representing the umbrella movement: a comparative frame analysis
TRANSCRIPT
Representing the Umbrella Movement: A Comparative Frame Analysis
The principle of objectivity as conformity to propaganda?
Submitted by Kwan Yau Cheng (Student ID: 33377145) in partial requirement for the degree ofMA Global Media and Transnational Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London Superviser: Marianne Franklin
Acknowledgement
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank my supervisor Professor
Marianne Franklin who kept enlightening me, motivating me, challenging me and
inspiring me over the course of the research process. This paper would not come to
fruition if it were not for her.
David Cheng
1
Abstract
Due to the brutal crackdown by the government, the Umbrella Movement, the largest-
scale pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, became an international media spectacle
for more than two months. However, the predominantly negative reports by the local
media compared with its international counterpart startled many activists and drove
many of them to turn to the international media for help. By focusing on the
mainstream local media the South China Morning Post, complemented with mainland
China’s official paper the China Daily and a western newspaper, the Wall Street
Journal Asia, a comparative frame analysis was carried out to look at how the
Movement was represented differently. The research compares how the media stories
were framed within different versions of ‘reality’ by the governments at one end and
protesters at the other to unravel the underlying ideological struggle. It was found that
under a hegemonic ideological framework established by China, the adherence to
principles of objectivity of the local media became complicit in government
propaganda. The reports by the local media, despite tightly following the notion of
objectivity and achieving a good balance statistically, tended to lean towards the
government ideology.
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I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) on objectivity1
1 (Kipling Society, 2015)4
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................4
Abstract..........................................................................................................................5
Chapter 1 – Introduction..............................................................................................10
A History of the Umbrella Movement..................................................................................12
Chapter 2 – Conceptual Framework............................................................................16
2.1 Objectivity as an unattainable ideal................................................................................16
2.2 Objectivity as conformity to propaganda.......................................................................19
Chapter 3 – Methodology.............................................................................................24
3.1 Data Selection.................................................................................................................24
3.2 Frame analysis................................................................................................................28
Representations of key actors..........................................................................................29
Recurrent frames on key issues........................................................................................31
Chronology.......................................................................................................................32
Chapter 4 – Findings....................................................................................................35
4.1 Representations of key actors.........................................................................................35
4.2 Recurrent media frames..................................................................................................37
The political reform.........................................................................................................38
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The protests......................................................................................................................43
The police actions............................................................................................................50
4.3 Chronology – Analysis on reports of significant events in the movement.....................52
The outbreak of protest and the use of tear gas – balancing competing claims..............52
The first clearance of occupied zone - authoritative quotes & adopting point of views..60
Final clearance of the protests - Event, drama & conflicts as news.................................65
Chapter 5 – Analysis & Further Discussions – Did the notion of objectivity make the
local media complicit in government propaganda?.....................................................69
5.1 Problemisation and pseudo-objectivity..........................................................................69
5.2 Cultural Hegemony established by China......................................................................72
5.3 Pseudo objectivity as conformity to propaganda...........................................................76
Chapter 6 – Conclusion & Limitations........................................................................82
Bibliography.................................................................................................................84
Appendix 1 – Declaration of Interests.........................................................................91
Appendix 2 – Initial Analysis on media standpoints....................................................92
Appendix 3 – Data Set...............................................................................................103
The South China Morning Post..........................................................................................103
The Wall Street Journal Asia..............................................................................................130
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The China Daily.................................................................................................................132
Appendix 4 – Coding keywords.................................................................................141
Key actors...........................................................................................................................141
Media Frames.....................................................................................................................143
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Chapter 1 – Introduction
On 28th September 2014, a large-scale civil disobedience movement broke out in
Hong Kong, in the wake of Beijing’s broken promise of an open election for the city’s
top leader in 2017. Under the banner of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, tens of
thousands of protestors occupied the main roads of the central business district, to
push for democracy, while maintaining a largely peaceful and orderly manner. (The
Guardian, 2014) Unlike many other protests which received little media attention or
were even totally blacked out, the protest, later called the Umbrella Movement,
received major media attention globally. However, the way the movement was
reported in Hong Kong and in China startled many activists including myself. The
majority of the local media seemed to follow the government line and focused mainly
on the chaotic aspects of the protests and its potential negative impacts. (See
Appendix 2) Many activists in Hong Kong cried out for help from the international
media which were more sympathetic to their cause. (Vice News, 2014) For this
reason, a great deal of transnational effort was put into communicating other aspects
of the demonstrations to the international media (OpenDemocracy, 2014), which
otherwise may well have looked to the local media for information and news clues.
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(Li, 2002: 53).
As a UK-based Hong Konger, the stark contrast in representations of the 75-day
protests in my home city was intriguing and has formed the basis of my enquiry.2
Thus, my research questions are:
Why was there such a stark difference in representations of the Umbrella
Movement between the local and international media? Was the local media
under the influence of propaganda?
This research project sets out to analyse the coverage of the protests by South China
Morning Post, a local quality paper with a carefully guarded reputation for objectivity,
to provide data for my questions, and explore its potential relationship with
government propaganda. I will adopt a comparative approach developed by Halloran,
Elliott and Murdock (1970: 85-144), using the western liberal media source The Wall
Street Journal Asia and mainland China’s mouthpiece the China Daily as reference
points. Based on the belief that the media is not the exact mirror of the real world, this
project will look at the different readings of the protests by the three media and
compare how the media reports were framed – which versions of reality were
2 See Appendix 1 for my declaration of interests.9
adopted, how specific detail was put into the spotlight and in whose interests – in
order to uncover underlying ideologies (ideas and assumptions) and establish their
relevant linkage to government propagandistic effort and protestors’ advocacy.
Finally, the study will consider the notion of objectivity itself, in terms of news
reporting, and consider to what extent total objectivity is possible.
The next section in chapter one will give a brief history of the Umbrella Movement.
Chapter two will explore the conceptual foundation of objectivity and its relationship
with propaganda. Chapter three will elaborate on the data selection and the unique
three-pronged approach used in the comparative frame analysis. Chapter four will
summarise the research findings, followed by an analysis and further discussion on
the notion of journalistic objectivity in chapter five. Finally chapter six will conclude
the research with its limitations.
A History of the Umbrella Movement
The historical root of the Umbrella Movement can be traced back to Sino-British Joint
Declaration signed in 1984. The agreement stipulates that the former British colony
would return to China as a special administrative region in 1997 under the principle of
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‘one country, two systems’, guaranteeing that the city ‘a high degree of autonomy,
except in foreign and defence affairs’ for 50 years. (HKSAR government, 1997) The
mini-constitution of the city, the Basic Law, protects the city’s own political system,
legal system and various fundamental human rights. Above all it states that the city’s
leader, Chief Executive, would be ultimately elected by universal suffrage upon
nomination by a ‘broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with
democratic procedures’. (HKSAR government, 1997)
Nonetheless, since the handover in 1997, the Chief Executive candidates have been
‘handpicked’ by Beijing and elected by a small committee. (Bush, 2014) For example,
the third Chief Executive CY Leung only received 689 votes in the city with over 7
million population. (Chan and Hines, 2014) After Beijing failed her promise to realize
universal suffrage in 2012, discontent against the existing undemocratic electoral
system mounted up. In March 2013, a civil disobedience group was set up by
university professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting under the banner of Occupy Central with
Love and Peace (OCLP). As a last resort to push for an open election, the group
vowed to block the traffic of the city’s central business district if Beijing broke her
word again. The group was supported by about 800,000 Hong Kong citizens in an
unofficial referendum. (OCLP, 2013)
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The situation quickly escalated after the decision by Standing Committee of National
People Congress in China on 31 August 2014. It decreed that a candidate must secure
50% support from a nomination committee, currently with 1200 mostly pro-Beijing
members, before one man one vote, emphasizing that potential candidates must be
‘patriotic’ and ‘love the country and love Hong Kong’. (Xinhuanet, 2014) This
effectively ruled out the possibility of a free election. In protest, a week-long class
boycott was staged by Hong Kong Federation of Students and student group
Scholarism on 22 September. (RTHK, 2014)
OCLP was activated at 1:45am on 28 September riding on the momentum of the
school boycott. The turning point of the movement came after the police actions on 28
September. Apart from baton, pepper spray and the deployment of riot police, 87
rounds of tear gas were fired in an attempt to clear the unarmed and largely peaceful
protestors on the street. Because of the use of umbrellas by the protestors to protect
themselves, some international media started to call it as the Umbrella Movement.
(CNN, 2014)
This crackdown not only invoked the memories of Tiananmen Massacre in 1989
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among the general public, but also drove about 100,000 protestors to spread all over
Hong Kong. (The Guardian, 2014) The 75-day movement had since then been
followed closely by the media internationally from its launch to its clearance.
(Storyful, 2014)
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Chapter 2 – Conceptual Framework
2.1 Objectivity as an unattainable ideal
Objectivity has become a normative expectation for journalists in many parts of the
world. It is often associated with good reporting and is seen as one of the most
important codes of ethics for journalists. However, what exactly objectivity means in
journalism and if it is attainable are constantly contested. The term ‘objectivity’ is
often associated with impartiality. The professional ideology demands journalists to
be not only disinterested in approaching news materials and their sources but also
balanced in representing them. As Michael Schudson pointed out (2001: 150):
“The objectivity norm guides journalists to separate facts from values and to report
only the facts. Objective reporting is supposed to be cool, rather than emotional, in
tone. Objective reporting takes pains to represent fairly each leading side in a political
controversy.”
However, separating facts from value is no easy task as it has to deal with factuality,
which requires journalists report the news as the way it is. Walter Lippmann (1920:
82), the father of objective journalism, famously wrote in his book Liberty and the
News:
‘The cynicism of the trade needs to be abandoned, for the true patterns of the
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journalistic apprentice are not the slick persons who scoop the news, but the patient
and fearless men of science who have laboured to see what the world really is.’
In practice, many different press associations also prescribe similar instructions in
their ethical guidelines although most of them no longer mention the
contested term ‘objectivity’. For instance, the first statement in the ethical
principles of Associated Press Media Editors (1994) states that ‘The good newspaper
is fair, accurate, honest, responsible, independent and decent. Truth is its guiding
principle.’ Such commitment to the principle of accurately reflecting reality has
translated into a set of objective journalistic practices. The specific practices mainly
include sticking to the verified facts, detaching from personal opinions and emotions,
using authoritative sources, focusing on events, answering the 5Ws (‘Who?’, ‘What?’,
‘Where?’, ‘When?’, and maybe ‘Why?’), using the inverted pyramid structure and
balancing competing claims. (Ward, 2004: 19; Mindich, 1998: 3-14; McQuail, 2010:
355).
Behind all these practices is an idealistic goal to make sure the public can be properly
informed by fair and accurate information, facilitate them to perform their civic
function as active citizens in society and protect them from propaganda. First arisen in
1920s in the United States, such professional ideology was a resistance to the
burgeoning government propaganda or public relations before, during, and after the
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First World War. (Schudson, 2001: 162; Streakfuss, 1990: 973) As Lippmann (1920:
62) argues: ‘Without protection against propaganda, without standards of evidence,
without criteria of emphasis, the living substance of all popular decision is exposed to
every prejudice and to infinite exploitation.’ This line of thinking is rooted in
Harbermas’ conception of public sphere (1989) where the media is placed to a central
role in disseminating information critical to public interests in the civil society and
fostering critical rational discussions.
However, objective journalism is an unattainable aspiration. This is because news can
never be a complete, accurate account of the complex social reality. The very
distinction between what is news and what is not is socially constructed and often
reinforces existing power structure. (Hall, 1973: 235) News gathering and processing
involve selections, and selections involve subjective value judgement of relevancy, a
slippery aspect of factuality, especially when individual journalists, with their diverse
intellectual and socio-economical background as well as gender, race, and ethnicity,
are not immune to subjectivity. (McQuail, 2010: 355-357) This explains why among
the countless events happening every day, only a handful is treated as news by the
media. The very notion of news value and established news beat is far from capturing
the reality as it is when one considers the statistical probability of news events such as
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drama and conflicts. (McQuail, 2010: 359) Other factors such as the reliance of
authoritative sources, the needs to cater to differing audience and the arbitrary choice
of reporting angles are all problematic when it comes to reflecting the reality ‘as it is’.
Because of all these selections, news can at its best be aspects of reality, not its
entirety. Peter Golding and Philip Elliot (1979: 643) explains this well:
‘A journalist may well be impartial towards the material on which he works yet fail
to achieve objectivity - a complete and unrefracted capture of the world – due to the
inherent limitations in news gathering and processing.’
2.2 Objectivity as conformity to propaganda
As such, this essay takes a more radical yet realistic view that strict adherence to
objectivity is unreliable in that it makes the media more prone to become carriers of
government propaganda, no matter conscious or not. Behind the grand claims of
public interest, a more realistic view to journalistic objectivity would be that it
provides an important shield for the profession. As discussed above, the notion of
what is news is a social construct and is far from a true reflection of reality. Because
of the constructed nature of news and the inbuilt bias in news production, the media’s
output is often propagandistic by nature. The media serves to define reality and
manufacture consent in a society where messages and ideologies are often diverse,
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confusing and conflicting. Here it refers to propaganda in a narrow sense, meaning the
deliberate and systematic effort by the government and private interest alike, to
communicate their own agenda, impose it to the public and marginalize the dissents to
achieve their own goals. (Jowett and O'Donnell, 2011: 7) As Herman and Chomsky
(1988: 1-2) laid down in their Propaganda Model at the outset:
‘The mass media serve as a system … to inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs,
and codes of behaviour that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the
larger society.’
