The Correspondent, October 1994 by The Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong

Tlce Offícial

Publication of tbe Foreign Corresþondents'Club of Hong Kong

Killing in Cambodia: does the media

threaten kidnapped youngsters like these?

Profïts over Pulitzers: making the best of USA Today

Howard's End: Coats off

THE

GORRDSPOTTDENT October,1994

I 2

THE FOREIGN CORBESPONDENTS'

CLIIB

Lrrncfrlines Three wise men on the state of play in Beijing

2 Lower Albert Road, HonB Kong Telephone: 521 l57l Ftx'.a6a4092

Presldent

Simon Holbenon Hans Vriens Secofrd Vlce Presld€nÎ- Dorothy Ryan

Flfst Vlce Presldent-

C.oûespotdent Member Governore Paül Ba)ûeld, Marcus W. Braucru¡, Phillipe Le Coffe, Diane Stomont, Hùbert Vm Es, Nury Viftachi, Michâel Westlake

Spreading

ttre Blarrre

'Will Indonesia loosen the information reins?

Barsid.e flantef A breakfast benediction.

faiffed

in Carrrl>odia:

I'L¡e Clsina debate

Experiencing the news from the other side of the notebook.

JolJm2l¡st Membef Govefliofs Paul

Lel1er:s to the Editor:

Moone¡ Frucis Moriarty

Assoclate Member Governors Athene Choy, Kwin Egan,

7-3-

Ronald Ling, Keith Shakespeare

Sed'etaty: PaúMooney

Fr:orn ttre Frontline The price of Nation Building

Prcfesslonal Committee Conxenor: HnsYÍiens M e m b e rs : P a\l Bayîtelð, Milcus W. Brauchli, Philippe Le Corre,

Fnncis Moriarty Flnance Comlttee Tre as uferï D olothy Ry în

7-4.

Howard's End: goodbye to the Coats

a6.

Cad Goldstein, Simon Holberton,

Conuenor: Htbertvan Fs Meffibers: Kqii Egan, Keith Sbakespeâre

aE.

Conuilot: Nxry Viûac¡,i Men bers: M^rc\s W. Br¿uctìIi, Ronald Ling F & B Commlttee Conrenor| Ptxllipe Le Core Membeß: Kevin Wm, .Á,thene Choy

Ir¡forrrration

enzicing

The good news about GIS.

MikeWstÞke

E[tef'tairment Coññltfe€

20.

l\/fedia- Malfe':s

Searcbíng

Cam.bod.ia

Fllture imperfect for the freelance hack. t)

wall C¡mrtrlttee

Pr:ofits

o\zer Prrlitzer:s

The world of Al Neuharth of the Freedom Forum

Hubert Van Es, Bob Dâvis

24Es,

The Correspondent

26-

Frorrì

Ilole

An encounter with

EDITORIALOFFICE Simon T$iston Davies, Editor Marion Bourke, r{.ssistmt Editor 2 Iower i{lbert Road, Hong Kong

Soapl>ox The demise of an editor.

Nuri Vittachi, Terry Duckhâm, Simon Twiston Davies (Editor)

Telephone: 521

Portfolio Fairman's pictures are up against the wall

Keith Shakespeare Membershlp Committee

Publlcations Commlttee Conùefior: P^ulBayfield Men bers: Fnncis Moriarty, Hubert Van

FCC People

28-

lsll Fu:a6a4092

Fur:ttrer

to flole a

communist rat

R.eading

Stuart ìùøolfeûdale on Murdocls: Tbe Great Escape.

@ 1994 The Foreign corespondents'

Club ofHong Kong Opinioos expressed by writers in TrJe Corresþondent tre not necessarily those of The Foreign Corespondents' Club. Tbe Coffespondert is published moothly by The Foreign Corespondents' Club ofHong Kong.

PRODUCTION FST Line Design

Mercedes -Benz

30.

Social Affairs FCC

32-

folk at work and play. Uþ agøìnst tlre

FCC Faces

uall

A mngshot from behind the microphone.

& Printing

Founh Floor, 158 Wellington Street, 88

Centml, Hong Kong Tel: 521 7993 Fu: 521 a366

Publlsher

Marketlng Dlrector 051

Ian Harling

DTP Arttst-Joey lre,

Kâtie Mccregor Lienna Duong

Cover photograph by David Chappell

Road'

MERCEDES-BENZ

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100004. Tel: (8ó1) 501 2134 '100004' Tel: (8ó 1) 500 3501 AG, BEUTNG L|A|SON OFFTCE 20th Floor CITIC Building, 19 Jian Guo Men Wai Dajie, Beijing

OCtObCr T994 TÃE

CORRXSPOilITDNT

To the

Editor A doubledouble bluff?

"Death to Commie dogs!" did

not become a part of my father's ritual/liturgy until the Seventies. From the mid-Forties to the mid-

Kevin Sinclair "has his doubts" (Tbe Corresþondent, July 1994) that my father, the late Richard Hughes, was a double agenl Dad swore me to secrecy when he told me in London in the last week of December 1953, but I see no harm in making ade after his death.

it known

a dec-

I did so in my book - Don't

You Sing! (Memories of ø Catbolíc Boyltood). I enclose a copy for the FCC library. In the unlikely event that it is purloined, there is a goodly

number for sale from Asia

2OOO,

€###"*-*

4l-

48'W'yndham Street. Kevin's description of Don't You Singl suggests that he has not read

the entire book. His magnificent obituary of my father is given loving attention in the last chapter. Norman Macswann wrote my father's biography,Tbe ManWbo Reød Tbe Eøst Wind. Norman first met Dad

in Toþo in 1950 and later surmised that he was a double agent. My father confided in him about 14 years ago, but forbade him to reveal the secret in the biography. He also told him there was only one person in Hong Kong in whom he had confided: a person who is no longer an actiye journalist and who is unlikely to be a member of the FCC. Kevin Sinclair says that a KGB spy master would be unlikely to have employed a man who "trumpeted: death to Commie dogs!"

Fifties andlater, he reserved his special hatred for the Germans. I have no doubt that Kevin, who

with my father twice a week for 15 years (many more meals than I had with him!), knows things about him of which I am blissfully and,/or haplessly ignofant. But I see that I knew (since October 195 3) one thing that Kevin is not prepared to believe. And there is worse - or less believable to come. Itwas on October l6t]¡'1953,in the Punch Tavern in Fleet Street says he lunched

fortnight before he told me he was a double agent - that my father said this to me: "For all practical purposes, you can consider me a fellow traveller." One final thing. Kevin Sinclair a

says that Richard Hughes "was many

things: philosopher, writer, joker, good husband, bad Catholic, above all a giant heart and dear friend. " He

forgot at least one thing. He was an incomparable father.

budding amateur photographer.

DíckHughes Tbe copy o;f Don't You Sing! (Memo-

ries of

Catholic Boyhood) bas been

þlaced in tlce Club librøry

Ed.

One in for Kad I¡<>llcttuing Ltis rez;ieztt <tf tr'se rtctuel Je.tl:a,g, byt A4i <;y't e I e,Ncl2t rzt ctn, (-lfle Corresp ondeng Jun e ,1 994>, I{a.rl Vlzilsort re<:eiz:ed tVJe Jfollou;íng alPl)reciatiz;e tzc>te fr<trn, ty'te aøttLtor- ,He þasser) it tc> tVte editor _fc>r ltctZzli<:ctti<>rz. Nobody could accuse you of not taking a strong line in a reviewl Sorry you "wasted a prefectly good Saturday afternoon" - but at least you didn't haYe to buy the book! I'll buy a you drink next time I'm in the

P.S. Janette Turner HosPital the name of an adulatory Canadian critic quoted on the dust iacket of the book and queried in the review as possibly being a joke - is the distingushed author of Tlte Last Møgícian, Cbørades, Dislocations,

FCC. Cheers,

Iuory Swing.

