Media

HKU study on Portrayals of the Family in the Hong Kong Media

29 Dec 2009

 

The Journalism and Media Studies Centre of The University of Hong Kong has conducted a study on "Portrayals of the Family in the Hong Kong Media". The findings of the study reflects that the overall coverage given in the news media to family related issues is extremely small, in which an overwhelming majority of reports carried by the news media on family related issues are about conflict and violence. Moreover, the news content tend to blame the individual actors for causing the family problems. The general Hong Kong society, the professionals (doctors/social workers/psychiatrists) and the government are not usually considered to be responsible. It implies that family issues are not conceived and evaluated as "social problems" or "problematic phenomenon" by the news media. Instead, they are usually singled out and reported as individual news stories. It is suggested that a public education effort through the media and other channels be conducted to raise awareness of the social roots of these problems, and the interventions that can be used to remedy them.

The media plays an agenda setting role in society by bringing matters to public attention. Issues might get on to the public agenda if they get media attention and studies have shown that there is a correlation between the amount of coverage the news media give to an issue and the importance that audiences place on these issues. If an issue is never reported on in the mass media, it is difficult to see how society will come to know about this issue and regard it as important enough for action to be taken. The Study aims at understanding the extent to which the issues under study are on the public agenda, and public perceptions of cause and responsibility.

The Study is funded by the Hong Kong Jockey club. It analyzes reporting and commentary in the major Hong Kong news media of family related matters over a six month period from October 2007 to March 2008. The media outlets chosen for analysis are Apple Daily, Oriental Daily, Ming Pao, the South China Morning Post, the ATV main evening newscast and the TVB main newscast. These outlets represent the two largest circulating newspapers in Hong Kong, one up market newspaper, the main English language newspaper two free to air terrestrial television channels.

Majority of reports are about family conflict and violence.

The Study reflects that a total of 2430 news reports and commentaries related to family related issues were identified within the designated research period. It was noted that the two most popular, mass market newspapers, Oriental Daily News and Apple Daily had the maximum number of family related stories, while the two more up-market newspapers, Ming Pao and the South China Morning Post had relatively fewer stories. The main television news broadcasts have even fewer news items, partly reflecting the smaller number of items there is place for in a TV news broadcast. In the case of newspapers, the volume of coverage, as a percentage of total news coverage, ranged from 2.15 percent in the case of the SCMP, to 3.45 percent in the case of Apple Daily. Family related news stories made up only a small proportion of the total news items in both newspaper and TV news, only less than 3% . This indicates that these issues are not in the public eye, or in the public agenda to a sufficient extent.

The Tin Shui Wai tragedy in mid October 2007 contributed to a relatively higher percentage of front page headline stories on family related issues. But the average percentage is only 5.58 percent which is relatively small. It should be noted that the Chinese newspapers carried a relatively higher percentage of such stories than the SCMP, the only English newspaper in the sample, which only had one such story during the period under study.

The findings also show that the overwhelming majority of reports carried by the news media on family related issues are about conflict and violence. Only 1.9% of the news reports could be categorized as positive, conveying advice, help or solutions to family related problems. Some of the stories that are categorized under government policies and responses, public responses, statistics and surveys as well as news commentaries do contain positive advice. However, the advice is not the main focus of the news report, and is often buried deep down in the report. The largest number of stories (30.6%) dealt with abuse or assault in the family, followed by juvenile delinquency (12.69%), suicide (10.92%), killings and murders within the family (8.59% ) and  non-violent conflicts within the family ( 5.87% ) (Picture 1). Dr. Fu King-wa, Research Assistant Professor of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre, said that studies have shown that there is a tendency of increase of family violence and suicide after related reports were carried by the news media. In addition to the trend of Flash Journalism, media created news which are "more real than reality", focusing on sensational stimulation and personalized reporting but neglecting the real situation of the society. Dr. Fu suggests that media make reference on guidelines on reporting family related issues provided by international media organizations like the Dart Centre for Journalism & Trauma.

Individuals are blamed for causing family problems.

From the population of all family-related news reports compiled in the first phase of this study, 429 thematic cases from newspapers and 39 cases from TV news were further selected for content analysis. The Study reflects that 65% of the news reports tend to blame individual actors for causing the problems (Picture 2). For juvenile delinquency, cross-border families and elderly abuse, we see a clear pattern of 80% news coverage placing the responsibility for causing the problem on individuals.

In the case of juvenile delinquency, the majority of media reports attributed delinquency to ignorance of the consequences and impact of behavior, , while "bad families" or inadequate parenting and family guidance, was seen as a cause in a smaller percentage of cases. For news regarding cross-border families, most cases are related to the disputes and conflicts of the cross-border families. The perceived causes are attributed to "bad family relationships". Obviously little insights and discussions are provided in cross-border family's situations. Similarly, in cases of elderly abuse, "bad family relationships" and also "physical/mental illness" are the major causes perceived in the news coverage. Apparently, elderly abuse is excused by illness and long-standing problems among the respective families. Other social aspects of the problem are seldom mentioned.

The Tin Shui Wai tragedy is a contrasting case for analysis. It is an extreme case and we can see very different coverage of the news media. The government is heavily blamed for causing the problem and it should bear the responsibility to solve it. 87.2% of reports suggest that the government's failure in welfare policy caused the tragedy.

Media strategy to help social interventions to improve family relationships

Professor Thomas Abraham, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Studies Centre, who is also the director of the Study said the overall coverage given in the news media to family related issues is extremely small (under 3 percent) which indicates that these issues are not in the public eye, or in the public agenda to a sufficient extent. He recommends relevant departments and organizations to put in place a strategy to increase media awareness of these issues through a series of seminars.

Professor Chan Yuen-ying, Director and Professor of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre said the news media is still the major source of information for the public on most issues. The tendency of overwhelming majority of reports carried by the news media on family related issues are about conflict and violence, blaming the individual actors for causing the family problems, while ignoring core problem of the issues that might be more serious, the public and the government might neglect potential and hidden social roots of these problems, thus affect the identification and implementation of interventions to remedy them.

Professor Chan recommends that a public education effort through the media and other channels in the society be conducted to raise public awareness of these issues and start a public dialogue to find solutions and the interventions that can be used to remedy them. She also suggests a wide perspective of family related issues be reported in the news media, unveiling the different situations of families in Hong Kong, and conveying messages and advice on building harmonious and healthy families.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Janice Poon, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU at 93634180 email, jmsc@hku.hk

Picture 1

 

 

Picture 2