Therefore, the principle of objectivity serves the media well in justifying the version
of reality they disseminate, concealing other hidden agenda. That may include the
business interests of the media owners, concerns for advertising revenue, the need to
cater to the readers’ preference, the reluctance to offend influential sources and the
preservation of their access. (Herman & Chomsky, 1988: 1-35) As journalists are only
able to operate and be ‘objective’ within the above constraints, the media have been
using the principle of objectivity as a ‘strategic ritual’ to maintain the legitimacy of
their contested products and protect themselves from the risks of their work including
superior’s reprimands, failure to meet deadline, criticism of bias and libel suits.
(Tuchman, 1972: 660-679) This explains why to this date many news organisations
and journalists still hold this ideal of objectivity high and why even some partisan
media such as the Fox news do not outright reject the notion of objectivity. (Fox
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news, 2015)
From this point of view, the mass media often serves no more than the interests of the
dominant power in their respective society by reinforcing the socially-agreed reality
through its news production practices. Antonio Gramsci’s conception of ‘Cultural
Hegemony’ (1971: 12, 52, 175-182) can help elaborate the idea. The cultural industry
and the media, controlled by political or corporate elites, play a crucial role in the
ruling group’s domination of the subordinate groups in the society by means of
persuasion and negotiations. They define the meaning of social reality by explaining
what actually happened and relaying the hegemonic ideology – ideas and assumptions
about how the world should be. Through promoting this hegemonic sense of the
world, the dominant group secures the popular consent of the existing distribution of
power to the extent they are co-opted into supporting the established order their own
domination in both conscious and subconscious manner. While ignoring the possible
human agency involved, Stuart Hall (1977: 333) is correct when he suggests that
‘subordinate classes “live” and make sense of their subordination in such a way as to
sustain the dominance of the ruling over them.’
This is also exactly where news selections and framing come into play. The
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ideological shaping creeps into our common sense and everyday practice. It often
happens in such a natural manner that it goes unnoticed even by the media and
journalists themselves, who often take the existing order for granted. They both
consciously and subconsciously play within its limits in order to receive physical and
psychological rewards even when they are rebelling. This is especially true when we
put it into the context of news reporting about social movements. Social movements
in their various forms present themselves as challenges to the existing order in the
society. Though they are occasionally reported by the media, they tend to be reported
in pejorative frames. Douglas McLeod’s ‘Protest Paradigm’ (2007: P2) suggests that
‘among the frames that are commonly used in the coverage of radical social protests
are the "crime story," the "riot," and the "carnival;" the "debate" frame is less
common.’ Very often, a social movement is reported as a scandal itself, rather than the
issue in question. Gitlin (2003: 3) also describes how media undermined social
movement through defining what news is. He contends that in order for social
movements to become ‘newsworthy’, it is essential to ‘submit to the implicit rules of
newsmaking, by conforming to journalistic notions (themselves embedded in history)
of what a “story” is, what an “event” is, what a “protest” is’. He argues that ‘when the
movement is being opposed, what is being opposed is in large part a set of mass-
mediated images.’ From this point of view, the media and their reporting can hardly
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be objective reflection of social reality; in fact they are often reinforcing the
established order by reproducing the ideology of the dominant group, defining how
things are and how they should be and relaying them to the public.
This paper will thus investigate if the objectivity principles, which play a central role
in shaping the proper practices in news production, become complicit in government
propaganda against social movements under a cultural hegemony established by
China, which the international media was immune from. It is hoped that the research
can provide a critical reflection on the constructed nature of objectivity and the
relevant journalistic practices and enrich the existing literature.
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Chapter 3 – Methodology
3.1 Data Selection
The comparative frame analysis focuses on newspaper coverage of the Umbrella
Movement. The reason is two-fold. First, the good and steady volume of news reports
generated internationally about the protest render the comparative analysis of local,
national and international coverage feasible. Second, newspaper is an important
source of information for the local citizens in Hong Kong, who averagely read two
papers a day. (CUHK, 2014)
That said, the huge volume of newspaper coverage available makes focus and
selection essential in this research. In the greater China alone, over 35,000 pieces of
print coverage were found. (Wise News, 2015) Considering the research purpose is to
determine whether the local media was under the influence of propaganda, it was
decided to adopt the comparative approach developed by Halloran, Elliott and
Murdock (1970: 85-99) and select one local, one national, one international media
(those with bureaus around the world) for a closer investigation.
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To better serve the purpose, the study aims to select a relatively more neutral local
media for the analysis, instead of media that have explicit political leaning as most
Hong Kong media is commonly known for. The rationale was that if the more
objective media in the city inevitably became a carrier of propagandistic messages,
there would be little hope for fair and accurate reports from the rest of local media.
(BBC, 2014a) The selection of mainland Chinese media sample was comparatively
straightforward as the mainstream state media are mostly owned and controlled by the
government and serve as good signpost for the propaganda. As for the international
media, the aim was to select a well-trusted, relatively neutral media as the sample so
as to minimize possible bias while acknowledging the fact that western media tend to
be more liberal, pro-democracy than their Asian counterpart. This in turn makes a
good spectrum for comparison, with a mainland China’s official media at one end and
a western liberal media at the other, so we can look into where the local media posits.
Therefore, an analysis of media reports about the launch of the Umbrella Movement
from 20 mainstream media (12 local, 3 national and 5 international) was carried out to
identify the relatively more neutral mainstream media in each of three categories for
in-depth analysis. Different media standpoints regarding the protest were mapped out
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to justify the sample selection and avoid inaccurate pre-judgement. (See Appendix 2)
To avoid obvious research results from the political-affiliated media, South China
Morning Post was finally chosen among the local media as the focus of the study. It is
not only because the SCMP is seen as the most unbiased, trustworthy media locally
with a jealously guarded reputation for ‘authoritative, influential and independent
reporting’ (CUHK, 2014), but also it is the most widely read English newspapers in
the bilingual city with an audited readership of 349,000. (SCMP, 2015) This avoided
choosing a trusted yet overly niche financial newspaper. More importantly, the paper
had covered the protests extensively, which makes a good sample for the study.
At the national level, the reporting style was largely similar – government-oriented
and pejorative. The China Daily, the only official newspaper circulated in Hong Kong,
was selected for it had covered protests extensively and its archive was more easily
retrievable. A self-proclaimed “China’s window to the world”, it is commonly seen as
the mouthpiece of the government despite its position as the most authoritative
English newspaper in the country. It served as a good reference point to government
propaganda.
At the international level, most media reported the protest in a sympathetic manner.
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The Wall Street Journal Asia was chosen as it has run a good volume of their reports3
given Hong Kong is its core market. With a similar readership (338,982) as the
SCMP, its Asian version is much more widely read than other international
publications such as Financial Times. It also prides itself as one of the most
authoritative paper in the world, ranked most believable and credible newspaper in
every Pew Research study since 1985. (WSJ, 2015) Most importantly, both sources
are privately-owned news media outlets with no obvious control and influence from
any government. The difference in their reporting would yield interesting findings.
After selecting the media, a key word search was conducted to compile the relevant
media reports using three online newspaper archives, including Wisers, Proquest and
Factiva and fully cross-referenced. These news archive websites were used in the
research instead of the media’s own online portals as the former provided clearer
information on the publishing timeline, the nature of the articles (print or online), its
relevant section, page and length, factors all reflect editorial decisions. The keywords
used in the search included ‘Occupy Central’, ‘Umbrella Movement’, ’Umbrella
Revolution’ or ‘Hong Kong Protest’ to cover all possible outcomes. The search was
3 Wall Street Journal Asia ran the most prolific coverage about the protest compared with other international press and has published a total of 40 long piece of print articles about the Umbrella Movement. While it has only published 40 articles during the entire period of the protests, less than its local and national counterparts, its number of mention to each of the key actors was comparable to or even more than the China Daily.
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narrowed down to only print, written news articles pertaining to the movement from
29 September to 16 December 2014 with a focus on only traditional media reports
that average citizens read on the newspapers for the reasons above.4 Online articles,
live blogs and multimedia reports such as videos and podcasts were not included since
they tend to be less organised and scattered because of the real time pressure, which
may hinder the research’s ability to see the bigger picture. Following the journalistic
convention of separating facts from opinions, editorials and comment columns were
not included either.
3.2 Frame analysis
Since the notion of frame analysis is often slippery, a mix method of qualitative and
quantitative frame analyses are proposed below to examine the representation of the
key actors, the recurrent frames and the significant events in the protest with a view to
fully capturing the actual depth and breadth of the data set.
Representations of key actors
First the research looked at how different key actors in the movement, including the
4 See Appendix 3 for the entire data set with indices.26
protesters, the government and the police force were portrayed across all the media
reports with quantitative method. The mentions of the key actors were coded
manually under three broad categories using qualitative analysis software NVivo -
positive, negative and neutral. As whether a mention is positive or negative is
necessarily a relative concept contingent on how the media reports are situated, this is
exactly where media framing comes in. Framing helps to identify a central problem,
and thus define the benchmark of what is good or bad. Only based on that can one
evaluate if an actor is depicted in a positive or negative light. As media theorist Robert
Entman (1993: 52) suggests:
‘[to] frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient
in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition,
causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.’
This research method was essentially looking at how the media define and
problematise the issue at hand. In the context of this research, it is believed that it
would make a huge difference in protesters’ and governments’ image depending on
whether one sees the Umbrella Movement was a solution to a greater central problem
(an undemocratic electoral reform) or a central problem itself that disrupted the social
order. As such the exercise served as the vital first step in understanding how the
media problematised the issues in the Umbrella Movement.
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In determining whether an actor was portrayed positively, negatively or neutrally, this
research exercise has gone beyond the surface meaning of each mention and taken
into consideration the entire contextual setting and the impact of a mention within
certain context, sentence relationship, syntax, the use of jargons and its implications
and connotation. It aims to evaluate how a particular mention contributes to the
understanding of a reader without any pre-knowledge about the actors and their
images. While acknowledging the importance of quotes in giving a voice to each actor
and adopting viewpoints which might contribute to the positive mention, not every
quote coming from the actors were considered positive during the coding process, as
an actor can easily be misquoted by taking what they said out of context. A mention
would be coded as neutral only if it was a passing mention of an actor, which explains
no more than factual elements of the event without any hidden implication that would
potentially constitute a positive or negative impression of an actor.5
Recurrent frames on key issues
The research will then zoom in and take a step further to unravel the prevailing frames
and discourses about some of the most recurrent issues surrounding the movement
5 Please see appendix 4 for the examples of the coding keywords used in determining the tonality of the mentions. The mentions of different officials or protest groups as a collective were counted as one to avoid double counting. Also other related keywords such as government headquarters and protest sites were carefully filtered out manually to make sure the results are accurate. I am fully aware that in some occasions, individual protesters' image will be different from the overall movement, and in this case the mention will be coded as negative for the internal inconsistency of the actor.
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across the coverage. The three key issues analysed included the controversy on the (1)
political reform, (2) protest and (3) police actions. With the help of NVivo, a
quantitative textual analysis was carried out to identify the dominant terms of
reference and word clusters in the data set. Based on that, the project summarises the
recurrent themes in the coverage and categorises them under various frames. By
media frames, here they refer to the frameworks used by the media to present events
or issues to their audience by defining ‘what exists, what happens, and what matters’
among the infinite details of the events so as to render them understandable. (Gitlin,
1980: 6) For example, in the portrayal of protests, words such as ‘chaos’, ‘out of
control’, ‘violence’, ‘clashes’, ‘confrontations’, ‘scuffles’ were frequently used to
describe the general situation and in this research the use of this syntax will constitute
a chaos frame.6 The purpose of the analysis is to question the ‘persistent pattern of
cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and exclusion’.
(Gitlin, 2003: 6-7) By quantifying the number of references dedicated to each frame
and the relevant percentage, the research aims to unravel whose version of reality
(government or protestors) was adopted in the coverage so as to unearth the
underlying ideologies.
6 Further selection criteria of the frames and examples on the coding keywords can be found in the Appendix 4.
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Chronology
Finally, the project sets to decode and compare how the differing frames identified in
the previous research exercise were used by the three media in reporting three of the
most significant events during the protest (See Figure 1). They included (1) the
outbreak of the protest and the use of tear gas, (2) the first clearance of the protests (3)
the final clearance of the protest. Each of these events represents a key stage of the
development of the movement. They were seen as high news values by media and
widely reported as the events involved serious drama and conflicts, which can
potentially illustrate the competing ideologies this project seeks to explore.
Apart from looking at the frames and what was being reported, equal attention was
placed to what was left unsaid in the local media reports through comparing the
reports from the three different media. The analysis will also look at other
presentation aspects, including the use of quotes, position of the media reports,
relative use of different opinion sources and punctuations such as quotation marks.
(Patterson & Donsbach, 1996: 455-468; Tamboukou, 2008: 102-120; Schneider,
2015) At the core of the frame analysis was to deconstruct which version of reality
was adopted how they set the boundaries for public discussions and in whose
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interests.
Through the three analyses, this research aims to more accurately identify the
underlying ideologies and establish a relationship between the propaganda and
resulting media reports.