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Spreading the blame

One

corrntry, three views

lül-tren ttre Indonesian go\zerlarraent l>a-nned three lreszs put>lications earlier ttris ;.ear, it produced a. !\za\ze of ilateflaa¡i<>11^¿l pfotests- iFh.ree orrrnalists intifnatelSr inrzolrred vzith tkre l?ublications visited the FCC a"nd f e><plained sorrle of ttre bleak rea-soning bekrind th.e closures. l\4ictrael l\zfacke)z discr-rsses uztrat the¡r trad to say.

EdPeters listened to three rzery different sp e culations orr ttrat great unknoszn: Ctrina's ftrture-

I \f

never endrng arlemprs ro evaqe responslbilities, have a stra;tegy called Blame the Media. In Indonesia this has been Tl.tree zuise nten:

ld chestnut that it is, eyeryone still wants to know what will happen to China likewise the - andwhen pimple on its bum the old

reasoned, conquer.

Iatn, Mirsky and Brosseau

will be one to divide

and

Other doubts raised by Mirsþ cast aspersions on China's unity, official in-

- In the mid it will be quiet. term, I thinkwe should heed the words

volvement in the opium trade and, finally, the "greatbig question" of how

It's a staple topic of saloon bar

of Lu Ping, and be very careful about

pundits , and in the rarefied atmosphere of the FCC's main dining room a triumvirate of cognoscenti demonstrated that they were just as prone to differences of opinion as everybody else. Jonathan Mirsþweighed in as the East Asia editor of The Times, whilst in the red corrrer, Willy $Øo{ap Lam made his appearance as China editor of the Soutlt Cbina Morning Posl. Forrner Jesuit Maurice Brosseau from the Insti-

the interest ofthe militaryand otherbig

time since 1949. His overall conclusion: "S7hen interesting things such as these start to get turned over and examined there is going to be uproar and that is going to affect Hong Kong in ways we cannot imagine." After the optimistic Brosseau and the pessimistic Mirsky, \ùØily rVo-lap I¿m threw light on different aspects of what he described as Deng's "reign". A-fter the patriarch's death the ensuing power struggle will be quite messy, he predicted, and in some cases nasty. At

dictator pops his clogs.

tute of Asia-Paci-ûc Studies completed the threesome. Brosseau - first up to speak pointed out that the same questions of succession and its consequences were being asked L2 yearc ago. He continued, "Today I am quite optimistic, but

without real grounds except for the process oTl6yearcof reforms tl:ra;tarc still moving ahead despite all the difticulties. I think we can be quite hopeful that there is not going to be a 'Hungary'

with the Chinese people, especially the group of technocrats and specialists or a 'Poland' in China. My hope is

"For Hong Kong

in the short

teffn

interests in China." 'When it came toJonathan Mirsþ's turn, he used the metaphor of an iron house with doors sealed shut which

burst into flames while hundreds of people slept inside

- should they be woken up? ìWhat happens when the lies about the past are fiÍnly confronted, he asked, quoting one cofllmentator who said that "China had lost its soul". Referring to various anomalies in China Iike disappearances andfalse imprisonment, Mirsky delivered his opinion: "I want to say to you that the iron house of communism is buming down andthere is no authoritythatis going to be able to withstand that waking up." If no one can tell what is going to happen five seconds after Deng dies, can this reallybe called a modem country? he questioned. Addressing fundamentals, Mirsþ pondered the actual founding date of the Communist Party; 792t or l92O? Mentioning various of the party's his-

many Chinese had died before their

the moment the possibility

large

scale demonstrations similar do not seem to be high.

1989

Whoever comes out on top will have to address the relationship between the Communist Party and the state, the army and the parry. They must also introduce some form of independence for the judiciarywhich is not recognised as a major issue in the Cornmunist Party system, he said. in answer to a quesI¿m added

thathas emergedoverthe last 15 years."

torical highlights like the Hundred

- that the new leadership would probably be a collec-

The dilemmas which faced all

Flowers, Mao's sexual shenanigans and the June 4 massacre, he tflrmpeted, "How many of you would like to live in a country where such questions cannot be asked, never mind answered?" It

akeady been decided uPon. If there was one unspoken thought which ¡everberated through the room it was that Deng should stop keeping us

was a telling point.

in suspense.

Chinese leaders this century, according to Brosseau, was how to mobilise

the people to build a productive economy and how to stand up to foreign pressures. Deng's successor, he

orr.--ents. in their

tion from the floor

tive one which might, indeed, have

just ban taken to a new leyel - they those papers which dare to draw attention to the fact that governments make mistakes. This, at least, has been the experience of three Indonesian joumalistswho spoke at a seminarinHong Kong organised by the Freedom Forum on August

18th. In true joumalistic tradition they were keen to talk about it both in the seminar and that night during an inforThe story be gan in I akarta on June

21st when the Indonesian government tookthe decision to close down, by revoking their business licences, three weekly news magazines; DeTik, Editor and Tertþo. "Itwas quite a surprise," FikriJufri, the deputy editor-in-chief of Tempo told the seminar, and added, "I don't

know why Ze mp o and these two magazines were banned".

In Jakata the government

claimed that Tempo was closed because of its news content and the other two for changing their content

without getting government permission to do so. AsJufri commented to the semìnar,

"Ifyou don't like the driveryou cantake away the driving licence but you don't take the car," meaning that the government's response was over the top.

What was not mentioned by the three during their visit was what Temþo had done in the weeks before its closure . It was the sort of thing that politicians dread. Research Technology Minister BJ.

a Wotégé of

The story apparently touched plenty of raw netves in a govefn-

to Indonesia you will be questioned. Meanwhile, what of the future? Even the perky and upbeatJutri, who defined his views as those of a rninimalist rather

then

pessimist, seemed cautious.

ment which was reportedly divided about the merits of

the purchase. In a fit of pique, it closed down the three magazines on June 2 1st. But only after Suharto had been forced to step in

and rescue Habibie by claiming the purchase as his idea.

Another of the editors

mal visit to the FCC.

Habibie,

ships almost sank on its way to Jakarta and in doing so made a Tempo cover story onJune 9th.

President

Strharto, had bought 39 aglng Sovietdesigned and East German-built ships

for the Indonesian navy. One of the

at the seminar, Aristides Katoppo - who also had a paperclosed

down in 1986 - explained that

this was part

ñ ò'

of a broader debateabout

howlndone-

Plrotograþlrer Robin Moyer

uith Fikri Jufrì

siashouldde-

velop; "debate which seems to be

too

sensi-

tive," he said. Arístídes Katoþþo Katoppo's viewwas that thc magazines were closed because they gave voice to some of the worst fears of such development. They were, he said, "not only an irritant but

perceived as having the potential to create instability at the upper levels."

One problem in reporting the Hong Kong seminar is the obliqueness of much of the language used by

the participants. But then, as Jufri remarked, Hong Kongers are "living in a different situation". It's difficult, and probably downright dangerous, to say certain things when 1'6¡¡ know that on your retlun

"The sympathy is there, but how to keep it always moving is the question," was his view. Not only was he "pretty sure"

that the majorify of ministers were against the ban but there was broad support amongst the reading public for his magazine's retum. This included protests to the equivalent of the Consumer Council about the loss of choice.

