Reading through Hong Kong's collection of blogs, I find Roland Soong has linked to my old rag and a thought-provoking article by Johnathan Cheng, a Canada-born emigree to Hong Kong who writes on privacy and surveillance legislation.

The rub is this: As it becomes likely that citizen journalism is on the increase in a major way, and as it becomes more and more obvious that any of us can pick up a mobile phone, a 4.7-megapixel camera and a piece of string and create our own version of Vanity Fair or The New Yorker online, the role of the journalist has not changed.

Not only do people who fill the gaps for mainstream media need to pay more attention to the impact of their stories on the public, they need to take a frontline role as the responsible caretakers of media, in general.
For too long, Hong Kong media has been driven by the tycoons' hunger for money, and we have a skewed idea in Hong Kong that freedom of expression means the right to be bold over the right to report the truth.

I was told at a dinner party the other day that Jimmy Lai, who runs Next Media which published the pictures of an unclad Gillian Chung, told his reporters to never give up, nor to apologize for their deeds.

That's all well and good, I think. But, boldness ruins the media when it is not tempered by what is responsible and what is needed.

 

rion
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