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Figure 1: Significant political moments in the Umbrella Movement
(BBC, 2014b; Guardian, 2014;Storyful, 2014)
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31 AugNational People Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) in China laid down restrictive framework on political reform
22 SepStudent activist group Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism began week-long school boycott in protest of NPCSC's decision
28 SepOccupy Central with Love & Peace movement launched at midnightRoit police fired 87 canisters of tear gas into protesters in an attempt to clear the crowd
29 SepThe protests spread to key areas of the city including Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui due to public outrage against heavy-handed police action
1 OctScholarism staged a silent protest against police brutality on China's National Day
9 OctThe government cancelled talk with the protest leaders before the scheduled day
13 OctThe police cleared Mong Kong camp after scuffles sparked by anti-occupyer s' attempt to dismantle the barriers.
15 OctA detained protester was beaten by seven police officiers in a corner. The video was circulated around the world
21 OctA televised dialogue between the student leaders and government official was conducted
15 NovStudent leaders were denied entry to China in a trip to Beijing seeking a meeting with China's leader
3 DecLeaders of Occupy Central with Love & Peace tried to turn themselves to the police
16 DecThe Police clear up all protest sites with an injunction order from the court.
Chapter 4 – Findings
4.1 Representations of key actors
A total of 682 media reports were recorded and coded in the data analysis (South
China Morning Post: 495; China Daily: 147; Wall Street Journal Asia: 40). From the
data set, three main actors in the Umbrella Movement - the governments (both
HKSAR and China), the police and the protesters - were selected for analysis. Being
at the heart of the conflicts, these actors were amongst the top three most mentioned
actors in the data set, garnering a total of 7,399 mentions (4,402, 1,642 and 1,355
mentions respectively).
33
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
8 ; 3%
413 ; 39% 149 ; 50%
84 ; 31%
318 ; 30%
112 ; 38% 181 ; 66%
340 ; 32%
37 ; 12%
Figure 2a: Mentions of the governments & of -ficials
Negative Neutral PositiveCounts; % of total counts
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
8 ; 4%
266 ; 27%
79 ; 50% 71 ; 36%
441 ; 44%
53 ; 34% 119 ; 60%
292 ; 29% 26 ; 16%
Figure 2b: Mentions of the police
Negative Neutral PositiveCounts; % of total counts
34
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
548 ; 80%
1,107 ; 36% 134 ; 20%
123 ; 18%
991 ; 32%
275 ; 41%
15 ; 2%
954 ; 31% 255 ; 38%
Figure 2c: Mentions of the protesters
Negative Neutral PositiveCounts; % of total counts
The research outcomes confirmed a few common beliefs about the reporting style of
the three media chosen in the research. As the official paper of the Chinese
government, the China Daily published overwhelmingly positive reports about the
government (66%) and police (60%), while its reports about the protesters and the
protest in general were overwhelmingly negative (80%). It appears that the local
media SCMP maintained a better balance in reporting than its international
counterpart in terms of the evaluative tendency. The figures were surprising - not only
the percentage of positive vs. negative mentions of each actor is very balanced, but
also the percentage of positive, negative and neutral mentions for the actor were very
close to one another. (Figure 2a-c) On the other hand, half of the mentions by the
western liberal media WSJA about the government and police were negative, whilst
35
the mentions of protesters tend to be neutral (41%) to positive (38%). The results have
clearly illustrated three differing assessed directions – pro-government, balanced, and
pro-protesters. The next logical question will be whether this conventional sense of
balance by the SCMP did bring objectivity which is characterised by truth (accuracy),
fairness and absence of value. This will be assessed through careful examination of
the recurrent frames in the next section.
4.2 Recurrent media frames
After looking at the representations of the key actors by the media, the research
continues to unravel how the media framed the key issues revolving around the
Umbrella Movement.7
The political reform
7 It is important to note that one reference may contain more than one frame because of the complicated sentence structure of a reference. While this research exercise is useful in identifying the prominent frames used by the media across all reports, it is important to note that it does not mean that there were not any other frames or discourses involved in the coverage, yet the rest are in minority in comparison.
36
Law & order
Democracy
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
63; 47%
40; 30%
87; 19%
184; 40%
5; 5%
59; 64%
Figure 3a: References about the political reform (by frames)
WSJA SCMP China DailyCounts; % of total counts
The first issue examined was the political reform, which garnered a total of 684
references. It is curious to note that while the controversy over political reform is right
at the centre of the Umbrella Movement, the relevant discussion on the media was far
less than that of the protest itself (4,402 references). On 31 August 2014, Beijing has
announced the reform framework for the election of city's chief executive in 2017.
Rather than letting Hong Kong people freely choose their next leader as promised,
Beijing imposed several limits on the electoral framework to maintain her de facto
power in screening out the candidates they deem 'undesirable'. This sparked outrage
of the democracy loving people of Hong Kong and culminated in a school boycott and
the launch of Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OLCP), later called the Umbrella
Movement. Throughout all of the media reports on the political reform, two
prominent frames were identified, namely law and order frame and democracy frame.
37
(See Figure 3a) The former emphasises the constitutional validity of the reform
framework set forth by Beijing and was heavily propagated by both the local and
national government; whereas the latter focuses the degree of democracy promised by
the framework and was generally in line with protesters' demands.
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
63; 47%
87; 19%5; 5%
40; 30%
184; 40% 59; 64%
Figure 3b: References about the political reform (by media)
Law & order Democracy
Counts; % of total counts
By coding the media reports under the frames, it was found that 64% of the political
reform references by the Wall Street Journal Asia were using the democracy frame.
This seems to have confirmed the common perception of the liberal media bias.
(Entman, 2010: 331-332). It is followed by the South China Morning Post which has
40% of its coverage adopting the frame, the most balanced of all three statistically.
About one third of the references (30%) of political reform by the official paper China
Daily has references about democracy. That said, they are predominantly in defence
38
of Beijing's reform framework billing it as bringing universal suffrage to Hong Kong,
without touching on the technicalities such as whether one-man-one-vote electoral
system with pre-vetted candidates is qualified as universal suffrage. It also relayed
criticisms against the notion of public nomination (7 mentions), a key demand by the
protesters. The similar tendency was observed in SCMP's coverage, which only
described the framework as 'restrictive', as it 'allow[s] only two or three candidates to
run and who must have majority support from a nominating committee.' (S106, P16)8
Public nomination has been dismissed as something protesters unrealistically asked
for as it was banned by the Chinese government. Amongst the 24 references about
public nomination (13% of the democracy frame), almost half of them (12; 7%) were
negative, whereas it was mentioned 7 times in a neutral manner by the WSJA,
accounting for 12% of all mentions of the frame. This revealed an evaluative tendency
of the SCMP. The local media, like the mainland China’s official paper, has barely
touched on the core argument by the protesters that Beijing's framework has
effectively rejected the possibility of a fair and open election in Hong Kong by vetting
the candidates. (China Daily: 0; SCMP: 18; 10% of the frame)9 This may be due to
the ‘unconstitutional’ nature of their demands. By not clearly explaining the
8 The relevant media reports are fully referenced and indexed in the Appendix 3. All references of the media reports are cited in the format of (Media report index number; Paragraph Number) in this paper for easy reference. 9 Please refer to appendix 4 for the keywords used in this coding search.
39
protesters' demand, this treatment in effect arguably favoured the government’s
version of reality over the protesters’, hollowed out the protesters' message about
pushing for 'genuine universal suffrage' and reduced their legitimacy. On the contrary,
the seemingly more biased treatment by the WSJA is found to have treated the two
actors more fairly and equally and clearly explained the central debate. (14 mentions;
24% of the frame):
'Beijing promised Hong Kong that the chief executive would be elected through
universal suffrage in 2017. But at the end of August, the National People's Congress
limited the candidates to those approved by Beijing.' (W5, P8)
This brings us to the law and order frame, heavily used by the China Daily, which
basically affirms the stance of the Chinese government on the political reform and
disseminates her views. The very first report about the Umbrella Movement by the
Daily fully embodied the essence of the frame. Entitled 'Authorities condemn
"Occupy", it adopted the official line from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office
of the Chinese government, saying that:
'NPCSC [National People's Congress Standing Committee] decision is subject to its
unshakable legal status and effect. This is because the decision was made in full
regard to the provisions of the Basic Law' (C2, P4)
Almost half of the political reform references (47%) by China Daily has used this
frame since then. This official message was found to have been internalised by the
SCMP spreading out in one-fifth (19%) of its reports about the political reform. It
40
described the framework lied out by Beijing as a 'ruling', implying that 'it is not
realistic to expect it to change' (S14, P22) and that protesters had to accept and be
'pragmatic' about it. This necessarily championed the existing power structure where
the authoritarian state has the monolithic right in interpreting the constitution and
imposing whatever limits on the election as such. This does not appear to be fair if
one considers the nature of a protest is to challenge the existing distribution of power
outside formal channels of expression, especially in this case within an authoritarian
regime. In comparison the western media WSJA has only mentioned the frame five
times (5%). All the mentions were in quotes or presented as something insisted by the
government while objected by the protesters fiercely. Again, the two actors were
treated more equally by the WSJA who laid bare the struggle of the protesters in its
report:
'The trio [the three organisers of the OCLP] also helped shift Hong Kong's terms of
debate away from appeals to the Basic Law – dubious because Beijing has the last
word on constitutional interpretation – and toward the universal rights that
Hongkongers can fight to vindicate through politics.' (W37, P13)
This findings may point to an intriguing finding that the so-called balanced news
treatment might not necessarily bring fairness in the case of covering protests.
The protests
41
As the focus of the research is framed around the Umbrella Movement, it naturally
makes the protest a key issue to look at. The founders of Occupy Central with Love
and Peace had framed the protest as a civil disobedience movement, in which the
participants risked breaking the law in order to push for a cause many deem noble -
true democracy. They vowed to push for an open election of the city leader
(democracy frame) by blocking the traffic of the central business district of Hong
Kong. With one-year-long planning, the founders issued a manifesto outlining their
objectives and provided a letter of intent for the participants to confirm their
allegiance to the concept of peaceful disobedience. (OCLP, 2015) Although the
movement gradually deviated from the original plan and later was dominated by the
students, the notion of non-violent resistance was largely uphold to maintain the
moral high ground and the public support of the movement. (Peaceful frame)
However, ever since the notion of OCLP was raised, the Chinese and local
governments repeatedly branded it as 'unlawful acts that jeopardize the rule of law
and social stability' (C2, P5) and warned that the movement would end up in total
chaos (chaos frame) which would disturb the social stability and ultimately bring
down the economy the entire city is built on. (Socio-economic disruption frame) (C3,
P3)
42
Democracy
Peaceful
Law & order
Chaos
Internal split
Foreign interference
Socio-economic disruption
-5% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
27; 4%
0; 0%
229; 33%
137; 20%
20; 3%
19; 3%
228; 33%
261; 9%
151; 5%
430; 14%
350; 11%
141; 5%
37; 1%
352; 12%
90; 14%
67; 10%
50; 8%
54; 8%
25; 4%
2; 0%
23; 3%
Figure 3c: References about the protests (by frames)
WSJA SCMP China DailyCounts; % of total counts
A plethora of frames were used by the media in reporting the protests. (See figure 3c)
The top three most invoked media frame were law and order frame, chaos frame and
socio-economic disruption frame (Count: 709; 541; 603). On the other hand, the
positive messages advocated by the protesters, no matter how simple and clear they
were, seem to have received far less attention than the other negative frames. The
43
media had used much less democracy frame and peaceful frame (Count: 378; 218).
This may be due to the nature of the disobedience movement and the media's
preference for drama and conflicts. In fact, when we categorise the frames into simple
pro-protest and anti-protest grouping and compare the relative use of the frames by
each media, it revealed another sense of balance by different versions of reality. The
local media seems to be no longer that balanced from the point of views (24%:76%);
while the more sympathetic approach to the social movement by the ‘rule-breaking’
international media appeared to have helped it strike a fair balance (51%:49%).
(Figure 3d) Only 4% of China Daily’s coverage about the protest involved the
democracy frame due to its manipulation of the frame for its own use discussed in the
last section.
44
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
229; 33%
430; 14%50; 8%
137; 20%
350; 11%
54; 8%
20; 3%
141; 5%
25; 4%
19; 3%
37; 1%
2; 0%
228; 33%
352; 12%
23; 3%
27; 4%
261; 9%
90; 14%
151; 5%
67; 10%
Figure 3d: References about the protests (by media)
Law & order Chaos Internal split Foreign interference Socio-economic disruption Democracy
Peaceful
Counts; % of total counts
This may actually media shed light on the success of government propaganda. The
anti-protest frames including law and order, chaos and socio-economic disruption
frames were clearly propagated by the establishment and the official paper.
Publicising the official line, more than half of the reports by the China Daily about the
protest involved these frames (53%). While the South China Morning Post did not use
as much the three frames as the Daily (37%), they were still the top three most
invoked frames in the mentions of protesters, accounting for 14%, 11% and 12%
respectively. It is not saying that the SCMP was tightly following the line of official
45
24%
76%
51%
49%
paper. Nonetheless, it is likely to be more susceptive to the official propaganda in an
unnoticeable manner, if we compare its use of these frames with the Wall Street
Journal Asia (8%; 8% 3%). (See Figure 3d)
The trust on authoritative sources combined with the conventional scepticism against
citizen sources including the protesters seems to have also fuelled the spread of anti-
protest frames. The Umbrella Movement originated from the notion of 'Occupy
Central with Love and Peace' by Hong Kong University Law Professor Benny Tai
Yiu-ting. The founders stressed heavily on the 'love and peace' part to protect the
moral footing of the disobedience movement. However, this was not received well by
the governments and the state media including the China Daily, which merely referred
it as Occupy Central (占中) with a hint of the law and order frame mentioned above.