On Jufri's return to lakarta following a trip abroad, even Jakarta's customs officers - those paragons of liberal open-mindedness and tolerance - askedhim "whenwillitcome out again?" The answer is that no-one really knows and even if they did, the journalists probablywon't be allowed to write about it. @ Ocrober 1994

TÃ0, 0oRRESP0NIIEI{T

BIP

Breakfast

BANYAN

benediction Irr

76n

TREE

LUXURY SPÀ IìÈSORT A Martter OfSeht tlorls è R¿¡otr tnnnt¡¡nntl

I]ANYAN

rrro\ze to rerzirze tl-ta]t g-rea-t traditional repast, ClLrb laaarlager Jettrro Lee-l\daÍrorle)z lrzelcorrres tkre fetlrrn of the t>ig breakfa-sta.

fIìI

Jtnn

UKET

For funher ìnfotmarion or rescwetlors. pìeav calì or f* numbero lisred bclow

Ë q

BANYAN

TR[E

76ut€e/ ìsn)/

Ni\SUCBU EVERcREST

Early morning delìgbt

BANYAN

TRDI

BLNTAN OPENS ÌN

reakfast is, or rather can be, an interesting meal. It has come a long way since it simply broke the fast that religious establishments imposed upon their inmates from sun-down to

sun-up. These holy men were often required to keep their fast for days or even weeks on end, not simply to go overnight without a fridge-raid.

The Edwardians had superb breakfasts that included lamb chops, trout and oystefs. Only a few years ago breakfast in any decent London

club would include minced scallops, kedgeree and m'bella (that's savoury mincemeat, smoked fish with curry and rice and a very fine chocolate oatmeal).

Not long ago I met Nicholas the padiamentary secretary of the food industry in Britain who is a bit on the substantial side , the sort of fellow who doesn't like to leave too much on his plate. He told me his favourite breakfast is cold pheasant washed down with a jug of claret. My mum, and just about everybody else's in the Fifties, insisted on sending offspring and spouses to school/work wrapped around a meal Soames,

of hot cereals followed by bacon, egg, sausage, fried bread and tomato. All this was consumed as a " shield

against the cold", even in the summer. In the winter it was likely to be accompanied by a dessert-spoon of malt extract or a few cod,/halibut

liver oil capsules.

At much the same time the British Egg Marketing Board stamped a little lion on its product and entreated consumers to "Go to work on an egg". Meanwhile, back in the Dark Ages someone decidedto combine smoked haddock with a poached egg. I won-

der if he could have ever imagined just how popular that little snack would become. Rather like kippers, it became almost as popular for "high tea" as itwas for breakfast. rù(/hen

I speak of kippers I don't mean those anaemic boneless bits of dyed underfelt which are marketed under that name today. I refer to a real herring, "kippered" to bronzed perfection; and mouthwatering.

^romatic

Ilritisl-l pzldiarnelatariara I\Ii cl-r <>la-s

crzrrrres

likes c<>lcl pheaszrnt ¿tncl a jug4 of cl-¿ret for bre¿rkf¿rst Foreigners were , of course, different. It was widely believed by my English school-chums that all Americans tackled over-large steaks with several eggs followed by mountains of waffles covered with maple syrup.

The French were even stranger. Theyallhadblackcoffee and a croissant, nothing mor€ except, possibly, gadic. Unbelievably, the Dutch and the Germans, wewere assured, ate cheese and cold meat with hard black bread. There was even doubt about the 'Welsh, (fried cockles with bacon, breadcrumbs and a seaweed concoction called lava bread); the Scottish, (salty þorridge oats with faffy bacon and white pudding); North Country folk, (fatty bacon with the rind on, fried bread, black pudding and strange

,{PRtL 1995

BANYAN TRÈI]

/'us/ a resor/ þr

MALDIVLS VABBLNFARU OPENS IN

NOVEMBER ] 994

your

sausages), et al.

I thought that my

skinny Aunt

9/'t a sanc/uory

Hilda was the most weird person on earth because she always wore saltdals and breakfasted on fresh orange juice and what I later learned was muesli. Now I don't know what you like for breakfast, but I do know that some

of you wanted the Club to offer

f"t

cooked selection. This being so, from the beginning of Septemberthere has been a cooked

breakfast along with a continental and an à la carte selection available from Monday to Saturday on the Verandah from Sam until 10.30am. Come and see what's on offer. And why not pop in and tell the staff

what

it is that you would like

for

breakfast? \JØe're giving breakfast a trial until the end of October, and if suc-

cessful and popular - it tinue. Have a nice daY!

will

con-

Ocrober 1994

/6e

sou,[,

p Under the shelter of the Banyan

Tree resr

oms nther øily

m a sou.l.

That's

because an essence oF tranquiliry pervades rhe air at the Banyan Tree.

From the quiet elegance ofits private villas to its contemplative wetercourrs and gardens. From rhe serenicy ofits superbly landscaped l8-hole golfcourse

to the therapeutic comforts ofits

spa. And, when your surroundings exude such peace, there's a very good chance that some

ofit will filter inside

you.

re BANYAN TREE PHUKE

THE cORRf,SPONItElfT

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t TEL: 66 76 124a14

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¿/94 (C

Killed in Cambodia

ooo

I Dotninic Cbaþpeil:

uictim of tbe media?

Hong l(ong j ourrralist fDarrid Ctrappell of the international press and ttre tranrd lr¡tren tris son.v\zas kidna-pped in corrtril>rrtion to TVte ()<>rreslQ<>nder¿tlte s.odd rnedia- interest. telephone call in the middle of the night is never welcome. Less so when you've finally dropped into a light sleep after a long overnight flight from England.

e><perienced ttre vzorkings diplornatic wrzodd at first Carnbodia. Irl. an e><clusirze details trovrztre orctrestrated

The story began at about 5.30pm

the next five months need not concern us now. More relevant afe the

constant companion, Kellie'Wilkinson,

roles of the authorities and the media in a high-profile story.

Add to these factors that the call is

and their friend, Tina Dominy, were kidnapped by guerrillas on the notori-

from a secretary at New ScotlandYard relaying a message that it has finally

ous Route 4 between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville in Cambodia.

been established that your son is dead, and the black hours of the night be-

September 2nd and that phone call,

come blacker.

No details, no supporting

evi-

dence, simply a stark second-hand statement. This discourtesy and the insensitivity of how and when the news was broken was, unfortunately, par for the course for the way things had been done over the previous five months.

The details ofwhattranspired over

on April lltl:' 1994, when my son, Dominic Chappell, his gid-friend and

That, until the eady hours of had been the only firm fact in the whole story. It was simply a case of being inthewrongplace atthe wrong time. If the provincial governor had left the capital city ten minutes earlier he too would have been in the midst of the action. As it was, he was able to se e the road block ahead and

turn tail for safety.

This is especially so, given that there were at least three foreigners still kidnapped in Cambodia or on its borders when this magazine went to press. Standard British Foreign Offìce advice to families in these circumstances is to keep the storylow-profile, to avoid speaking to the press. The justification for this is not made entirely clear, save that publicity is unhelpful.

To understand such an attitude one must look at the role of the diplomatic service and embassies abroad. Diplomatic missions exist World meelia attention utas a tníxed blessin¿¡ to Dauíd Cbapþeil ìn tbe fiue-montb searcb for his kíd.n6tþþed son

October 1994

TÃ¿, coRRxsPolfltElfT

for three purposes; to gather intelligence, gain political influence and pfomote trade. Governments in a democracy forget that they are the

three telephone calls on the day in July when the story appeared in the UK press. In my case, for the first

elected representatives of the people and bureaucracies regard information as their sole prerogative.

few days after the story of my son's disappearance broke, the cliché that the

Citizens who have problems

ing was never more true. Obscure newspapers in Britain

the British government would go to war overJenkins' Ear. Bearing in mind the stoly of television j ournalistJohn McCarthy who was kidnapped by terrorists in Beirut and given little or no official support by the British government - and coupled with my own natural-born distrust of official recommendations - I made a conscious decision to disregard the FO's advice and to talk to the press.

and Australia managed to track me down, despite my not being in the phone book. Interestingly, though

Integral to that decision was

But how should the information flow be managed? Plainly, information given to families should always be more detailed than that for public dissemination. I believe that next of kin have an

phone never stopped ring-

abroad are an embarrassment. Long gone afe the days, for instance, when

an awafeness that news items tend

and that the critical information had been withheld.

