Global Media Spectacle: News War over Hong Kong

Appendix III. Guideline for Interview

Appendix III Guideline for Interview I. Organizations 1. Do you have a regular correspondent or stringer stationed in Hong Kong? 2. How important is news about Hong Kong to your media organization? 3. How important is the handover as a news topic? Why is it important? 4. How much newshole or airtime do you have regularly? How much will you have on July 1? Do you have to fight for it? In what format (special programs, regular news, etc.) are your stories about the handover being presented? 5. How do you coordinate your efforts with home editors? Have you encountered any obstacles with them? When you come up with an idea, do you have to seek their approval? When in disagreement, how do you resolve it? 6. How many journalists does your organization have for covering the Hong Kong handover? How many of them are regularly stationed in Hong Kong? How long have they been stationed here? How many of them are on temporary assignment? How long are they going to be here? What sort of backgrounds do they have? How do you divide the labor? 7. How many helpers do you hire? What do they do? Do you need help in translation or interpretation? II. Self A. General Characteristics 1. Gender, approximate age, years of journalistic experience in the field and in the present organization, job title. 2. Name of news organization, country of origin. 3. Reading and speaking proficiency in Chinese. 209 B. Personal Experience and Knowledge 1. How were you chosen to cover Hong Kong? 2. How often have you been to Hong Kong, China, or Asia? Have you covered any other Asian country? How transferable is that experience to covering Hong Kong? 3. For you, what are the most frequently used or most useful sources of information about Hong Kong? 4. How do you prepare yourself for covering the handover? How long have you been following Hong Kong and China? 5. What is your impression of Hong Kong? How different is it from what you thought it would be like? C. Political and Journalistic Attitudes 1. In your opinion, where will Hong Kong be ten years from now? Will the “one country, two systems” model work? How will Hong Kong fare in terms of its political democracy, economic development, and press freedom ? What kind of a relationship will Hong Kong have with China? 2. What kind of things do you do to help your home readers understand what is happening in Hong Kong? D. Perception of Readers or Audiences 1. Please describe for me a profile of your average readers or viewers. How much do you think they know about Hong Kong? Do you think they really care about Hong Kong? 2. How do you find out their interests? III. News Net 1. How do you develop and process news tips while in Hong Kong? To what extent do you rely on the local media as sources? How good are they? 2. To what extent do you interact with local journalists and academics? Do you seek their help? How helpful are they? 3. Do you seek help from the Government Information Services (GIS)? Do you seek help from the Xinhua News Agency? How helpful are they? 210 Appendix III 4. How have you built up contacts in Hong Kong within a relatively short period of time? 5. Has anyone approached you to give you an interview? 6. Have you approached the following individuals for interviews: Chris Patten , Tung Chee-hwa, Anson Chan, Lu Ping, Martin Lee? Have you approached any other important individuals for interview? What are your major impressions of these people? IV. Working Conditions 1. With whom are you competing? How keen is this competition? What do you do to be different from your competitors? 2. How much do you consult the wire services? How much do you consult the work of your competitors? Do you compare notes with your colleagues from other media or with the leading media? Do you think they do a good job? How different is your work from their work? 3. Would you be feeling uncomfortable if you find your interpretation of a story different from that of other leading media? In that situation, what would you do? 4. Do top international journalists get special treatment from the GIS or from the sources? V. Framing A. Agenda-setting 1. What do you think are the most important...