(CNA, 2014) Of the total 695 mentions of the movement name by the SCMP, only
two of them used the full name, one of which was referring to the movement's
Facebook page. (S123, P14; S267, P13). Others were mostly derogative mentions that
were sceptical of the peaceful intentions of the protesters 'even though it was branded
as “civil disobedience” and peaceful' (S63, P8). From the use of a quote from Chief
Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong by the SCMP, one can see that the very
use of name has its ideological implications.
46
'“Occupy has gradually departed from love and peace” – the latter part of the
movement’s name.' (S186, P14)
By contrast, perhaps out of sympathy to the protesters cause, the WSJA mentioned the
full name of the movement for 15 out of 58 mentions, most of them were first
mentions in an article. Together with the minimal use of peaceful frame (5%), it can
be interpreted as a sign of the SCMP’s unconscious alignment with the state media
(0%) and the official line.
This in turn explains why the chaos frame was so prevalent in the reports by both the
China Daily (20%) and the SCMP (11%) as technically it was competing with the
peaceful frame. It is observed that the local media tended to attribute the
responsibility of violence to the protest through the use of incriminate syntax, such as
'clashes', 'scuffles' and 'confrontations'. These words emphasise the chaotic aspect of
the protests by focusing on the condition rather than the actions taken by differing
actors. This is especially commonly used in protests where the instigators of violence
were difficult to identify as this use of incriminate syntax can help the media to stick
to simple facts and appear neutral under immense deadline pressure, albeit shallow.
Other less prominent recurrent frames observed include internal split frame and
foreign interference frame (Count: 186 & 58). The former focuses on the internal
47
inconsistency of the protesters. It can be seen as an extension from chaos frame,
reinforcing the message that the situation was not in total control. The latter were
mainly unfounded accusations from both local and the Chinese government about
suspected foreign involvement in the protests. Despite a small percentage of
mentions, it is worth noting that the SCMP (Count: 37; 1%) was relaying rumours
about foreign interference in the protests, a claim which was repeatedly dispelled by
the protesters. In one case, the news source was a pro-establishment heavy weight
based on 'the information she read on the internet'; while in another the Chief
Executive's claim about the 'evidence that “foreign forces” have influenced the
Occupy Central movement' that was not disclosed even until now. (S185, P8) This
may be seen as evidence that further confirms the local media is highly susceptive to
misinformation from traditional elite sources.
48
The police actions
Suppression
Law & order
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
1; 1%
65; 33%
264; 26%
291; 29%
56; 35%
29; 18%
Figure 3e: References about the police actions (by frames)
WSJA SCMP China DailyCounts; % of total counts
China Daily SCMP WSJA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
65; 33% 291; 29%
29; 18%
1; 1%
264; 26%
56; 35%
Figure 3f: references about the police actions (by media)
Law & order SuppressionCounts; % of total counts
Finally another recurrent issue revolving around the Umbrella Movement has been the
use of force by the police. From the very beginning the entire movement was arguably
49
partly energised by the disproportional force used by the police in dispersing the
crowd on 28 September 2014. 87 canisters of tear gas were fired into the peaceful
protesters who took to the street to express their demand for a genuine universal
suffrage. Images of protesters engulfed by tear gas and bathed in their blood as well as
later a video of a detained protester being beaten by seven policemen had circulated
around the world and brought the protests in Hong Kong to the attention of the
international media, who commonly viewed the police action as a brutal crackdown.
(Suppression frame) At the same time, the government and anti-occupy group invoked
the law and order frame and defended the police action as upholding the rule of law
against an illegal assembly, maintaining public order and protecting public safety. The
same official line was emphasised by numerous government officials and pro-
establishment figures. (GovHK, 2014) The suppression and law and order frames had
since become the key frames defining the debate over police actions. From the coding
results, the SCMP again seems to have struck a good balance in its report about the
police actions. Roughly the same amount of reports were devoted to both frame,
accounting for 26% and 29% respectively. (Figure 3f) This was contrasted by the
more protester sympathetic yet government-sceptical WSJA who allocated 35% of its
reports about the police action in suppression frame; while only 18% were revolving
around the law and order frame. Although on the surface of it, it seems that the
50
positive vs. negative mentions of all actors by the SCMP was very balanced, this may
exactly reflect bias of balancing. The protests might be illegal because it did not apply
for a license, but the disproportional violence against unarmed, peaceful protesters by
law enforcers was not only illegal but hideous. By that it may deserve much more
attention. Another way of looking at the relatively balanced percentage can be that
only in extreme situation like this will the media give equal voice to the protesters
against the establishment. The need to balance competing claims is likely to in effect
balance out the positives and negatives ignoring the relative seriousness. This again
illustrated the outcome of journalistic requirement in balancing and trusting
authoritative source might actually bring the opposite of objectivity under the
systematic propaganda from governments.
4.3 Chronology – Analysis on reports of significant events in the
movement
The outbreak of protest and the use of tear gas – balancing competing
claims
On 28 September 2015, the OCLP organisers announced the launch of the civil
51
disobedience movement in the early morning to push for free election for the city’s
leader, urging Hong Kong citizens to join the sit-ins and occupy the Central Business
Districts riding on the momentum of the school boycott. In the evening on the same
day (at 6pm) the police fired 87 rounds of tear gas in an attempt to disperse the
unarmed largely peaceful protestors. The use of tear gas was then condemned by
numerous human rights organisations. (Human Rights Watch, 2014) A total of 12
articles were collected from the three media. As the local media, the South China
Morning Post was the most prolific among the three (7 articles; 3699 words; S1-7),
followed by China Daily who published a front-page story along with 3 short articles
(1364 words; C1-3). The international media the Wall Street Journal Asia (2 articles;
1233 words; W1-2) devoted its front page to the protest and ran a long feature story in
its inner page 16.
One particular thing that stands out was the balance of competing claims in the reports
by the SCMP. In reporting the outbreak of the protest, it published a main article
entitled 'Tear gas fired as thousands join Occupy' with a subhead saying the protest
was 'not in control'. Here is how the lead goes:
'The streets of Central and Admiralty descended into utter chaos last night as police in
riot gear fired tear gas at campaigners as the Occupy Central campaign, a movement
that promised “peace and love”, escalated.' (S7, P1)
52
It may seem that the media was balancing both the facts that the police fired tear gas
and people were joining the movement. However, this neutralised the overly tough
action by the police against the peaceful protestors. Also, by emphasizing the
condition of chaos without mentioning clearly who did what and why, the SCMP
effectively adopted a version of reality long promoted by the government. It gave an
impression that the chaos was caused by the movement itself, while the protests were
arguably largely peaceful before the police actions. It is worth noting that the use of
quotation marks on the words 'peace and love' which indicates the sceptical attitude of
the media and strips off the original meaning of the words. In short, the SCMP mainly
used the chaos frame heavily propagated by the government. The testimony to this
would be the straightforward article about the protest published by the China Daily
condemning 'the “Occupy” movement for ‘rioting, halting traffic and creating chaos
and the disruption of social order' (C2, P6), mentioning the firing of tear gas only in
passing. It also came with a small section capturing 'sound bites' from four important
pro-establishment figures, with one resounding message - the movement was 'out of
control'. (C3) Continuing the same narrative, another long feature entitled 'How
Occupy leaders lost grip on protest' was included in page 3 of the SCMP to discuss
why the protest was 'not under control'. (S2)
53
The article went on to describe the outbreak of the protest as ‘one of the most violent
days in the recent history of Hong Kong’ mentioning the condition yet again without
explaining the reason. This was preceded by the government spokesperson’s urge to
end the protest ‘for the sake of Hong Kong’s interests and the safety of participants’
and the campaigners’ admittance that the situation was out of their control. (S7, P8-9)
The balancing of competing claims seriously downplayed the disproportionate force
used by the police complained about by many protestors and human right
organisations. The readers were likely to interpret the movement as the cause of the
violence.
Similar balance of competing claims goes on and on till the end of the article.
Whenever any police action is mentioned, it is depicted as a response to the protestors'
action. One obvious example is as follows:
'This time, the city’s police – long dubbed Asia’s finest – were pitted against young,
local protesters. …
One protester, 13-year-old Matthew Chai, said: “I can’t believe police would have to
resort to tear gas…My eyes hurt so bad and my lungs were burning.”
Police chief Andy Tsang Wai-hung defended the use of tear gas, saying police had a
responsibility to “resume social order”.' (S7, P13-15)
The above balancing of claims by the SCMP is problematic. It did not acknowledge
the crucial fact that the police were armed with baton, pepper spray and shot guns;
54
while the protestors were unarmed and on the defensive. Not only the difference in
strength was concealed here, the difference in weight of quotes was also neglected.
The article pit one quote from a random protestor against a government official whose
words are considered much more authoritative in the minds of ordinary people. The
quote from one protestor hurt by the tear gas is neutralised as the police's
responsibility to resume social order with the police chief's quote in the next
paragraph. By balancing the imbalance, this pseudo-objective way of balancing
viewpoints is effectively aiding the establishment, no matter what the original
intention was.
This is not one single case in a single article. In fact the media published another
separate article in its inner page on the use of tear gas, following the same pattern of
'balancing'. Below is the subhead:
'Rights activist accuses force of "unprecedented" action to quell protesters; officers say
they had to stop acts that “endangered public safety”' (S5)
Though the structure is a balanced one with a semi colon, the meaning of the two
sentences are far from balanced. Without any context one may ask what the vague
word 'unprecedented' means here. However, from what is written clearly the force is
used with a good reason, which is to ensure 'public safety'. This pseudo objective way
55
of balancing is effectively neutralising the criticisms against the police force, no
matter if the media is conscious or not. While one may see this as lazy reporting or
self-censorship, a possible explanation would be the time pressure of the journalists to
report on the dynamic development of the protests which launched at midnight and
got teargassed after 6pm. Without sufficient time to verify the facts and dig deep, the
SCMP took a safe approach by relying on official source, focusing on the general
situation without any attribution and using ‘he said; she said’ reporting in which the
media provide two competing unverified truth clams to maintain the necessary
‘balance’ and cover ‘both sides of the story’ to protect itself from criticism of bias by
either side.
By contrast, championing individual freedom and democratic institutions, the WSJA
used 'Crackdown in Hong Kong' as its title. From which it is clear and direct that the
media defined the police action in Hong Kong with suppression frame like most
protesters did. The article started by saying:
'In the harshest response against protesters in Hong Kong in nearly a decade, police
used pepper spray and repeated rounds of tear gas to disperse pro-democracy crowds
in several parts of the city.' (W1, P1)
This is clearly not balanced in the conventional sense, but it has also reflected the
reality that the police had taken a tough action against the peaceful protestors, which
56
is the first time in a decade since 2005 anti-globalisation protest where militant South
Korean protesters charged at the police. The WSJA also used 'repeated rounds of' to
describe tear gas,10 and an important fact that that it pointed to the disproportionate
violence used by the force both the SCMP missed out.
Apart from balancing competing claims, the SCMP stuck closely to the facts in
structuring the piece about the outbreak. Focusing on the event and adhering to the
inverted pyramid structure, the SCMP answers four of the more important factual
elements of the 5Ws (Who?, What?, When? and Where?) in the lead and reported the
launch of the pro-democracy protest only as a ‘campaign’. The less important ‘why?’
is not dealt with until the very end in the long article, which says:
'The protest was triggered by Beijing’s ruling last month that Hong Kong would be able
to use one man one vote to elect the chief executive in 2017, but only two or three
candidates could run and they would need majority support from a nominating
committee.' (S7, P22)
The information may seems adequate given that this may not be the latest news for
the local readers. Here we compare this with the below similar paragraph which
comes in the middle of the WSJA's article:
'The protesters are demanding that the government rescind a plan for elections for
Hong Kong's chief executive, which will allow residents to vote but only for candidates
approved by a committee of 1,200 largely pro-Beijing members. The committee
10 It was later revealed that 87 rounds of tear gas were fired.57
currently selects Hong Kong's top official without a popular vote.' (W1, P8)
It is found that undemocratic nature of the nomination committee, perhaps a fact that
is no longer newsworthy in terms of currency, was missing in the SCMP’s account.
This in effect delegitimised the protest by inadequately explaining its cause. However,
it should be noted that ‘pro-Beijing’ here has a negative connotation as the Chinese
government is seen as an inherently insidious authoritative regime by the WSJA.
While the law and order frame was not a heavy element in the main story, the SCMP
published another two separate stories on A4. One article called 'Government
resolutely opposed to Occupy: CY' quoting five official sources slamming the
movement as 'unlawful' and 'unauthorised' as what China Daily did. (S1) The other
was an interview stories with an ex-government minister, on her worries about ‘mini-
Tiananmen’, which advocates a classic 'blame-the-victim' logic by saying the
protesters asking for dialogue may turn into something as sinister as the June forth
Incident. (S3) From these two articles, it is surprising to see the sources the SCMP
used was almost exactly the same as the official party paper. This is likely to do with
the trust in authoritative sources within the tight deadline, which will be further
discussed in the next section.
58
The first clearance of occupied zone - authoritative quotes & adopting point
of views
After seventeen days of occupation over several key commercial areas in Hong Kong
including Central, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, the police made their first attempt
in clearing the occupy zones by removing the barricades set up by the protestors on 13
October 2014. This action followed a confrontation between the protesters and the
anti-occupiers including masked men, taxi and truck drivers who attempted to remove
the road blocks. On the next day the South China Morning Post published a front-
page story, along with a chronology of the clearing process. (S135, S137) Two more
articles were published on the next day to follow up the development.(S141,S143)
The Wall Street Journal Asia also published a long article on its front page on the day
(W20). While the China Daily did not immediately covered the clearance the day
after, a long follow-up article was published on 15 October 2015 led by an official
statement. (C46)
Again, the SCMP took a balanced approach in its account of the clearance. In its story
entitled ‘Collision course set over threat to remove barriers’, it described how
protestors rebuild the barrier after the clearance brought by the violent clashes
59
between the protestors and their opponents. (S137) A neutral word ‘opponents’ is used
(S137, P3) to describe a coalition of taxi and truck drivers and masked men who tore
down the barriers and the tents forcefully with cutters in the otherwise peaceful
protest sites and sparked the confrontation. Depicting the confrontation between the
Occupy and the anti-occupy camps, the first half of the article was revolving around
the chaos frame. The indiscriminate words ‘violence’ and ‘clashes’ appeared in the
first five paragraphs likely for the reason explained in section 4.2.