Stoke-On-Tr erfi Eu ening

inalienable right to be told eYerything, although as with the diagnosis of aTatalmedical condition, the level of information mLrst be adjusted to the ability of the individual to cope with it emotionally. The majorbreakdownin this case came from the way in which the three governments failed to have a consistent policy in releasing news to the media. On the Cambodian side anyone who thought he had information, however bizarre or inaccurate, was

S en-

ilnel fotnd me, one of Hqng Kong's English-language newspaper groups totally failed, even though my details as a contributor are on file with them. In keeping the story alive my problem was twofold. The first stemmed from

prepared to talk. My complaint is that experienced journalists too often used these sources and knowing the special conditions which exist in the country, failed to exercise their

to be one-day wonders and I had no intention of allowing the story of Dom, Kellie and Tina to fade into obscurity. Also, I wanted to keep up the

the flow of information to the families. My family and

lar department of the Foreign Office.

opportunity came about very quickly

pfessure on the authorities through publicity, whilst at the same time try. ing to ensure that any information was as accluate as possible. What effect

Kellie's familywas in touch with the Australian Ministry of Foreign

through the good offices of

my decision had on subsequent events is impossible to gauge.

In retrospect, and with hindsight of the Robert Bundred case, whose last known whereabouts was on the ThailCambodia border, I can only

as-

Tina's family in Londonwere

Kellie Wilkinson: neuer seen again

kept informed by the consu-

Affairs in Canberra and, meanwhile, I was briefed by the British Embassy in Phnom Penh. Very quickly it be-

came appafent that we wefe not getting the same story. In retrospect, it seems that I was

am reliably told that when the Bundred family realisecl their son had gone missing in January this year, they reported the fact to the FO and then heard nothing more. The famill'

eventually hired private investigators in Hong Kong. The next communication they had from the august FO was lHD CORRf,SPoNDDIII October 1994

That was an audience with King Sihanouk. Not that I expected an immediate, or even any, result from his inter-

vention. Rather, I saw it as a good opportunity to gain tùØestem media at-

Cambodia. Conspiracy theories

ate awafeness within Cambodia itself. It succeeded beyond my expectations. Even so, media interest was strongest in Australia. That gave me my second major

are easy to construct, but the suspicion must remain that my declared

relationship with the media had an effect on

what I was told. In the words of a very senior officer in the Metropolitan Police. I was seen as

tive effect.

Productions television news agency in Phn'om Penh.

getting the least information of all, eYen though for much of the time I was on the ground in

-.-- l1es/s itelTrs tend to l>e one-da¡z sronders a-nd I had no intelation of a-llo.wzing tkre stot-y of Dorn, I(ellie amd lFina, to fa"de into ol>scuritysume that media coverage had a posi-

FCC

member Humphrey Hawksley of the BBC and Ed Fitzgerald of the Indochine

primarily a journalist who had "a foot in both camps". My second problem was how to maintainmediainterestinthe absence

of any real news, save for occasional operational information which, for the sake of allinvolved, itwas notprudent to disclose. In short, I was reduced to what I regarded as 'gimmicks'. My first

tention and, mofe importantly, to cre-

opportunity, when Channel Nine's 60 Minutes programme decided to feature a story about the families concerned. 'When asked to take part, I welcomed the chance. The producer, through the Cambodian Ministry of Information, arranged a briefing for me and Kellie's father with the local police general in charge of the investigation. Scotland Yard was not amused, but, for both of us, this was the most detailed briefing we had received up until then. Hindsight, the mostvaluable commodity, shows us that it was all lantasy

professional judgement about the validity and credibility of the source and to crosscheck. By lar the biggest problem was created by the British and Australian goYernments. To be fair, embassies are generally under.staffed and inexperienced in dealing with crises of this kind. Diplomats, also, seem to

have a pathological lear of the media. Perhaps they have been misquoted too many times. However, the policy of referring all enquiries back to London or Canberra created difficulties, not least because the two governments did not have a consistent line on what information to release. The most obvious example occurred in mid-July when the Australians released, in a panic response to an article in London's Mail on Sund,ay, details which were being kept quiet for the safety of undercover operatives.

My preferred option is simple: the storywill be published regardless of the attitudes of officialdom and journalists will get information somehow. Much better to have an experi-

enced press spokesperson on the spot to manage the news and to speak for all three governments with one vo1ce.

The release of sensitive information can be controlled more easily and the reasons for that control better explained. After all, a spokes-

were, on the whole, much more

Jotrrnalistic inte griÍy is fine, br-rt defending one's sLrllposed dignity -w.lren lir.es are at stake is a-nottref rnatter. man in London or Canberra, dealing

with a host of other things, cannot be expected to be aware of all the finer details. The argument that it is not possible to arrange such joint action does not hold water. If a hear.ryweight (and top heary) team from Scotland Yard can be allocated to the case, it should not be too difficult to find a suitable spokesperson to suppoft their efforts. The other argument, that news must be disseminated from London and Canberra because that is where policy decisions are made, does not

hold water either. My experience shows that it simply does not work. No lessonshave beenleamt, it seetns,

and none have been applied to the Kampot kidnapping, involving an Australian and a Frenchman, who, at the time of writing, were still in captivity. Foreign Office minister, Baroness Chalker, recentþ referred in a BBC radio interview to the "media circus" in Kampot, happily ignoring the role of her depaftment in creating that circus.

sat-

isfactory. That is not to say that I was not irritated at times by misinterpretations, careless errors, and the efforts of sub-editors. During the whole five

months only two people really annoyed me. The first was a reporter from Channel Seven in Aus-

tralia who blatantly inventednews. The second was the Mail on Sunday

reportef who, when requested by me to minimise any mention of the Khmer Rouge, responded "nobody tells me what to write". Journalistic integrity is fine, but defending one's supposed dignity

when lives are at stake is another matter. My opinion of the man was confirmed when I saw what he wrote. It was appalling. The whole saga of tlre Møil on Sund.øy is a case study of the worst aspects of gutter journalism - and I was assured by a Scotland Yard detective thatthe Mail on Sund.ay and its sister title, Tbe Daily Mail, are

probably the most responsible papers in Britain. Many questions have been raised

by the kidnapping of Dominic, Kellie and Tina - and not only

about the role of governments and the media. A maxim of court room advocacy is "never ask a question

to which you do not know the answer". ìØhat luxury. Unhappily, many of my questions will never get an answer - but not becatrse answers arcn' t avatlable.

¡E

My relationship with officialdom throughout was polite

and friendly but coloured by their distrust ofmydealingswiththe media. It is intefesting that the leaks of matters whichwould have been better left unreported came either from Australian diplomatic sources or from New Scotland Yard. With journalists who covered the Lookingfor story, my experiences

ansu.ters: tLte Cbq.þþeilfamily corxtinues tlJe sectrcb

October 7994 TÃE

coRREsPoNIlElrT

t1___J1_-/-7

Lr-J\S

trLltr THERE'S ALWAYS

coup, is a Khmer Rouge cadre who defected to Vietnam."

rnratter of lnration building

A STORYAT THE

HON G KONG TRADE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

rùüzhile Car-rrt>odian

politicians .wzfestle to coÍlìe to terlTrs uzittr life after tkre blood;. R-ouge Iltrrrrer tkre re'rzolr-rtion, nredia are at ttreir rrrerc)r'- l\4ictrael l\zlaclse¡z- reports frorn Phnom Pentr-

à a

È È

Ê Barton Biggs

¡fn. media wodd of Cambodia is .l- fascinating, although there are several other adjectives that could be used. They'd have to include "cowed",

"contradictory", "boring", "disruptive" and "dangerous."

o mojor force in world trode you'll find we've olwoys got o good story to tell: no podding, no puff ond bocked by occurote, upìolhe-moment figures ond $oÌi$ics, Next time you receive one of our press releoses, give it o good once-over, You'll soon see whot we meon, Or contoct us if you need detoils on ony ospect of Hong Kong trode,

Take this gem: "I would like to take this opportunity to say that because a journalist's career is too arduous to endure I, myself, have decided to suspend publishing the newspaper from today onward." These are the words of publisher Ngoun Noun, who indeed folded his papet, the Khmer-language Morning Netus, following a dispute with the govefnment.

Noun had been a long-tem fixture of the Cambodian media, having

been around for three decades and having been a newspaper man since the Sixties. But he could also end up being a clear example of what will not be allowed to happen in Cambodia in

the future. In March this year he wrote an article which detailed a car theft racket. He named the provincial governor and ' Vancouver

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lous vested interests.

All of which affects the debate oyer the government's new media law, which is currently stalled between the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly. Rather than a debate about how free the press should be, the dispute is about how punitive the law should be. A bias towards restrictiYe measures would please the security and defence ministries who favour a draconian package that would make defamation and slander criminal - as offence s and be a set oppose to civil back for the Ministry of Information which favours "approachability". Rather than watch and criticise the government, the press is supposed

The otber

The Hong Kong Trode Development Council con help you moke business heodlines every doy of the yeor, As

Everyone has at least one skeleton

in his cupboard. Press freedom is not just a luxury - it's a real threat to some very powerful and unscrupu-

the army general who were involved and got jailed for his efforts. Freed by order of King Sihanouk, Noun was soon back at work, some-

to become a purveyor only of the positive. The result is headlines like thing other powertrl elements in the Cambodian goveffrment did notwant. Then, in eady July, there was a coup. He was arrested onJuly 9th and is still in custody. Ngoun Noun, with a royal pardon under his belt, was maybe over-confident when he implicated Premier Hun Sen and a couple of senior Cambodian People Party members in a piece he wrote about the coup. One diplomat believes Noun had "picked on the heaviest ofthe heaviest in Cambodian politics and as a result very few are willing to support him."

Now, sadly the future

and oninously for

eYen the KhmerJournal-

ists Association (KJA) is split on the issue of whether or not to give Noun support. The KJA's most public act so far has been to send a weak supporting letter to Noun. The same diplomatic source offered an explanation that does not bode well for the development of a free press in Cambodia. "Neither party is clean so nei-

ther can afford an

inYestigative

press," he said. "Don't forget this is a country where the king is best diplomatically referred to as resil-

ient and the premier, who may or may not have been involved in the

Coup Revelation: Co-premiers' Good

Relationship and Army Neutrality Saves Nation". Still, not all is lost as is proved by the existe nce of The Cambodia Daily, which provides a tri-lingual news seryice in English, Khmer andJapanese. Just over a year ago, 26year<id New Yorker, Barton Biggs (definiteþ not the Wall Street stocks guru), arived in Cambodia to start amagazine. The idea had been that ofBernard Krisher an American who has lived

30 years in Asia, and who foresaw the need and scope for a paper that to be as objective and relay into Cambodia information about the outside wodd. The staff of The Cømbodiø Daily were recently referred to as little

more than a bunch of "New York college kids". But the atmosphere in the office

is professional. Even so, there is c

onstant

ackground of EllaF itzget ald

and Billie Holliday and messages on the notice board like "Frank, phone home. Your mother's worried about your safety," followed by a NewYork telephone number. It would seem that the Pax Americana isn't dead yet.

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Octobef 1994

TÃE CORRf,SEOI{DEITT

times thatconditions are changing and

the media generally cannot stand up to the welter of pressures aroundAsia.

The answer lies in governments and politicians getting it right; in time that

Iloward's End

wiJl happen, but in development mode

governments will generally not allow

On megabucks:

After a couple of decades out Ea-st, Hoxzard Coats is taking trirnself a-nd tkre indornitable Sunstrine l>ack to ttìe À4ottredaxl.d. Ed Peters grilled trirn on ttre th.ings ttrat rrratter.

On thePosú.' All I can say is I revitalised some magazit:.es and closed others. Politically, it was always a stormy place, the Posf.

- you were allowed to write and didn't get too heavily edite d. 'W'e were always getting into trouble somewhere, up against govemment and business. 15 pages long

makes clear in his own words. Here, then, are his opinions... On the eady days under

Harold

Evans:

In those days everyone simply worked for the system and it was

On being headhunted:

nice to be associated with a man like that. He was sparking with ideas the whole time. I look back on those

I took a pay cut! The editor, Derek Davies, said "love to have you" then he sent me a fax saying the salary was 10% lower than he'd stated. By that time I'd throwninmy job, broken up my marriage, given my landlord notice and was on my way to the airport. So I said screw that, I'm coming anyway.

days very happily.

where Howard will be

working oî tlre Sunday Tímes business desk.

'Wapping

I don't hang around. I enjoy myself but I tend to fall out with people sooner or later o\/er something or other, and why not? So I leave. On preferred enYiroriments : I'm a disciplinaúan. I like a strict regime. I like a news desk, a subs desk, a reporting team. Put me in charge of something like that and I'll get people organised and produce something.

Nineties represents

On Derek Davies: For the most part we got along okay, apart fuom a few pitched battles.

professionalwho rose to managing editor of tlre Far Eastern Economíc Reuieut, was editor-in-chief of the

'W'e've

Soutb CbinaMorning Posf's publications di-

time is r-unning out for

been together eYer since I came here in 1975. She was one of the first people I met. If you talk to anyone who remembers her from those days

Hong Kong and some Hong Kongpeople not the Chinese, their future is

she was absolutely mad. She's just veryfull of life , fun-loving, humourous

we've had our day.

good here. But expat life is going to

become more constricted.

Andpowertilwith

it. She's neady killed me

On media coverage of Asia:

The international pre

Houard. ønd Sunsbíne bou out

vision, endured the cut and thrust of the upper slopes of the Trade Development Council and reputedly didvery nicely on the stock market to boot. In addition he trained journalists at the Southeast Asian Press Centre

in KL,

acted as regional consultant for the Press Foundation of Asia, freelanced, hatched the Cbin e s e Pre ss Dige st and

contributed to an award-winning series of economic maps for.4sia Inc. Small wonder that Howard lists

On Asia in the Seventies: I loved the place straight away.

Things were happening in these parts and you could see they were beginning to wake up. It was fascinating to see the old culture and traditions and the new ideas being grafted on. It was a good time, a good opportunity. On the,EEÆR, at the same time:

his interests as "Survival in the

A sort of dawdling, half-academic

wodd's mostfrenetic and expensive city" in the same CV. All in all, it's not too bad for a northern lad, as he

publication, beginning to wake itself up. To acertai,n degree it had the field all to itself.'We'd runfive stories, some

THE CORRISPoNIIUNT

October 1994

used to do

good backgrounders and on-the-spot stuff but that' s Taded away. All over the wodd goyernm€nts are forcing newspapers to complywith their demands and the press is complying. I suppose

if you want to do

business here it's

inevitable, otherwise you go offshore and struggle through. I am in an invidious position having taught journalism rounclAsia and I like to think we taught it dead straight.

There's no such thing as "'W'estern journalism", it's just journalism. Ministers used to visit my courses and, on the face of it, they'd agree this was good but behind the scenes they'd make sure it was fixed in favour of the ding parry. I have no message. It's a sign of the

think

On L July 1997:

think it'll be as easy

mentally and physically. She's still going strong but I'm wearing her down.

people sup-

pose. There will be changes and a new climate, but as for being here on the day itself I don't see much attraction.

On the TDC: I didn't know what I was getting into, but it was fun at the time. It

Finally, from Sunshine: I just want to say I really, really

ended in a bloody lreaft attack.

On heart aûtacks: I

I'm quite optimistic. I don't

few times,

love my husband.

was oyerweight, mykidneys were

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On Sunshine:

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On itchy feet:

hospital where they said I was having

the sort of liberalism that we have benefited from.

journalist dec" l-L I ades, withforoverthree special interest in business, industry and finance." So starts the deceptively modest CV of the man who cut his teeth on provincial newspapers in Britain, came out to Asia by chance and like so many others stayed and flourished. Having celebrated his 50th birthday, Howard Coats and his wife Sunshine are UK-bound,

packing Lrp, so

The stock market was booming in 1986 so I got olrt ofthePos/andplayed the market and had some good runs. I didn't make a fortune but what I made I enjoyed. I'm not rich, despite what eYeryone says.

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Cambodía

TEE CoRnxspoilDEt{T

October 1994

October 7994 TeÊ, GORIESPoIIDEIIT

role between reporters ancl GIS -is often irate but frequently ftrnny gone. It's more impersonal. Back in 1969, I remember the Star's eclito , Geoff Somers, questioning the GIS about the so-called headless ghosts in the old Murray Builcling which sent public selvants fleeing every so often. (During the war, this was headqual'ters of the Japanese secret police and the place

Information sefrrlclng o

I(erzirr Sinclair blovzs ttte trLrrnpet for the rrl-rch-rna"ligne d Gorze rlallaeltt Inforrrration S enzice s -

Ê '#

saw many deaths.)

'When

asked "How many ghosts inhabit Murray Building?" the late Mike Stevenson, then deputy direc-

t'r r.z

am and the freelance hack has had a demand the night be-

restricted and kept secret. Now,

fore for l2,5OO words on the local political scenario. Deadline is 8am

confidential, public servants are free to talk about it. "GIS has its own offices in London and New York to give information to every major wire service and magazitle based the¡e, as well as to contributors and freelancers from the wofld pfess. Thel' ¿et'1*ork nine to five, so why should we?" says Yau Many of the top-rankers at GIS who handle foreign press Harolcl

f I

Hong Kong time. What the hell is the name of the guy elected from the financial functional constituency? What to do? An1where else on earth, the answer is

you v/ait until government offices open at 9am. Not in Hong Kong. The newsman bashes out a quick series of queries. ìØho represents finance in Legco? Since when? Ví.hat's his background? Six minutes later, back come the answers (it's banker David Li Kwok-po, of course), date elected to Legco and a sheet of potted

biography. Anything else 1'ou need, the message enquires? In many ways, the much-abused Government Information Services is as slick, effective and productive as many newspapers. Government policy is one

unless something is officially branded

Yau, Halimah Guterres, Chris Wong, Mark Pinkstone are people who

.. ¿

a butterfly missing the chrysallis

answerecl 726,53O qllestions (none of them with a "no com-

Irene Yau. no longer an aduersaty

know well the problems of chasing

Yau.

out at

Kong Kong. What did GIS have to say about disappearing dicks? "tX/e cannot comment on what we cannot see," sniffed one young lady in the press enquiry section. These days, gradtates go straight to GIS as public seryice officials and no longer pass through newspapers as they did in the past. This is like

preclecessors. They are, however, keen, eager to help ancl effective. So is the GIS library; they have an expansive clippings seryice andpicture library. The staff of 447 last year

we're here for, " says directorlrene

'When scribes lash

cal, that sees the penis shrink and disappear into the abclomen swept

stage - theydon'thave the strong hands-on experience of their

thing. Information Services action is another. If the information you want is not confidential, you can get answers, usually, in an amaz-

ingly short time. "That's what

tor, replied: "I regretwe are unable to deal with the metaphysical." In the same era, the lear of koro a disease, mental as well as physi

GIS

they usually miss the target; it's govefnment that sets the policy and

the GIS that cops the criticism rather like blaming the tail for wagging the elephant. There has been a revolution in

the government's press relations since Chris Patten took the helm. In the past, unless a civil servant had

been given express permission to it was stamped

release something,

story or researching a feature. Policy, fire and emergency services work around the clock. When there is a typhoon, it's the GIS teleprinter network that keeps the press

updated. Yau's department is also the PR arm of the aclministration, its publisher (they picked up an award for the Møþþing Hong Kong publication) and publicist. Though today's serwice is cer.

tainly efficient, the old adversarial

ment", Yau notes), issued 30,28O press releases, arcanged I,394 press conferences, fixed up 1,882 interwiews and staged 209 press visits. Less obvious is the monitoring sewice that scans papers and magazines in Hong Kong and ovel seas forpress reviews thatkeep policy makers informed about what's being written - and read - about us on a global basis.

Then there are the campaigns, like the l9T2CleanHong Kong Drive and the more recent one to get people registered to vote in the District Board elections. All this cost the taxpayer $ 187 million last year. I reckon it was worth it.

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Ocrober 1994

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tt¡Fn. use of freelance writers I on magazlnes may De on an upswing now, but these writers appear to face a dismal future according to a nationwide study of magazine editors by two Ohio researchers. Freelance writers are at risk of be-

coming a "technological under-class" in a fast-changing industry and are left on the fringes of the editorial relationship, the researchers concluded. The study ofnew technology and the writer-editor relationship was conducted by Kathleen Endres, associate

of communication at the University of Akron, and Ann professor

Schlerhorn, associate professor of jour-

nalism and mass communication at Kent State University. They concluded that freelancers' lack ofaccess to expensive and changing communication technology is likely becoming a disadvantage in information gathering and in transmission of manuscrþts. The fax was the only bright spot in freelancers' use of

technology.

Software "staffer" Dean Backes used to work as a sportswriter for the

Humpbrey (Nebrøskø) Democrat.

THE ZOO q

( ù

WE/LL ALL 8E

GRONKED OUT BY THIS GRUNGY GRUBBISH./

Each

winter, asblizzatds toared across

came roaring into the Dentocrat's newsroom. The paper booted up a software program and booted out Backes. The software didn't talk back and could write prolifically if

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not particulady well

- using statistics provide d by the high school coaches. The hardball decision to replace a reporter with software was €asy enough to justify. Sportswriter, as the program is called, cosr us$100. "We were laying out US$ 1,500 a month for the sportswriter," says the editor and owner of the 1,800circulation weekly. In newspaper offices across the country, computers have replaced typewriters. Now they are replacing reporters."

Buen Vino

the Great Plains, he covered as many as eight high-school basketball games an issue . "I loved it," he says. "You get kind of addicted." But two years ago, technology

5L/PPORTERs

FCC

E5E

Qwryatiom 5Zi 7410. away õ Glerin6 ænice,5'b

4117

11:3ûrm-3pm

Dinner (i\lo¡öoL) 6:Oopm-ll,Oopm Dinner (ôun) 6:Oopn-lloopm

-T--

Profits

ovef Pulttzers Al NTer,rkrarttt, ttre chairlTra-rf of ttre Freedorn Forurrr, has tr-rrned frorn corl?ora"te predator to claarnpion g]sr eavray artist. Andreu¡ L¡rrrctr reportsoYer the Gannett Foundation and applied his business

aclrmen to turningitin-

È è

charitable tfust sup-

An Alnericalx in Hong Kong. Freeclom Forum cbairmatt Al Neubartb.

p.* joumalists have wielded as I much power or influence on American newspapers as Al Neuharth in the past few years. Not even the influence of'lf'oodward or Bernstein in inspiring thousands of imitative investigative feporters after they landed the biggest fish, an American president. Or

the power of Katharine Graham, \Voodward and Bernstein's proprietor

attheWasbington Post. As CEO of the Gannett chain of newspapers, Neuharth can claim fame

for two things: the creation of a îational and international newspaper, USA Tocløy,and changing the corpo rate lace of American newspapers, making them responsible to tVall Street and their shareholders while m¿ximising thei'

profit potential and maintaining their editorial budgets. A-fter a cafeer

small group of newspapers into

US$3

billion media chain, Neuharth

has

tnrned from gamekeeper to poacher. Leaving the group in 1989, he took GoRR¡SPot{Dfl{f

others interested

in the Forum's

propagation of First Amendment-sryle activities: free press, free speech, freedom of religion. To help people

and in pafücular, realise those aims, the Fo rurm conducts exchange visits and scholarships for them to see, study ancl work in the United States. The Forum is nurning a

joumalists

twoday conference on press freedom with the FCC later tlïs year. Neuharth is cautious in his comments, aware of the eggshells of Asian

in which he took Gannett from being publisher of a

TII

poftingjournalism and free speech in the wodd, with assets of US$750 million. The Neuhatth roadshow came to Hong Kong last month for the second time this yeat; it opened its regional offices in'W'an Chai in January. This time Neuharth addressed American businessmen and journalists and

October 1994

Coca-Cola, an ice cream."

Neirhath is one of the chief protagonists in the former Cbicøgo Tribune editot|ames Squires 'dramatic portrayal ol- the demise of American newspapers, ReadAll About It! Qhnes Books, HK$120). In spite of the uninspiring title, this book is the most riveting newspaper book since Harold Evans's Good, Tímes, Bøcl Tímes.

In his indictment of proflts over testament

strìkinglyprophetic of the kind of management that would ultimately nrle virtually all the nation's press institutions: Gannett's management lives, breathes and sleeps profits and would trade profits over Pr.rlitzer prizes anyday." Squires is highly critical of media colpofations whose corpofate intefests affect their reporting of their own business activities, citing the way Neux.ueek. was able to scoop Time Inc's merger

susceptibilities he may have to walk on: "I don't pretend to be an expert on Asian media, but I think the standards in Hong Kong have been traditionally

with \larner Communications,

high. But

believe there has been

to journalistic standards and fair em-

some indication of self-censorship but

ployment practices left Squires in

Gannett's attempt to woo the TV generation with the maximum of impact in the minimum of time. "American journalists called us McPaper. Then they stole our McNuggets."

Home

(Hora€I TLe.e wines .'-'uy

even

though Time magazine's editors knew

orJ"r"d

$$$$

iJ"ol o,itL

"L"ll-{i"L

1r,'t.t"'-l'""",1

""'"""

Churdor"uy, 1992. $69. ($B2B per

ca"e)

Clu.ror. P"t" {i1", Ft-r.". "t À si,-pl" CLu.do..uy l.oro tL. L-.gr"Jo" region in tle soutl-east o{ Frr."", it ¡ tottleJ in Beaune. U.lile tLe 'N"w \lorld' r"rriorr, thir t ligkt, dry ond P"tl""t [ot u

from the owner of a bunch of "shit-

summer

kicking" newspapers. And Neuhafth injected as much colour into his CEOing as he did into his USA Todøy. His lifestyle - the company jetandthe permanent hotel suites in New York and Washington - was first class. And he w.as not welcomed

et eninEl

"r'rp.

@ Peromato Tinto, 1991. $58. ($696 per case) Bodegas Farina, Duero, Spain Olel Thir is tLe Iirst wine I'm oflering {rom Spain. lt's maJe with 1OO% Te-p"..r.illo grapes. It's nrJ ror.J"J witL {ruity spiciness tLat uJJ" .,p to t "olt g"oJ full [i'iJ'.

by other newspaper proprietors into their coterie. "The fact is thatl was not amember of the inner club. I didn't want to lun with that crowd that had inherited wealth. Some of them were pompoLrs, they were all very conselvative. I'm talking about Punch Sulzberger fNetu York Times proprietorl and Kay Graham, and whjle I like them personally I didn't thjnk that was the style the owner of a newspaper should adopt." So he fonnecl his own club, and some proprietors j oined that.

US$5 million. But he still needed some-

^'J

smirk. But that is the price the company had to pay to become a major player

a platinum handshake of more than

sA\G$$ $$$$$$$$

with

C1nb.

BorJ"or* Sauvignon, 1993 $55 ($óóO per """e) Lou ìvlagret, BprJ"or*, Frn."" Tr"-".Jor. .Jr"-[or--o."y i" tLe .e.so. {or . sttictþ limited ropply o{ tLir À.C. BorJeaux u,ine. lt i, porr"rr"J ol o goot"b"try {r-it .rJ gr"". t"rry .or" P.otulrly too sLurp {or Jrinlaing on its ow' Lut

the direst of results -- it cost Gannett an arrn and a leg although it's now in its thirdyear ofprofit. Some sayup to US$ 1 billion. "I'd sayno, it's probablyUS$450

He walked away from Gannett

onl)¡)

NTew Territories

{ro- th" Clrt, bill"J to your account urrJ d"li.,"r"d t" o.J"r"J. To pln""

$$$$$$

USA Todøy increased the

million ... after tax," he adds with

KonÉa and

to un uddr"r. o{ yo.t. cLoice. Only *hol" (12 bottles) *uy ".r". yo.r' ord"r, .",rJ o,- i." (868 4092) tLi" co-pleted {orm to th"

- it certainly woke up eclitols to the use of colour and graphics, sometimes with

underpriced consumef pfodllcts there are, compared with a cup of coffee, a

for his creation of USA Todøy,

\finoô for Delivery_

sum ofjoumalistic knowledge

I hope I am not over-emphasising that. " However, Neuharth is less reticent about his times as a media mogul, a corporate predator who swallowed up newspapefs to swell the Gannett empire. He would take over a newspaper then maximise its profits by increasing advertising and coverprices to bursting

joumalism, Squires quotes

Neuhath won no instant bouquets

V{rether

point. "Newspapers are the most

ê:

two minds about the Gannett CEO. "I read the proofs of Read All About It! and told Squires I didn't know whether I was supposed to be a hero or villain," says Neuharth. Since then, he says he has offered Squires, whom he thinks was badly treated by the Cbicago Tribune, three jobs.

@ Cabernet Saur.ignon, 199L. $96. ($1,152 per case) Hao,L Cte"t, C.lifotniu Àg"J i. F."n"h OuL witL a 'dosuge' o{ Me.lot, thi, i, u ,"r.Jt of tLe expertise o{ tL" Strg'" Leup \lirery o{ *Li"L it is tLe seconJ latel. Good, strong {ruit is the over-riJing characteristic.

Vines by tlr" cøse ånliunrnå to you FCC

Name

\(i'e

thing to do, preferably related to his

Re{' FCC FCC FCC FCC

OCT OCT OCT OCT

No. No. No. No.

N".

Cur"" Cu."" o{ Casc" o{ Cases o{ o{

T"1.

N".

Totul P.i.e Tot-l Pri"e Total Price Total Price

lifetime's work. So he transforrned himself into a "champion giveaway aftist" through the Fomm. "I am a joumalist afterall. And I don't have a rocking chair or a fishing pole."

Frl1 otJ"t rul.,",

Andretu Lyncb is assistant features

Signature:

editor of tlce South China Morning Post.

TLir off"t is {or Oc[oLer only. Deli.,eries o,ill te J.,ri.g tL" ,lth *""L o{ tL"

Fr11

$$$$

oJJt".r {o, J"li.,"ry'

what was going on. Even so, Neuharth's commitment

October 1994

-o.tL

THE coRRDSPoilDDNT

More than abetter Cola

where I live, every door mat suddenly lrad an Eastern Exþress on it every moming for about a week, ancl then, just as mysteriously as they appeared,

C¡rHnv Pncrnc

they vanished again. Audit finishecl?

