Differing Perceptions of What is News in China and Hong Kong

By Masato Kajimoto and Anne Kruger
The University of Hong Kong

Political structures vary widely between China and Hong Kong. While Hong Kong is officially part of China, it exists in a “one country, two systems” principle, with China being ruled as a communist society, and Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region that retains a number of citizen’s rights and its legal, and parliamentary system, which were put into place by the British. One of those rights that Hong Kong maintains is that of a free and open press. China however, does not, with all of its press outlets being run by the Chinese government. In this example, we present two stories from Chinese news outlets that report the Occupy Central protests as gatherings associated with a “National Day” instead of the upheavals of society that actually existed.

After viewing the two stories, ask students:

• Are these a true representation of what happened?

• How do they differ?

• How might they be similar?

• Why might these stories be different?