From that the frame was switched to the socio-economic disruption, which manifested
itself in the extensive use of quotes. The SCMP interviewed the director of the Taxi
Drivers and Operators Association and covered the cause of the anti-occupy protest.
The spokesperson claimed that the blockage was ‘affecting their businesses’ and
wanted to ‘tell them [the protestors] the hardships’. (S137, P9, 12) This news
treatment is obviously very different from how the SCMP treated the Umbrella
Movement at its outbreak, where the objective was buried in the coverage. This may
be because the media was sceptical of the protesters in the Movement as an objective
source, while the anti-protesters were coming from conventionally more reliable
sources like trade unions and business associations under the assumption that these
established institutions and organisations are more well-resourced in proving their
60
claims.
One may expect the SCMP should have at least given the occupiers a fair hearing by
quoting them as the clearance of protest sites is essentially an anti-occupy move, but
only one indirect quote from one of the three main organisers of the Umbrella
Movement, was featured, which says:
‘The Occupy Central movement condemned the removal of the barriers by the masked
men as a “violent act”. The movement urged the police to protect the peaceful
occupation protests from being disrupted.’ (S137, P13)
The use of quotation was derogatory and downplayed the violent acts committed by
the anti-occupy camp. This again reflected the scepticism against the protesters as a
source. What is more, this was followed by an irrelevant quote from a high level
mainland Chinese official:
‘Meanwhile, Vice-Premier Wang Yang…warned in Sochi on Saturday that Western
countries were trying to support the opposition in Hong Kong. “Their purpose is clear –
they want to organise the so-called colour revolution,” he said.’ (S137, P14)
This conspiracy theory, albeit propagandistic and unsupported, was not questioned or
neutralised in any sense in the article and quoted as it is. When looking at the larger
context, it served effectively as a counter-statement to the Occupy Central’s one. This,
coupled with all the remaining seven quotes used in the story, were from the anti-
occupy’s side. Apart from quotes from the representatives from the taxi and truck
61
driver group and the police who took direct actions in the incident, they included the
Chief Executive in Hong Kong, the Director of Administration and a unnamed
government source. Half of them are opinions by nature. By quoting extensively anti-
occupy side, the article is effectively adopting their points of views. This not only
reflects the tendency of the SCMP to include every authoritative source, but also the
mistrust against citizen sources such as protesters. Of course, this might also due to
the local media’s fear of losing its access to the official sources, which had a poor
track record of selectively giving interview to obedient media. (HKJA, 2014) That
might in turn lead to the heavy use of official quotes and the avoidance of critical
sources such as those from the protesters.
In the same story, the WSJA has taken a different route. While including quotes from
the police, the representative of the taxi driver union and the chief executive on the
factual elements, It has balanced them out by directly quoting the views of two of the
occupy organisers and a random supporter. This treatment suggests the WSJA was
actually treating the two protests as somewhat equal, not bound by the need for
authoritative sources and the social stability ideology as its local counterpart does.
More importantly an unrelated third party witness was quoted in describing the scene.
It may seem rather unconventional by quoting a large number of citizen sources yet
62
leaving out the Chinese authority, but it has shown that there is an alternative, and
possibly fairer way of representing the situation. Again this may reflect the western
liberal bias that undemocratic elected local government and the communist Chinese
government as repressive regime are automatically not trustworthy; whereas the
protesters pushing for democracy should be encouraged and trusted.
The same urge to include authoritative sources of the SCMP is best illustrated by the
follow-up article published on the next day, which very much resembled with a piece
on China Daily. Quoting from a commentary from another party paper People Daily
and the president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, Chen
Zuo’er, the headline was ‘“Protesters not sincere in ending impasse”’ relaying all the
negative frames propagated by the official paper without any balancing statement.
That included foreign influence frame slamming ‘Western powers that Beijing
believes are orchestrating the campaign to stir up trouble for China’, economic
disruption frame criticizing ‘the protests would cost the city some HK$350 billion in
economic losses’ and law and order frame saying it ‘harmed its rule of law’. (S143,
P4-5, 8) Not only were these all opinions without any concrete proof, it also cast light
on a common practice by the local media to relay the official paper’s commentary or
editorials by using ‘state media…’. While this may seems to be balancing both views
63
as there was another piece about protesters staying put on the same day, this is in
effect relaying the propaganda and adopting the views of how the Chinese
government thought how things should be like.
Final clearance of the protests - Event, drama & conflicts as news
After more than seventy days of occupying the street, the protestors were considering
retreat from the street because of the dwindling public support as the protest dragged
on for over two months and little progress has been made after the talk with the
government officials. In the meantime, the police was stepping up their effort of
clearing the street to resume the normal traffic after the organisers of OCLP
surrendered themselves to the police on 3 December. On the 73th day of the protest,
the government and police started to release information about large-scale clearance
of the protest sites along with an injunction from the court. After the press conference
on the 74th day, the police issued an ultimatum urging the protesters to move out
before 11am the next day. Despite some speculation of inevitable violence, the
students decided to opt for a peaceful retreat, with some of leaders staying behind to
embrace the legal consequences of the civil disobedience movement.
64
The local paper South China Morning Post ran consecutive daily reports about the
clearance from 8 to 16 December 2015. A total of 15 stories were run.11 The Wall
Street Journal Asia printed 3 stories, two of them on front page. The China Daily
published 3 front-page stories and one on business page surrounding the clearance.
The local paper again published a front-page story relaying authoritative quotes with a
mix of chaos frames and law and order frame. Entitled ‘CY says authorities ready for
“furious resistance”’, the news hook was based on a hardly logical speculation by the
Chief Executive that protesters tend to get more radical when there were fewer of
them. (S454) The entire story was surrounding this speculation with little supporting
facts and any balancing statement from the protesters. One can see how elite sources
can affect news reporting in this regard. A random negative prediction of the head of
government towards a social movement development could make it to a headline
story without any proof. What is worse, this story came 3 days after a story about the
student leaders considering to retreat amid the eroding public support, escalating
police action and unbearable by the WSJA. (W38)
The speculated chaos frame reappeared in the next day’s coverage when ‘a police
11 S454, S460, S464, S466, S469, S471-2, S475-9, S483-4, S492.65
source’ leaked the plan about the clearance of the protest to the SCMP, even though
the student leaders declared that ‘the group had no plans to clash with police.’ This
only appeared in the third last paragraph in a 654-word article. (S460, P16) The frame
did not change until the students had reiterated they would not put up any resistance
during clearance. A resulting article was titled ‘activists say no clashes planned’ was
published on 10 December 2015. (S464) Here the active word ‘clashes’ frequently
mentioned by government officials was used in the headline instead of the passive
word ‘resistance’. This not only ignored the difference in gear between the protestors
and the police, but also somehow distorted the meaning of peaceful occupation in the
public mind. Sustaining the chaos frame, the SCMP went on to report about newly
formed protest group called Student Front which planned to ‘use force to stop
violence’ (S464, P13), without mentioning the fact that it had only less than twenty
members. (MyRadio, 2014) Apart from the influence from elite sources, one possible
explanation for the recurrent use of speculated chaos frame may be the conventional
editorial preference on drama and conflicts. After 75 days of daily coverage, it is
highly likely that the news value of the peaceful protests was perceived to be
diminishing. Only drama and conflicts such as a bloody end would spice up the story
and boost the newsworthiness.
66
Apart from the front-page stories, the SCMP ran a series of focus stories about the
legacies of the occupation. The overarching theme was that the occupation was a
‘severe blow to the economy, politics, society and people’s livelihood’ as mentioned
one of the government sources on 15 December after the clearance. (S477, P10) This
also explained why the SCMP used ‘Orderly end to 75 days of turmoil’ as the
headline of that specific article. They point directly to the pro-establishment ideology
- the occupation threatened the social and economic stability of the city and it is a
rightful thing to end it.
Towards the end of the protest, it made sense to at least restate the cause of the
protests as it is the key reason for the conflicts at hand and is still largely unsolved,
which was largely buried by the local and national paper. The SCMP only mentioned
it in passing as the result of ‘deepening rift in society’ (S466, P1) among the 15
articles with a great focus on events or speculated conflicts. This may have to do with
the risks of being accused as biased by introducing a less popular frame. By contrast,
there were consistent mentions by the pro-democracy WSJA in 3 lengthy articles
published, one of which was a feature article about the genesis of the idea of OCLP
detailing the history, idea, and key arguments of the political reform. This again
shows the local media's preference to events and conflicts, rather than key issue, has
67
become a bias undermining social movement in media representation.
Chapter 5 – Analysis & Further Discussions –
Did the notion of objectivity make the local media complicit in
government propaganda?
The entire research is centred on one question - why the local media reported the
Umbrella Movement in a largely negative manner while their international
counterpart tend to be the opposite? The research project initially assumed that was
the influence of propaganda, but as it developed it was found that while propaganda
had played a part, the real picture is far more complex. The adherence to objectivity
principle of the local media became complicit in the government propaganda.
5.1 Problemisation and pseudo-objectivity
First of all, the level of ‘objectivity’ cannot be merely determined by the amount of
positive or negative mentions of each actor. Whether an actor’s image is positive or
negative is a relative concept contingent on the understanding of what the central
68
problem was and who is in the right or wrong based on that problem. Therefore, the
relatively even distribution of positive vs negative mentions of each actor by the
SCMP might only be a false indication of objectivity, or pseudo-objectivity. From the
frame analysis, it is found that the SCMP, very much like the China Daily, sees that
the protest was the primary problem itself, while the WSJA views that the
fundamental cause of the protests was Beijing's refusal to grant the city open election
it has promised. From this perspective, the protests and protesters, rather than the
controversies around the political reform, became the central problem for the China
Daily and the SCMP, so their focus was mostly placed on the impacts of the protests.
This difference in problemisation can be also reflected on the syntax used in the
reports. In the reports by the local media the SCMP, the protest is often mentioned as
the origin of all problems, rather than a result of a bigger political debate. Some of the
examples included:
‘political deadlock sparked by Occupy Central’ (S307, P3)
‘political impasse triggered by Occupy Central’ (S473, P3)
‘turmoil arising from Occupy Central’ (S252, P20)
Such problematisation was very different from that of the protest-sympathetic
international media WSJA, which often used the word "standoff" (14 times) to
69
describe the situation. "Standoff" here means a deadlock between two equally
matched opponents in a dispute. (Oxford dictionary, 2015) It implied that the
uncompromising attitude of both the government and the protesters had played a part
in the dispute, which "has rocked the city". (W14, P1) By contrast, in the reports of
both the China Daily and the SCMP, it is often mentioned that it is the "protests which
have rocked Hong Kong". (S155, P1) The protest alone was attributed as the main
culprits for all other associated problems. The sense of balance of the SCMP seems to
have lost from this point of view. This shows the level of objectivity cannot be
determined by measuring the positive vs. negative evaluative tendency.
Figure 4a: Problemisation by South China Morning Post & China Daily:
Figure 4b: Problemisation by The Wall Street Journal Asia:
70
Protests Deadlock Turmoil
Disputes on
political reform
Standoffbetween government &
protesters
Standstill
A word used by Zhang Xiao-ming, the
vocal Director of the Liaison Office of the
Central People's Government in Hong
By problematising the protest as the root cause of the social turmoil and all
controversies, the SCMP’s reporting adopted the official definition of the problem and
was one-sided by nature. The protesters were defined as the troublemakers or the
problem creators. (Law and order frame; Chaos frame; Socio-economic disruption
frame) This is possibly why both the China Daily (80%) and SCMP (35%) have a
relative higher percentage of overall negative mentions of protesters compared with
the WSJA (20%). On the other hand, clearing the protests on the front line, the police
were seen as the problem-solvers. This explained the relatively high percentage of
positive representation of police by the China Daily and SCMP (60%; 29% compared
to WSJA: 16%) despite the outrageous violence sanctioned by the law enforcers who
are supposed to protect their citizens. Thus, the relatively even distribution of positive
vs negative mention of the SCMP might only be described as pseudo objectivity as
the protesters were placed in an unfair assessment. Hence, a simple counting of
positive and negative mentions used in many objectivity research is unreliable if how
the media problemise the central issue has not been taken into account. (McQuail,
2010: 355-357)
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5.2 Cultural Hegemony established by China
Above all, such difference in problemisation illuminates the competing versions of
realities about the Movement between the establishment and the protesters. In the
minds of many protesters, they were sparked by the restrictive framework imposed on
the political reform by Beijing that effectively rejected an open election of the Chief
executive in Hong Kong. That was also the reason why they called their movement a
civil disobedience one and why the organisers and protesters often mentioned only the
government could stop the protests. (S7, P10) They were forced to take action. On the
other hand, the Chinese government and local government often saw the protests as a
social disturbance or riot which brought turmoil to the city, no matter how noble the
cause appears to be.
Deep down this lied the difference in ideologies. Dating far back to the discussion of
reunification with China, the prosperity and social stability of Hong Kong has been
frequently brought up by Beijing and this narrative was clearly enshrined in Sino-
British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. (HKSAR Government, 1997) The
rationale behind was that if Hong Kong is to maintain its status as an international
financial centre, social stability is considered to be of utmost importance, overriding
72
any other considerations. That includes the pursuit of democracy, which is secondary
to economic development. Under such hegemonic framework, protests are often seen
as undesirable and associated with chaos frame as it might potentially disturb the
social stability. This logically linked to the law and order frame as it is the ultimate
protection of social stability. This is clearly reflected in the news treatment of the
protest by the local media and national media. On the other hand, democracy is often
seen as an ultimate ideal political model in western thinking, which offers protection
to individual freedom especially against repressive regimes. This explains why the
democracy and suppression frames are often invoked in covering protests by the
western media.
The heavy use of anti-protest frames by the SCMP reveals its ideological alignment
towards that of the governments under such cultural hegemony. Despite the relatively
balanced negative vs positive mentions of all actors, the majority of the frames used
in portraying the protests by the SCMP (75%) was anti-protest. Like its national
counterpart, it often refers the demands from the protesters as emotional 'sentiments',
rather than a 'view' or an 'opinion' that is rational. It sees the protest as futile since
Beijing already drew a clear line on the political reform which on she has final say.
The SCMP also adopted many of the jargons from the officials. For example, the
73
demands of protesters were frequently described as 'idealistic', 'unrealistic',
'unreasonable' or even 'unacceptable' and urged to be more 'pragmatic'. (Counts: China
Daily: 37; SCMP: 44) It is crucial to note that here being 'pragmatic' means accepting
the undemocratic limits set by Beijing in the democratic reform framework. It not
only confirms that the protest is viewed as the core problem, it can also be interpreted
as the successful infiltration of the government propaganda. Within such hegemonic
ideological framework, only those who submit would be rewarded. For example, the
lawmakers and OCLP leaders received a positive mention labelling them as
'pragmatic' when they backed down on their demands. The alignment of the SCMP to
the official ideology was evident.
Another sign of the propaganda influence was the internalisation of the anti-protest
frames by the SCMP. Take the law and order frame for an example, the Daily adopted
a series of official terms and used repetitively in their reports to describe the protest. It
often mentioned that the protest was 'illegal', 'unlawful' and 'harming the 'rule of law'
(counts: 67; 23; 33) (See Appendix 4) These terms defined the nature of the protest
under the official meaning making framework and set the tone for the readers'
interpretation. Not only had the SCMP heavily followed this use of jargons, there is a
tendency of internalising the set frames and expressed in similar manner. For instance,
74
it had covered time and again about the arrests of protesters for illegal assembly or
under other charges. (counts: 136); whereas the WSJA tended to refer it as 'termed' or
'called' illegal. (W1, P18; W9, P29) The internalisation was especially obvious when
we look at the number of mentions about the socio-economic disruption (352), a wide
range of economic performance indices and business sentiment figures were drawn
from large and small sources alike. The effect of the adopting such frame only
confirmed an unfounded common belief, one that propagated by one of the key actors
- the governments this time. This was barely objective because when the frame is
negative in itself, all outcome generated from the frame would tend to be negative or
at best slightly negative. In comparison, the WSJA has much fewer mentions about
the socio-economic disruption, as they ideologically are more close to the protesters,
as illustrated by a quote from a protester below.
"of course there are also some negatives or negative influences on the economy and
reputation of Hong Kong. But to me, I think the positive effects outweigh the cons."
(W5, P15)
Here we may conclude that the local media had been clearly under the influence of
propaganda, but why so?
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5.3 Pseudo objectivity as conformity to propaganda
While the goal of objectivity was to achieve fair and accurate reporting, the principles
in effect disfavour social movements in the rhetorical battle. The requirement of
authoritative quotes for one puts the protesters in a disadvantaged position due to their
limited resources. This not only reduces the likelihood of the media quoting the
protesters and treating them as a reliable source, but more importantly adopting their
point of views. This is especially true in the case of technical issues where the official
accounts are often seen as 'factual' and thus 'a credible, competent piece of
knowledge'. (Fishman, 1980: 143) The monopolization of law and order frame is a
perfect case in point. The government had the most authoritative say on what is
legally feasible for the political reform and the protesters could hardly repute that in
front of the media although among them there were a few constitutional experts who
had taken part in the drafting of the mini-constitution of the city. (W37, P3) Worst
still, the governments are disposed to manipulate the media with this authority. Take
the socio-economic frame for example, the claims about the potential economic
impacts were mostly speculative in nature, but it has become one of the most used
ones. Another example would be the SCMP's relay of the unfounded accusations
about foreign involvement in the protests made by the government. Relying on the
76
authorities quotes, the media are more prone to hear one side of the verdict and adopt
the point of views propagated by the powerful.
That said, to uphold the impartial image, the media would still include the voice of the
protesters to achieve the necessary balance stipulated by the principle of objectivity.
However, from our case studies in chapter 4 we can see usually when the protesters
were quoted, their comments were either treated with derogative quotations or were
'balanced' by official sources. It is probably because of the conventional scepticism of
the media against the credibility of citizen sources. This can be indirectly reflected on
the very different treatments to official quotes which were sometimes used standalone
as a kind of official announcement. The dynamic and fast-paced development of the
social movement often exacerbates this bias since the media had little time to verify
the facts. The objective journalistic practice often reduce itself to the classical ‘X said
A; Y said B’ reporting. By balancing the imbalance, the voice of the protesters is
weakened since the claims from the establishment are commonly perceived as
carrying much more weight than the citizen sources like the protesters even when they
are unproved.
77
The event-focused nature of news has also played a part in demeaning social
movements. As an extension to journalistic ideology to respect facts, the conventional
news writing standards such as the 5Ws and the inverted pyramids requires journalists
to focus on events and its factual details. Although social movement often manifests
themselves in form of events, as the media crave drama and conflicts, they tend to
exaggerate the chaotic or violent aspects of social movements to the extent that it has
become an established framework to interpret them. (Mcleod, 2007; Galtung & Ruge,
1965) This provides a possible explanation why the Umbrella Movement, rather than
the political reform, was problemised as the key issue in the first place, why the
democracy and peaceful frames were much less used by the local media, why the
chaos frame was so prevalent in the media report and why the speculative chaos frame
propagated by the governments was widely accepted by the local media during the
final clearance of the protest, apart from the ideological influence. The focus on 'the
latest and most important facts' essentially blinds the media from the bigger recurrent
issues at hand as they are seen as secondary to the facts. This in turn demonizes the
protesters and undermines the cause of protests in the same way the governments
propaganda often aims to do.
78
Last but certainly not least, putting the protesters under the same judging criteria as
the establishment is inherently unfair and biased. Protesters are a group of like-
minded people with more or less the same goal, yet more often than not they come
from diverse backgrounds. It would be over-simplistic to ideologically define the
protesters as a coherent group while ignoring the differences between their intellectual
and socio-economic backgrounds, political affiliation and their views on strategies. It
is common for them to be different in beliefs and opinions, especially in a new social
movement like the Umbrella Movement where a clear leadership is absent. However,
such over-generalisation by the media often places protesters in unfavourable
position, when compared with the establishment who has a well-control public
relation department to release their information in a centralised and consistent
manner. In the case of internal split frame, we can see that often a few deviators were
enough to undermine the legitimacy of the entire movement. For instance, in an
article entitled 'Protesters divided over whether anyone's in charge' the SCMP
described that '[a] split has emerged in the main Occupy Central rally in Admiralty',
but it was later revealed that only tens of protestershad different opinions in the
strategy. (S46, P1) In this regard, treating the protesters equally as the establishments
would only fit in to the ideological framework propagated by the government, seeing
the protesters as a group of disorganised troublemakers indiscriminately.
79
As we can see, the existing notion of journalistic objectivity often favours the
powerful. The reliance on authoritative sources, along with the focus on drama and
conflict, equal treatment of actors with disparate resource, renders fair and accurate
reporting almost impossible and often furthers the propaganda of the governments.
Seeing such pseudo-objectivity as conformity to propaganda, it might suggest that a
paradigm shift is needed for fairer and more accurate representation of social
movements.
80
Chapter 6 – Conclusion & Limitations
In conclusion, there is no one true form of objectivity. Objectivity is highly relative to
the problematisation of news that defines what is good or bad and right or wrong.
Despite a relatively small sample size, the research showed that under a carefully
propagated hegemonic ideological framework, the local media failed to provide a fair,
accurate, factual account of what happened in the Umbrella Movement, even though it
followed tightly the notion of objectivity in its news production and achieved good
statistical balance of positive vs. negative mentions. Instead its representations of the
protests were often skewed towards the hegemonic interpretation of the reality due to
the inbuilt bias in so-called objective journalistic practices. By exposing the
constructed nature of objectivity, the research aims to raise a critical awareness of the
fallacy of the existing journalistic ideals and the resulting practice as well as rethink
the possible alternative ways of fair representation of social movements. Only by
acknowledging and accepting the subjective and ideology-charged nature of reporting
can journalists be emancipated from the chains of unrealistic ideals of the superficial
objectivity. While this approach might not put an end to the infiltration of propaganda
and bias, but this would hopefully enable journalists to be more confident in putting
81
forward their points of views and more importantly weighting competing claims,
challenging the underlying assumptions and ideologies of those claims, and interpret
what is happening for their readers with fairness and accuracy as their guiding
principles.
That said, the difference in audience interests and limited space available in the
international paper might also contribute to contrasting representation of the
movement. Frame analysis as a qualitative research method is also inherently
subjective and there is hardly a justification to explain why a particular sentence,
structure or detail being put into focus, instead of others during the analysis. By
supplying all the reference materials, criteria of selections and a clear explanation of
my methodology, it is hoped that a great degree of transparency can be provided to
foster critical academic discussion on the topic. In spite of the limitations, it is
believed that raising the critical awareness for the effects of media frames and
discourses has its undeniable democratic function. (Fairclough, 1995: 221) This
project aims to serve as a pilot research for a larger-scaled investigation on the effect
of media frames in reporting social movements and how different news treatments
further propagandistic effort in particular.
82
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Appendix 1 – Declaration of Interests
As a Hong Kong citizen and media professional who concerns about the democratic
development of my city and the freedom of our fellow citizens, I had followed closely
the development of the Umbrella Movement from the very day of its launch till the
end. I organised an online petition to campaign against the disproportional force
sanctioned by the police against the pro-democracy protesters. I was also involved in
translating and reporting the news about the Movement from the UK back to Hong
Kong on social media to support the Movement.
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Appendix 2 – Initial Analysis on media standpoints
An analysis of media reports about the launch of Occupy Central with Love and Peace
(later called the Umbrella Movement) from 20 mainstream media (12 local, 3 national
and 5 international) was conducted to identify a relatively more neutral newspapers in
each of three categories for in-depth analysis. Differing media standpoints regarding
the protest were mapped out through close examination of the reporting angles, the
sources used, and the viewpoints they covered in order to justify the sample selection
and avoid inaccurate pre-judgement.
Local media:
From the initial research, it was found that majority of the local media leaned towards
the government and were generally negative in their reporting about the outbreak of
the Umbrella Movement. They tended to emphasise the chaotic aspect of the protests.
Among them, traditional pro-establishment newspapers such as Wen Wei Po and Ta
Kung Po, which are controlled by Liaison Office of the Central People's Government
in Hong Kong, were most pronounced in their condemnation on the movement,
slamming the protests as ‘bankrupt’, ‘complete chaos’ and ‘violent’. They
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downplayed the excessive police actions by diverting the attention to the chaotic
scenes during the crackdown both in their copy and in their choice of photos. These
media seems to have followed the narratives propagated by the Chinese central
government. Only radical newspaper Apple Daily is relatively more positive in their
stories regarding the movement. It framed its stories from the protester’s point of
views and focused on the tough police action and controversies surrounding the
political reform.
Midmarket newspaper the South China Morning Post, the Ming Pao Daily and the
Hong Kong Economic Journal was more neutral in their coverage, covering both the
viewpoints from protesters and the Hong Kong government. In portraying the
situation at the very beginning of the large-scale protests, both firing of tear gas and
the chaotic scenes were dealt with. They also hinted at potential economic damages
the movement would potentially bring to the Hong Kong society and mentioned
briefly about the controversy of democratic reform.
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Table 1a: Headlines on the first day of the movement by local media:
Publication Stance Headline Web links
Apple Daily Positive Fearless of crackdown, 60,000 occupy
Central to demand Leung’s stepdown
http://bit.ly/17NyeP2
Hong Kong
Daily News
Negative Hong Kong is crying http://bit.ly/1AUKgBL
Hong Kong
Economic
Journal
Neutral Tear gas used in clearing up protest http://bit.ly/18J8fJQ
Hong Kong
Economic Times
Negative HKFU and Occupy Central leaders
asked protester to evacuate
http://bit.ly/1FRope9
Ming Pao Daily
News
Supportiv
e
Police fired tear gas, Occupy Central
spread to HK island and Kowloon
N/A
Oriental Daily
News
Negative Chaos! Tear gas everywhere as
demonstrations emerge
http://bit.ly/1DOHzBA
Sing Tao Daily Negative Admiralty turned into battlefield http://bit.ly/1GM8v5M
Wen Wei Po Negative Policer clear up violent ‘Occupy
Central’
http://bit.ly/1M4B2GF
Ta Kung Po Negative Occupy Central in Chaos http://goo.gl/UiIGUl
The Sun Negative Occupy Central in Chaos N/A
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Sing Pao Negative Protester paralyising traffic in HK
Island, No School in Wan Chai,
Central and Western District
http://goo.gl/Gh1Zyr
South China
Morning Post
Neutral Tear Gas Fired as Thousands Join
Occupy
http://bit.ly/1B8Mv4U
(Apple Daily; Chinese News Agency; Line Post; Hong Kong Daily News; Hong
Kong Economic Journal; Hong Kong Economic Times; Ming Pao Daily News;
Oriental Daily News; Sing Tao Daily; Wen Wei Po; Ta Kung Po; The Sun; Sing Pao;
South China Morning Post, 2014)
National media:
National media in China are tightly controlled by propaganda department of the
People Republic of China government, who take a tough stance against the
movement. Following the party line, mainland China’s official media including
People’s Daily, Global Times and China Daily were highly critical of the movement.
They often highlighted the illegality and exaggerate the chaos and violence involved.
All of them relayed official statements from the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying or
from the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Liaison Office
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of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR. They condemn the movement as
'illegal behaviour in Hong Kong that undermines social order and stability'. On the
other hand, the heavy-handed police actions was downplayed as appropriation action
to restore social order. Among the three, only the China Daily has mentioned the
firing of tear gas in passing while describing the police as ‘showing restraint’.
Table 1b: Headlines on the first day of the movement by national media:
Publication Stance Headline Web links
People’s
Daily
Negativ
e
CY Leung: Condemning illegal Occupy
Central
http://bit.ly/1FTbbRu
Global Times Negativ
e
Govt Denounces HK Protest http://bit.ly/1zCTUVu
China Daily Negativ
e
Authorities condemn ‘Occupy’ http://bit.ly/1Py6VbC
(People’s Daily; Global Times, China Daily2014)
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International media:
The international media, which have correspondents and press bureau across the
globe, are generally more neutral to empathetic towards the movement, seeing it as a
righteous fight for democracy. The media in focus mostly see the firing of tear gas as
a suppression and detailed the cause of the protesters clearly in their reports. On the
next day after the protest broke out, the Wall Street Journal covered Occupy Central
on its Asia front page with extensive reporting from its large Hong Kong bureau,
describing the crackdown as ‘the harshest response against protesters in Hong Kong
in nearly a decade’. An editorial was also published to urge the world to support the
protesters. Another US-based newspaper the International New York Times ran a
prominent feature on front page about the protests. Detailing the background of the
fight for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, the Times described the crackdown as
heavy-handed and quoted a number of protesters’ firsthand accounts on the
crackdown. A very similar news treatment was observed in the USA Today, which
detailed the cause of the protests. It described the protest as triggered ‘over the
financial hub's future as either an enclave of freedom or another communist-
controlled city’. It also mentioned the concern from the Wall Street about the effect
on the global market.
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The UK-based Financial Times has also dedicated one third of its Asia edition front
page for the Hong Kong protest, with the use of the tear gas photos, while covering
the effect of the protests on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange extensively. On the other
hand, the Japan-based financial paper Nikkei Asian Review took a more restrained yet
sympathetic approach in reporting the launch of movement. The goal of protesters
was clearly mentioned. They were described as 'seeking more freedom for Hong
Kong to choose its own leader' but the police 'lobbed tear gas grenades into peaceful
crowds.' As for the government. The government condemnation of the protests as
'"illegal acts"' was treated with quotation marks.
Table 1c: Headlines on the first day of the movement by the international media:
Publication Stance Headline Web links
Financial Times Sympathetic Crackdown in HK as China's
anxiety grows
N/A
Wall Street
Journal
Sympathetic Crackdown in Hong Kong http://bit.ly/18J8fJQ
International New
York Times
Sympathetic Crackdown on Protests by
Hong Kong Police Draws More
to the Streets
http://nyti.ms/1CxAF2L
97
Nikkei Asian
Review
Sympathetic Hong Kong protesters redouble
sit-ins
http://s.nikkei.com/1KFcfGj
USA today Sympathetic Hong Kong's 'umbrella
revolution' opens wide
http://usat.ly/1CDhIM3
(Financial Times; Wall Street Journal; International New York Times; USA Today, Nekkei Asian
Review, 2014)
From the above initial findings, we can see that local and international media framed
their stories about the Umbrella Movement in a starkly contrasting manners. The
official paper followed tightly the party line; while the international media tended to
be sympathetic to protesters’ cause, with the local media in the middle of the two.
This makes a good spectrum for the comparative frame analysis.
The analysis results confirmed several common perceptions. First, the local
newspapers tended to have clear political allegiance despite its self-proclaimed
objectivity, with most popular paper being pro-government in their reporting. Only
three midmarket quality papers have balanced the point of views from both
government and protesters’. Second, the major national media were following the
central government line and explicitly denunciated the protest. Third, most
98
international media were comparatively more balanced yet sympathetic in their
reporting about the protest. This in turn makes a good spectrum for comparison with a
mainland China’s official media at one end, a western liberal media at the other, so we
can look into where the local media sits.
99
References:
1. Apple Daily (2014), Fearless of crackdown, 60,000 occupy Central to demand Leung’s stepdown: http://bit.ly/17NyeP2 (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
2. China Daily (2014) Authorities condemn ‘Occupy’ HK: http://bit.ly/1Py6VbC (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
3. CNN (2014) How tear gas brought Hong Kongers together: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/01/world/asia/hong-kong-democracy-tear-gas (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
4. Financial Times, (2014) Crackdown in HK as China's anxiety grows
5. Global Times (2014), Govt Denounces HK Protest: http://bit.ly/1zCTUVu (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
6. Hong Kong Daily News(2014), Hong Kong is crying: http://bit.ly/1AUKgBL (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
7. Hong Kong Economic Journal (2014), Tear gas used in clearing up protest: http://bit.ly/18J8fJQ (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
8. Hong Kong Economic Times (2014), HKFU and Occupy Central leaders asked protester to evacuate: http://bit.ly/1FRope9 (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
9. Ming Pao Daily News (2014), Police fired tear gas, Occupy Central spread to HK island and Kowloon (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
10. Nikkei Asian Review (2014) Hong Kong protestors redouble sit-ins- Nikkei Asian Review: http://s.nikkei.com/1KFcfGj (Accessed: 1 February 2015).
11. Line Post, (2014) Newspaper Headlines after 928: http://linepost.hk/view.php?iid=3&id=571 (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
12. Oriental Daily News (2014), Chaos! Tear gas everywhere as demonstrations emerge: http://bit.ly/1DOHzBA (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
13. People’s Daily (2014), CY Leung: Condemning illegal Occupy Central: http://bit.ly/1FTbbRu (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
14. Sing Pao (2014), Protester paralyising traffic in HK Island, No School in Wan Chai, Central and Western District: http://goo.gl/Gh1Zyr (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
15. South China Morning Post (2014), Tear Gas Fired as Thousands Join Occupy: http://bit.ly/1B8Mv4U, (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
100
16. South China Morning Post (2014), The World is Watching: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1603803/world-watching-how-hong-kong-protests-were-covered-around-globe?page=all (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
17. South China Morning Post (2015), FAQs: http://www.scmp.com/faqs (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
18. The International New York Times, (2014) Crackdown on Protests by Hong Kong Police Draws More to the Streets: http://nyti.ms/1CxAF2L (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
19. The Guardian (2014), Hong Kong’s umbrella revolution - the Guardian briefing: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/30/-sp-hong-kong-umbrella-revolution-pro-democracy-protests (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
20. The Wall Street Journal, (2014) Crackdown in Hong Kong: http://bit.ly/18J8fJQ (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
21. USA Today (2014) Hong Kong’s ‘umbrella revolution’ opens wide. Available at: http://usat.ly/1CDhIM3 (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
22. Wen Wei Po (2014), Policer clear up violent ‘Occupy Central’: http://bit.ly/1M4B2GF, , accessed 1 February 2015
23. Ta Kung Po (2014), Occupy Central in Chaos: http://goo.gl/UiIGUl, (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
24. The Sun (2014), Occupy Central in Chaos (Accessed: 1 February 2015)
101
Appendix 3 – Data Set
The South China Morning Post
No. References
S1 Cheung, G., Zhao, S. and Wan, A. (2014) 'Government resolutely opposed to Occupy: CY',
South China Morning Post, 29 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S2 Ng, J., Lam, J. and Cheung, G. (2014) 'How Occupy leaders lost grip on protest', South
China Morning Post, 29 September, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S3 So, P. (2014) 'Ip tells of worries about ‘mini-Tiananmen’', South China Morning Post, 29
September, section City News, pp. 1.
S4 Lam, J. (2014) 'January 16, 2013: Benny Tai Yiu-ting raises the idea of Occupy Central in',
South China Morning Post, 29 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S5 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Shock, then anger, at police tactics', 29 September,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S6 Lam, J. (2014) 'Students accuse Occupy of hijacking their protest', South China Morning
Post, 29 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S7 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Tear gas fired as thousands join Occupy', 29 September,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S8 Chow, V. (2014) 'Artists drawn to depict the ‘umbrella revolution’', South China Morning
Post, 30 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S9 Lai, Ying. (2014) 'Countries issue travel alerts for visitors to city', South China Morning
Post, 30 September, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S10 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Free to protest', 30 September, section Business, pp. 12.
S11 Lau, S. (2014) 'Hui: lifestyle made me a target', South China Morning Post, 30 September,
section City News, pp. 1.
S12 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Police come to the aid ; of the protesters', 30 September,
section Business.
S13 Edwards, N. and Yu, J. (2014) 'Protests put heat on share market', South China Morning
Post, 30 September, section Business, pp. 1.
S14 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Protests spread across city even as riot police pull out',
30 September, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S15 Toh, H.S. (2014) 'Shenguan down after trading resumes', South China Morning Post, 30
102
September, section Business, pp. 4.
S16 Ap, T. (2014) 'Shops close early as protest hits hard', South China Morning Post, 30
September, section Business, pp. 1.
S17 Chou, O. (2014) 'Show of defiance forces City Hall to close, for once', South China
Morning Post, 30 September, section City News, pp. 1.
S18 Siu, P., Ng, J., Sung, T., Cheung, T. and Lau, C. (2014) '‘There’s no way we are', South
China Morning Post, 30 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S19 Robertson, B. (2014) 'Volatility spikes as markets assess impact of unrest', South China
Morning Post, 30 September, section Focus, pp. 4.
S20 Wong, O. and Lau, C. (2014) 'After the pepper spray, protesters face pollution', South China
Morning Post, 1 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S21 Tsang, E., Fung, F.W.Y and Lai, Y. (2014) 'Altercations as tempers flare amid the crowds',
South China Morning Post, 1 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S22 Lam, J. (2014) 'Artist not shy to lay bare his views on city’s politics', South China Morning
Post, 1 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S23 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Breaking news alerts Download our free smartphone app
for the latest updates on the Occupy Central protests www.scmp.com', 1 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S24 Lau, S. (2014) 'Hui denies lying to protect Kwoks in corruption trial', South China Morning
Post, 1 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S25 Nip, A. and Ngo, J. (2014) 'Impromptu leaders rise to the challenge', South China Morning
Post, 1 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S26 Chan, R. (2014) 'IPO fundraisers arrive in HK despite civil strife', South China Morning
Post, 1 October, section Business, pp. 2.
S27 Fraser, N. (2014) 'Police chief urges unity, resolution', South China Morning Post, 1
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S28 Sito, P. (2014) 'Protests take toll on home sales in HK', South China Morning Post, 1
October, section Property, pp. 2.
S29 Zhao, S., Ng, J. and Fung, F.W.Y (2014) 'Schools reining in boycott, pupils say', South
China Morning Post, 1 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S30 Yu, J. (2014) 'Second day of sell-off erodes HK premium', South China Morning Post, 1
October, section Business, pp. 1.
S31 Chung, L. (2014) 'Taiwan, HK protests similar, but goals differ', South China Morning Post,
1 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S32 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Umbrella protesters weather the storm', 1 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
103
S33 Lee, E. (2014) 'You have forgotten us, bereaved families tell CY', South China Morning
Post, 1 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S34 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Anti-Occupy ‘Blue Ribbon Movement’ launches', 2
October, section Nws_Day.
S35 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Beijing suspends tour groups to HK', 2 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S36 South China Morning Post (2014) 'City Hall memorial ceremony cancelled', 2 October,
section City News.
S37 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Luxury brands downbeat, tourists more divided', 2
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S38 Chou, O. (2014) 'Protest ‘will not silence’ premiere at City Hall', South China Morning
Post, 2 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S39 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Signs of friction as protest sites extended', 2 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S40 So, P. and Lau, C. (2014) '‘The sun rises as usual’: Beijing’s man', South China Morning
Post, 2 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S41 Ngo, J. and Fraser, N. (2014) '‘Well liked’ officer kills himself in police station', South
China Morning Post, 2 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S42 South China Morning Post (2014) '300,000 bottles collected for recycling', 3 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S43 Lai, Y. (2014) 'Away from the rain and sun, a second war on the Occupy Central campaign
is', South China Morning Post, 3 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S44 Cheung, G. and So, P. (2014) 'Opposing parties', South China Morning Post, 3 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S45 Karacs, S., Nip, A. and Chou, O. (2014) 'Protest stress is pushing some over the edge',
South China Morning Post, 3 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S46 Lam, J., Lau, S., Ng, J. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Protesters divided over whether anyone’s in
charge', South China Morning Post, 3 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S47 Toh, H.S. (2014) 'Some SMEs twitchy, big players calm', South China Morning Post, 3
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S48 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Angry mobs turn on protesters', 4 October, section Local
(Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S49 Chow, V., Nip, A. and Zhao, S. (2014) 'Businesses call for halt', South China Morning Post,
4 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S50 Sung, T., Lau, C., Carvalho, R. and Gao, K. (2014) 'The far too thin blue line', South China
Morning Post, 4 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
104
S51 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 4 October, section Nws_Day.
