Hong Kong's media has remained free and robust since the region's return to the motherland in 1997, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang said Friday.
"In fact, I would suggest that the press is now even tougher on the government than it was before the handover," he said, adding that the local media has been reporting and commenting freely and critically on events in Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and overseas for the past four years.
Tsang made the remarks at a prize presentation ceremony of the Hong Kong Best Press Award organized by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong.
He pledged that the SAR government will continue to safeguard freedom of the press as critical observations from the media are "an important driving force" for the public service sector to improve and strive for higher standards.
"...I will never exchange freedom of the press for anything," he said.
He also noted that the press is "very much the icon of Hong Kong's commitment to remaining in the league of open and civilized world class cities".
He concluded his speech by urging the local media to guard against slipping professional standards in the face of intense competition.
(China Daily 05/06/2001)