'W'orse still, my paid-for subscrip-

tion copy of the Eastern Exþress is frequently delivered after I leave home for work. It's inexcusable that they haven't been able to get something as flindamental as that right. I1 tlJe Eastern Express is to have any chance ofsuccess, it has to tum its tens of thousands of free copies into paid-for circulation. If it doesn't, it will continue to have page after page without a trace ofadveftising. In that case, other savings will surely follow. For instance, how much longer can the Veekend magaztrrc go on if it continues to have to put house ads on the key advertising pages?

ftt a continuing series of coh-rrnns orl the Asian rnedia, Peter Cordingle>. ponders ttre firing of Sterze Vines, chief editor of the Eétsterrl ExjQress. hey sacked the wrong man. Instead of picking on Steve Vines, the bosses at the Orjental Press Group should have disrnissed the fool who tlrought theEøstern Exþress could beat the Soutlt Cbina Morning Post stnply by producing a better newspaper. As it happens, it hasn't done that on mofe than a dozen orso momings since its launch, but at least it has abandoned its preposterous High Church approach to news and has started to look like a Hong Kong newspaper. But now we find t]ee Eastern Exþress precariously poised indeed.

It would probably be easier for its owner,

C. K. Ma, to cut his losses and

it down now than carry it forwarcl. So why have things come to close

such a pass, and why so quickly? The reason is that the people behind the launch of tlrre Eótstern Exþress forgot one of the fundamental truths of marketing: if you are going to take on Coca Cola, as tl:re Exþress is doing with tlrre Morning Posf, you have to do more than come up with a better cola. Yon have to break people's habits and convince them that Coca Cola no longer has ^

place in their lives. THE CoRRXSPoIYDEIIT

October 1994

And to clo that, you have to hire the best marketing specialists around. Recnriting journalist friencls from the bar of the FCC is probably as good a way as anyto staffeditorial, but, no matterhow good those people may be, their skills

will be wasted if the marketing isn't right. And from before clay one, the marketing of the Eastern Express has been a textbook on how not to do it. 'Why, for instance, has nobody stopped the complimentary copies that are onshowineverybank, tradinghouse, offìce, club and cloctor's waiting room in town? That technique was fine at the start, but is now damaging the paper's interests day afÍer day. With all those free copies about, eYen the dimmest

media buyer in the most piddling ad agency can see tlre Exþress's claimed circulation is optimistic at best. They may print 50,000 a day and errery one of them may leave the Kowloon Bay premises in the back of avan, bnt how many of them are read? And as forthe circulation auclit that was carried oLlt at the beginning of the

slrmmer, did anybody at the paper really believe that the media professionals would be taken in? In the high rise

The truth is that the journalists who joined tl].e Eastern Exþress last year with such enthusiasm and fire in their bellies have been badly let down by the marketing people. Editorially, the paper has improved beyond meas-

FITxBILITY

ure, although it's about time someone worked out that Section Two is a waste of trees (and will we ever see an end to those pesky little rogue h1'phens?), but the rest of the operation can be described no more charitably than as a disappointment. The firing of Steve Vines couldn't have been better timed from the Morning Posf's point of view, coming, as it dicl, at the Posf's weakest moment since the battle for readership began

in the week it increased

its cover price from $5 to $6. When the increase went into effect, everybody's attentionwas distracted bywhat was going on at the Exþress. Only the foolhardy at the Exþress could possibly have thought it was going to be easy to knock the Posf from its perch. Butwhatwas always going to be a monumental task has been turned

into something far more difficult by poor decisions. From the inexplicable gamble of laurching a newspaper on the back of an untested compLltef system, through the earþ failure to recognise the vital role of business news, to the sacking of the chief editor with no successor im-

mediately in sight, the Oriental Press

Group has made Motming

Post.

easy

for the Eã

The Heart of Asia.

From hole to hole: of rats andmen In ttre second of a" series of contril>utions on the perils of doing l>usiness in the outposts of -A.sia, associate rrrerrrl>er Dan¡id Garcia descril>es a journe¡z on tkre Handa-n E><pressf t'r f l pm.rùØe'reheaded forthe Beijing Itrain station en route to Handan. fhe temperanlre outside is around -8'C and

it's windy. There are no airports

you could hardly see the seats. It actually looked blue. While tripping over the piles of chicken bones on

at Handan. It's one of those s+ltholes that no sane person would visit unless they had to. Even so, there ¿b a shrine there one of the few that wasn't trashed dur-

the floor we found our assigned hard seats occLlpied. (A hard seat is two

ing the Cultural Revolution

pieces of wood nailed together at a 90" angle - no padding allowed). A couple of RMB were presented and some of the occupants removed

The folkfrom the steelworks were

there to greet

Lrs.

Handan is grey and

cold . The buildings are grey. The people are grey. The food is grey. 'We said we needed to clean up. So it was offto The Mill guest house. You

future prime minister of Japan when he was a young soldier during rù7oddWar II.

themselves. The windows wouldn' t close. Thel'

really ought to check this place out. One of my travelling companions not the rat, he stayed on the train came in for a beer. Afler a couple of brews my pal had to attend to his plumb-

were welded partially open. The train

ing

took off and the -8'C degrees now

Apparentþ he had a dream which

became more like -18"C. But, being an

The next thing I heard was Bang! Wcoosb! Tlre toilet had exploded. Not to wofl)¡, the lady from the guest house brought me a bucket to use until the

was once visited by

which

he related to a monk at the temple. The

monk interpreted the dream for the young soldier predicting he would become the leader of Japan. Voilat. Ancient shrine becomes a tourist spot now renamed The Handan Dream Temple.

People flock there

to have their

fortunes told and hope to become the next prime minister of somewhere. Back at the Beijing train station we were told "Mayo wan tee, " or "No problem". Peoplewithfirstclass ticketswould have sleepers. TheyÏed. Again. 'We get to the train only to discover that all the first class cars haye been

remoyed. 'W'e're comered. Either we cancel our trip or brave it. I am for cancelling. I know about Chinese trains,

experienced train traveller, I had my trusty healy coat which is big enough for me to bury my head and arms inside and get some sleep. A couple of hours into the joumey

and I felt something on my foot. I thought the guy across from me was trying to get cute.

appointments to keep, and anyway, how bad can it really be? rù(/e

get to our assigned train and find there are only hard seat cars. rùle try to bribe our way onto a train

carryrng delegates to Handan from a recent Party Congress, but amazrngJy it reallywas a"Mayo", or "No", situation. Usually a few RMB notes can get things done on Chinese trains. So it was on to the hard seat car.

The smoke was so thick inside that THE CORRESPONITENT

Ocrober 1994

we came back we asked about

shower. "Møyo tuan tee!"Ve would just have to wait until after dinner. On to the obligatory 3O-course banqtret andmao tøi and back to the barlacks.

For a ra.t, the traiî is',t so l>ad _ plenû/ of ckricken l>ones and foreigners' socks

Thiffy minutes later there was a knock on the door. Enter two old ladies we're talking 60 years plus -cnrytngalarge - one basin andthe other two huge kettles of hot water. The shower had arived.

fiIE

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The ladies ordered me to strip down

and they would pour the water. Things

especially ones without sleepers. But, the showmust go on. We have

toilet was fixed. Then it was off to The Mill. !Øhen

are desperate

China, but not that

Ilooked outfromthe coat. The seat was empty.'Whoa! The movementwas

desperate. Surely?

still there. I looked down and found a rat gnawing on my sock. Rats! Rats aren't supposed to be on trains. I guess nobody told the rats. BLrt for arat, the train isn't so bad. Plenty of food in the form of chicken bones and

Footnote onþreuious afücle: in øþreuious subruission I referred to ,ny trau-

foreigner's socks. It'sfairly dryand there is a chance to travel. Fourteen hotus later we arrived in Handan. The trip to Handan by express train should take nine hours.

- so it was edited to read. "røt boles". But unfortunately I do not

ek øs uisits to s#ltboles. Our editor tbougltt tbat s#ltbole LU6ts too raqtfor tbe ncembers of tbe FCC I didn't rectlise tbe memberslcíþ

tuas so sensi-

tiue

trauel to røt boles. Rat boles can be

an imþrouement and in any cese s#ltbole is

s#ltbole.

A,The FCC Desk Diary.

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