The Hong Kong Handover

Paper Summary:

This paper presents a case study of American television coverage of the Hong Kong handover that took place in 1997. The focus of this paper is on the way ABC, CBS, and NBC as a single group, and CNN and "News Hour" framed their reports from 1984 to 1997 on events leading up to and including the handover. It covers historical events such as the signing of the Hong Kong Treaty, the massacre in Tiananmen Square, the arrival of Governor Chris Patten, and subsequently, the Hong Kong handover. The paper asserts that the handover was a healthy gesture that stood for freedom of all human beings, but that the event was exploited by American television coverage.

From the Paper:

"As in the case of the Hong Kong "handover," American television coverage relentlessly depicted more of a negative side of the story. Though there were citizens in Hong Kong who may have had reservations about the "handover," American television coverage gave their public the impression that many citizens in Hong Kong were displeased with the "handover." The reality of the situation was that there celebrations all over Hong Kong at the time of the "handover." It must be noted that this manufacture of news was based on what each news channel had covered earlier, since 1984. This is to say that they had all covered the Tiananmen Square Massacre as well as Governor Chris Patten's arrival. The coverage of these events served was the basis of what was reported at the time of the "handover." However, it is the framing devices implemented by each of the news agencies that need to be noted here in order to determine how each news agency (ABC, CBS and NBC, CNN, and News Hour) may have manufactured news between 1984 and 1997."

More papers on The Hong Kong Handover:

• Article Review # 99480 : "The Hong Kong SAR and Thereafter"
• Essay # 32556 : "Democracy in Hong Kong"
• Term Paper # 143996 : "The British and Hong Kong"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: