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Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Argumentative Essay Draft
Title:
Would giving a license to HKTV bring more harm than good to Hong Kong?
Most of us would agree without doubt that Hong Kong has always been a very competitive city. Hong Kong is ranked as the 4th most competitive city in the world in a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in June 2013. It is widely accepted that in the area of business the strongest remains. However, this might be slightly different in the television broadcasting industry in Hong Kong.
Some background information about the issue of free TV license in HK is needed before we go into the analyzing part. In the television broadcasting industry in Hong Kong, there were mainly 2 free TV licensees – TVB and ATV. TVB has been said to be the monopoly as reflected by the low audience ratings for ATV, which is said to be the ‘mouth of the central government’ and produced low quality news and shows. Recently 2 out of 3 applicants for the free TV license are granted the license. They are Fantastic TV and HK Television Entertainment Co, which are owned by I-Cable and PCCW (the former being a paid-TV company, the latter specialises in mobiles and home telephones). HKTV, owned by Mr Ricky Wong, is the one which is not granted a free TV license. The government refused to publish the report explaining the reasons for this decision. It justified its refusal to publish the report by referring to the confidentiality system of the Executive Council (which decides to whom the license would be granted).
Among the three applicants, HKTV is the only one which has produced some TV dramas and they are said to be of high quality. The public has been in support of a more competitive television broadcasting industry. As such, this essay will explain why granting a license to HKTV would do more good than harm from the social perspective.
Most of us would agree without doubt that Hong Kong has always been a very competitive city. Hong Kong is ranked as the 4th most competitive city in the world in a report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit in June 2013. It is widely accepted that in the area of business the strongest remains. However, this might be slightly different in the television broadcasting industry in Hong Kong.
Some background information about the issue of free TV license in HK is needed before we go into the analyzing part. In the television broadcasting industry in Hong Kong, there were mainly 2 free TV licensees – TVB and ATV. TVB has been said to be the monopoly as reflected by the low audience ratings for ATV, which is said to be the ‘mouth of the central government’ and produced low quality news and shows. Recently 2 out of 3 applicants for the free TV license are granted the license. They are Fantastic TV and HK Television Entertainment Co, which are owned by I-Cable and PCCW (the former being a paid-TV company, the latter specialises in mobiles and home telephones). HKTV, owned by Mr Ricky Wong, is the one which is not granted a free TV license. The government refused to publish the report explaining the reasons for this decision. It justified its refusal to publish the report by referring to the confidentiality system of the Executive Council (which decides to whom the license would be granted).
Among the three applicants, HKTV is the only one which has produced some TV dramas and they are said to be of high quality. The public has been in support of a more competitive television broadcasting industry. As such, this essay will explain why granting a license to HKTV would do more good than harm from the social perspective.
There are various reasons regarding the quality of TV shows of why HKTV should be granted a license. First, it could make the current TV broadcasting market more competitive, thus quality of TV shows could be improved. The quality of news and TV shows produced by ATV and TVB has been declining drastically. This can be reflected by the fact that they have been receiving complaints from time to time, especially during these few years. Even so, they have dominated the free TV market for 34 consecutive years and TVB has been the monopoly. And in fact the audience have no choice. As a monopoly of the industry, TVB will not strike to improve their production unless more competitors enter the market.
The motion that HKTV should be granted a license is widely supported – from artists, some politicians, to the public. This can be seen on the demonstration on 20/10 and 25/10 which aimed at urging the government to grant a license to HKTV. Andy Lau, an experienced artist in Hong Kong, has shown his support to the staff of HKTV through a short video which was displayed on the assembly on 25/10. Most of the public agrees that more licenses should be granted. An online research done by Independent Media Hong Kong found that 99% of the interviewees supported granting new free TV licenses. Many of them are dissatisfied with the quality of shows produced by TVB and ATV.
Despite the quality of its dramas and the passion of Mr. Ricky Wong, a major criticism of HKTV is about its operation persistency. The newspapers has suggested that this might be one of the reasons why the government refused to grant HKTV a license. However, the news article published by Apple Daily on 05/11/2013 pointed out that, according to sources, operation persistency is only a minor sub-element under the requirement “financial capacity”. The overall score that HKTV has received on “financial capacity” is not the lowest. In other words, it is not just to refuse granting a free TV license to HKTV merely because of its operation persistency. What’s more, HKTV is very likely to receive large amount of investment (e.g. from advertisements) if it became a free TV. The chances of it producing high quality shows are foreseeable (based on what it has produced). As such, it is likely that HKTV would attract interest of advertisement companies and investors because it will be popular amongst citizens. Therefore, operation persistency, which is decided on the current condition of applicants, is not and should not be a major concern.
Based on the above analysis, I would once again state that granting a free TV license to HKTV would do more harm than good. Bringing in more competitors in the free TV industry can increase its competitiveness and may urge the existing ones to improve quality of their shows. The motion that HKTV should be granted a license has received support from various sectors of Hong Kong. Refusing to grant license to HKTV merely because of the sub-requirement of operation persistency is inappropriate as explained. Taking all these factors into account, I can see no reasons why HKTV should not be granted a free TV license.
Analytical essay
I have never planned for this. It is all
unexpected. I have failed my goals and I came here. When it came, my mind was
not blown. It was just that I got butterflies in my stomach. Am I capable of
handling all the challenges ahead? I do not know.
Yes, I am here, being a first-year law student at the City University of Hong Kong.
As I have said, it is all unexpected. Law is not my first choice. In fact I dream of being a journalist. Writing articles is not just something that I am interested in, it is also my strength. In a student reporter program that I have participated, the article that I have written on the Cheung Chao Dajiao Festival was chosen among ten articles written by others to be published on the newspaper. It might seem to be a minor thing to you, but to me, it is a confirmation of my writing ability. This is when I started to develop a strong interest in journalism.
No matter how I have planned for my future, things did not turn out as I wished. Unfortunately what had awaited me is rejection from the School of Journalism of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I could not help feeling disappointed. At the same time CityU gave me an offer in LLB, which is a whole new path for me. So I accepted the offer.
But then questions came. Law is such a competitive subject that it seems to me only those who are either very hard-working or smart can master it. I think people like me who are often being described as careless and lazy might find it hard. I knew nothing about the law and I am surely not as ambitious as my colleagues. When I talked about this to a friend of mine, he told me ‘Well, no one ever comes here fully prepared. If you know everything before you come then there is no need to study here!’ Maybe he is right. I should get focused and stop worrying for the unknown.
After all the worries I have had, I started to think maybe doing law in university would do much good to a person like me. Studying law may help me to stay absolutely focused on my job in the future because it requires high level of concentration. I believe I would be much more hardworking and dedicated to work at hand, which are obviously beneficial to my future – either in further education or to my job. Things are not as bad as I first thought!
If I still want to be a journalist after these four years of law programme, I will do a master in journalism after I graduate to help me with my dream job – a journalist. I might be an article writer in a food magazine or lifestyle magazine. But if I change my mind and I want to be a lawyer, then I will complete PCLL first before going for a master of laws. I do not know yet whether being a barrister or a solicitor would be more suitable for me, but I guess the answer will come along as I progress in my studies.
Am I capable of handling all the challenges ahead? I do not know, but the challenge is accepted. What I could do is to fine-tune my goal, be prepared, and just keep going. Grabbing learning opportunities and being a hardworking person are the prerequisites to success in career. Once I could do both of them can I exercise on my full potential.
Yes, I am here, being a first-year law student at the City University of Hong Kong.
As I have said, it is all unexpected. Law is not my first choice. In fact I dream of being a journalist. Writing articles is not just something that I am interested in, it is also my strength. In a student reporter program that I have participated, the article that I have written on the Cheung Chao Dajiao Festival was chosen among ten articles written by others to be published on the newspaper. It might seem to be a minor thing to you, but to me, it is a confirmation of my writing ability. This is when I started to develop a strong interest in journalism.
No matter how I have planned for my future, things did not turn out as I wished. Unfortunately what had awaited me is rejection from the School of Journalism of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I could not help feeling disappointed. At the same time CityU gave me an offer in LLB, which is a whole new path for me. So I accepted the offer.
But then questions came. Law is such a competitive subject that it seems to me only those who are either very hard-working or smart can master it. I think people like me who are often being described as careless and lazy might find it hard. I knew nothing about the law and I am surely not as ambitious as my colleagues. When I talked about this to a friend of mine, he told me ‘Well, no one ever comes here fully prepared. If you know everything before you come then there is no need to study here!’ Maybe he is right. I should get focused and stop worrying for the unknown.
After all the worries I have had, I started to think maybe doing law in university would do much good to a person like me. Studying law may help me to stay absolutely focused on my job in the future because it requires high level of concentration. I believe I would be much more hardworking and dedicated to work at hand, which are obviously beneficial to my future – either in further education or to my job. Things are not as bad as I first thought!
If I still want to be a journalist after these four years of law programme, I will do a master in journalism after I graduate to help me with my dream job – a journalist. I might be an article writer in a food magazine or lifestyle magazine. But if I change my mind and I want to be a lawyer, then I will complete PCLL first before going for a master of laws. I do not know yet whether being a barrister or a solicitor would be more suitable for me, but I guess the answer will come along as I progress in my studies.
Am I capable of handling all the challenges ahead? I do not know, but the challenge is accepted. What I could do is to fine-tune my goal, be prepared, and just keep going. Grabbing learning opportunities and being a hardworking person are the prerequisites to success in career. Once I could do both of them can I exercise on my full potential.
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