an article on the up-coming district council elections and you’ll be hard pushed.

What little there is out there, is not particularly stimulating, nor transparent. It seems the district council elections, though not as large or important at the legislative council elections, share the same influence from Beijing, and some might think, arguably the same apathy from Kong Kong inhabitants. Why bother - when you know it won’t make much difference?

However, one extremely positive angle to the district council elections is that it is the entry point for future leaders and politicians. For this reason alone it is important to get people interested and start shaking up the community to begin taking notice of who’s out there, and how their views and power can start influencing their daily lives.

Because this is where the district council elections will be felt - in your neighbourhood, at your child’s kindergarten, on the local transport.

Get people to feel the connection and influence that politics has on them and they won’t think it so abstract any more. With each baby step, beginning with the district council elections, the relevance of local politics will become more obvious, as will the realisation that their voice, and ultimately vote, will shape the future of Hong Kong.

If in January 2004, 1,100,000 Hong Kong citizen’s were able to take to the streets to protest against Article 23 and the need for universal suffrage, then it can and will be one again. As one blogger who ommits his name puts it, this is an example “of the kind of participatory civil society that is anathema to both the central government and their puppets among business leaders”…”The district elections in November 2003 made it plain for all to see that when they get the chance to vote, most Hong Kong citizens vote for candidates in the democratic camp. Successive opinion polls reveal that more than 60% of respondents have no confidence in the Chief Executive. The majority of Hong Kong people register their dissatisfaction with the executive branch of the HKSAR Government in similar opinion polls. The current political system depends for its survival on the myth of Hong Kong people’s political passivity, on the notion that we care more about money than politics. We don’t.”

And so we shall see, what the outcome of the district council elections will be. It matters not so much who get’s voted in or what party but the participation and interest gathered and ensuing thought-process.

Note: - I found Google to be the best way of finding information, but that probably has more to do with the fact that I’m familiar with it and know how to work it to my advantage. I’ve not quite reached that level of ‘intimacy’ with RSS, del.icio.us or technorati!