S52 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 4 October, section Nws_Day.
S53 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 4 October, section Nws_Day.
S54 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 4 October, section Nws_Day.
S55 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Michael DeGolyer explains the anaconda strategy', 4
October, section Business, pp. 8.
S56 Wong, O. (2014) 'Occupy may affect new-towns hearing', South China Morning Post, 4
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S57 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Rico Lo Yui-chi is adamant – he answers to no one during the protest and is
even', South China Morning Post, 4 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S58 Blum, J. and Lo, C. (2014) 'The websites of the city’s biggest political party, the Occupy
Central movement', South China Morning Post, 4 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S59 Yang, J., Sito, P. and Li, S (2014) 'Homebuyers unfazed as over 90pc of new flats sell',
South China Morning Post, 5 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S60 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hours to avoid tragedy, protesters told', 5 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S61 Lam, L. and Lo, C. (2014) 'I’d use tear gas again, top officer says', South China Morning
Post, 5 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S62 Chung, L. (2014) 'Ma’s soft line on Occupy Central protests attacked', South China
Morning Post, 5 October, section National (China News), pp. 7.
S63 South China Morning Post (2014) 'State media insistent that rule of law essential', 5
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S64 Tam, T. (2014) 'Beijing’s rallying cry to HK … and 1.3 billion mainlanders', South China
Morning Post, 6 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S65 Ng, T. (2014) 'CCTV highlights opposition to Occupy Central', South China Morning Post,
6 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S66 South China Morning Post (2014) 'CCTV highlights opposition to Occupy Central', 6
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S67 Yu, J. (2014) 'City’s offshore yuan pool under threat from discount', South China Morning
Post, 6 October, section Business, pp. 7.
S68 Chou, O. (2014) 'Emotional musical left audience crying for more', South China Morning
Post, 6 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S69 South China Morning Post (2014) 'From traumatic ambulance delays to fears of further
police action, the South', 6 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S70 Fung, F.W.Y., Lau, C. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Mobilised in Mong Kok', South China Morning
Post, 6 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
105
S71 Lau, S., Chan, S. and Lau, C. (2014) 'Occupiers divided as C.Y.’s clock runs down', South
China Morning Post, 6 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S72 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Proposed increase in minimum wage level', 6 October,
section City News.
S73 South China Morning Post (2014) 'September 24 Occupy Central organisers apply to police
for sit-ins at Chater', 6 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S74 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Students open talks but vow protests will go on', 6
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S75 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Through train likely hit by Occupy sell-off', South China Morning Post, 6
October, section Business, pp. 2.
S76 Lau, S. and Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'Tsang ‘lost sleep’ worrying about protest escalation', South
China Morning Post, 6 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S77 South China Morning Post (2014) 'United appeal for students to step back from brink', 6
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S78 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Agreement on talks near as Occupy protests dwindle', 7
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S79 Toh, H.S. (2014) 'Beijing’s not for turning, says Thatcher aide', South China Morning Post,
7 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S80 Ap, T. (2014) 'Casino revenues drop most in 5 years', South China Morning Post, 7 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S81 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Cathay slaps ban on yellow ribbons', 7 October, section
Focus.
S82 Cheung, E. (2014) 'Flood of responses crashes discrimination law website', South China
Morning Post, 7 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S83 Chow, V. and Siu, P. (2014) 'From art to the practicalities of protest, Hongkongers’
innovation and', South China Morning Post, 7 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S84 Yu, J. (2014) 'Investors pull out of local companies', South China Morning Post, 7 October,
section Business, pp. 1.
S85 Cheung, C. and Ng, K. (2014) 'Patten aides ‘offered UK passport to Jimmy Lai’', South
China Morning Post, 7 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S86 Lau, C., Yu, A., Gao, K. and Zhao, S. (2014) 'Pupils take long route back to school', South
China Morning Post, 7 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S87 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Retail sales crash 40 pc over holiday period', 7 October,
section City News, pp. 1.
S88 Wan, A. (2014) 'There are limits to exceptions you enjoy, HK warned', South China
Morning Post, 7 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
106
S89 Weinland, D. (2014) 'Through train delay fears amid protests', South China Morning Post, 7
October, section Business, pp. 4.
S90 Li, S. (2014) '165 sq ft flat is the shape of things to come', South China Morning Post, 8
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S91 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Activists on the front line', 8 October, section Focus, pp.
4.
S92 Edwards, N. (2014) 'Beijing to assess impact of protests', South China Morning Post, 8
October, section Business, pp. 1.
S93 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Business groups say their takings are down and call on
the protesters to pull', 8 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S94 Sito, P. (2014) 'New launches on track as primary sales stay strong', South China Morning
Post, 8 October, section Property, pp. 5.
S95 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Police negotiators facing ‘toughest challenge yet’', South China Morning
Post, 8 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S96 Lam, J. (2014) 'Protesters ‘need some democracy of their own’', South China Morning Post,
8 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S97 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Report warned of confrontation over constitutional
reform', 8 October, section Business.
S98 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Safety fears delay resumption of Legco', 8 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S99 Lo, C. (2014) 'Tycoon Cecil Chao the latest burglary victim', South China Morning Post, 8
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S100 Li, S. (2014) 'Buyers shrug off political unrest to snap up 50 flats', South China Morning
Post, 9 October, section Business, pp. 4.
S101 Robertson, B. and Toh, H.S. (2014) 'HK’s image little affected by protests', South China
Morning Post, 9 October, section Business, pp. 3.
S102 Yau, C. (2014) 'Jimmy Lai defiant over ‘state-level’ cyberattacks', South China Morning
Post, 9 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S103 Ngo, J., Chow, V., Nip, A. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Keeping on top of supplies', South China
Morning Post, 9 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S104 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Lack of leadership ‘dangerous for protesters’', South China Morning
Post, 9 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S105 Ap, T. (2014) 'Macau casinos unlikely to gain from visitor surge', South China Morning
Post, 9 October, section Business, pp. 3.
S106 Ng, J. (2014) 'Occupation, negotiation', South China Morning Post, 9 October, section
Focus, pp. 4.
107
S107 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Occupy protesters help small businesses', 9 October,
section City News.
S108 Nip, A. (2014) 'Travel firm sues Benny Tai over lost business', South China Morning Post, 9
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S109 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Unite to break impasse, protesters are urged', 9 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S110 Chou, O. (2014) 'Be more creative, composer tells leaders', South China Morning Post, 10
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S111 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Emotional toll on police handling Occupy protests', South China Morning
Post, 10 October, section Focus, pp. 5.
S112 So, P. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Protesters call for support as government cancels talks', South
China Morning Post, 10 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S113 Wan, A. (2014) 'Punish organisers, forgive the rest, state media says', South China Morning
Post, 10 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S114 South China Morning Post (2014) 'We’ll remove the barricades, warn truck drivers', 10
October, section Focus, pp. 5.
S115 Cheung, T. (2014) 'Beijing allies make doubly sure Occupy is probed', South China
Morning Post, 11 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S116 Chou, O. (2014) 'How protests occupy the thoughts of expatriates', South China Morning
Post, 11 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S117 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Occupy co-founder Chan Kin-man weighs up defiant disruption with
need for public', South China Morning Post, 11 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S118 Ng, T. (2014) 'Party paper accuses US over ‘colour revolution’', South China Morning Post,
11 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S119 Nip, A. and Lee, D. (2014) 'Wine fair moves, waives entrance fee', South China Morning
Post, 11 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S120 Lau, M. and Nip, A. (2014) 'Carrie Lam ‘helpless’ over talks deadlock', South China
Morning Post, 12 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S121 Chou, O. (2014) 'HK Philharmonic conductor sitting out due to injury', South China
Morning Post, 12 October, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S122 Kwok, K. (2014) 'Never retreat, a Mong Kok state of mind', South China Morning Post, 12
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S123 Ng, K.C. and Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Students the stars of protest story so far', South China
Morning Post, 12 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S124 Lam, J. (2014) 'After covering Occupy Central in Admiralty from the beginning, reporter
Jeffie', South China Morning Post, 13 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
108
S125 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Banned books still for sale ‘while stocks last’', 13
October, section National (China News), pp. 7.
S126 Sito, P. (2014) 'Buying surge slows, with sales falling to 240 units', South China Morning
Post, 13 October, section Business, pp. 1.
S127 South China Morning Post (2014) 'CY urged to hold open press conference', 13 October,
section City News.
S128 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Democrat looking out from the inside', South China Morning Post, 13
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S129 Chan, S. and Lo, C. (2014) 'The enemy within', South China Morning Post, 13 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S130 Siu, P. (2014) 'Extra HK$3 an hour may help 280,000 workers', South China Morning Post,
13 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S131 Jiang, S. (2014) 'Mainland tourists flock to Taiwan', South China Morning Post, 13 October,
section Business, pp. 4.
S132 Yu, J. (2014) 'Political ties key to liberalising yuan', South China Morning Post, 13 October,
section Business, pp. 5.
S133 Lau, M. (2014) 'Protests concern PRD trade partners', South China Morning Post, 13
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S134 Cheung, G. and So, P. (2014) 'Still hope for choice in 2017: Tsang', South China Morning
Post, 13 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S135 South China Morning Post (2014) '5.30am Police start removing road barriers set up by
Occupy protesters in', 14 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S136 Lau, M. (2014) 'Air umbrella team look for lift from funding crowd', South China Morning
Post, 14 October, section National (China News), pp. 6.
S137 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Collision course set over threat to remove barriers', 14
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S138 Ng, J. (2014) 'CTU chief defends funding from US rights group', South China Morning
Post, 14 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S139 Carvalho, R. (2014) 'Petition demands Leung be stripped of title', South China Morning
Post, 14 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S140 Munish, M. (2014) 'Retail sector set for recovery', South China Morning Post, 14 October,
section Cla, pp. 1.
S141 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Barriers are removed but protesters are here to stay', 15
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S142 Chan, T. (2014) 'Jealous man jailed for life for stabbing wife to death', South China
Morning Post, 15 October, section City News, pp. 3.
109
S143 He, H. and Ng, K. (2014) '‘Protesters not sincere in ending impasse’', South China Morning
Post, 15 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S144 Cheung, G., Nip, A., Sung, T. and Lee, D. (2014) 'Protesters reoccupy road after clashes in
Admiralty', South China Morning Post, 15 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp.
1.
S145 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Protesters vow to stay putas police clear barricades', South China
Morning Post, 15 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S146 Li, S. (2014) 'Protests put deals for shops and offices on hold', South China Morning Post,
15 October, section Property, pp. 2.
S147 Wong, O. (2014) 'Tear gas could have cost security tsar his popularity', South China
Morning Post, 15 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S148 Lam, J. (2014) 'Uncompromising government stance and splits among protesters conspire to
thwart', South China Morning Post, 15 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S149 Meng, A. (2014) 'Yang Jiechi to visit U.S. ahead of Obama visit', South China Morning
Post, 15 October, section National (China News), pp. 5.
S150 Chan, T. (2014) 'Apple Daily seeks ban against protesters', South China Morning Post, 16
October, section City News, pp. 2.
S151 Cheung, T., Lam, J. and Ng, J. (2014) 'At least three people are acting as middlemen,
shuttling messages between', South China Morning Post, 16 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S152 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Beijing loyalist slams ‘barbaric revolution’', 16 October,
section City News, pp. 2.
S153 Nip, A. (2014) 'Fresh seafood is Australia’s tourist bait', South China Morning Post, 16
October, section City News, pp. 1.
S154 South China Morning Post (2014) 'MTR’s Chater Road walking race called off', 16 October,
section City News.
S155 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Outrage at police ‘brutality’ video', 16 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S156 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Police image takes beating', 16 October, section Focus,
pp. 4.
S157 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Special delivery: to the Occupier at Tent No22', 16
October, section City News.
S158 Cheung, C. and Chan, T. (2014) 'Apple Daily staff physically fend off protesters', South
China Morning Post, 17 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S159 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong needs a fresh new story, says novelist', 17
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S160 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Leung puts talks back on the table', 17 October, section
110
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S161 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Limited effect on home sales; Protests are not a factor in
primary market, with some prices raised', 17 October, section Supplements, pp. 01.
S162 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Public mood drops amid mass protests', 17 October,
section City News.
S163 Chan, T. and Lam, L. (2014) 'Rank-and-file police disgusted over the beating of an unarmed
protester among', South China Morning Post, 17 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S164 Chan, T. (2014) 'Apply Daily to pin up restraining orders', South China Morning Post, 18
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S165 Robertson, B. (2014) 'Electronic gadgets and wearables keep fairs busy', South China
Morning Post, 18 October, section Business, pp. 3.
S166 South China Morning Post (2014) 'HK success story', 18 October, section Business, pp. 8.
S167 Cheung, C. (2014) 'Pan-democrats try to delay funding requests', South China Morning
Post, 18 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S168 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Renewed clashes amid bid to break impasse', 18
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S169 Chou, O. (2014) 'We need to keep calm and move on, says Ma', South China Morning Post,
18 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S170 Lam, L. (2014) 'Artists from across Asia shed light on women’s plight', South China
Morning Post, 19 October, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S171 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Police appear to have stepped up their offensive against Occupy Central by
using', South China Morning Post, 19 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S172 Harris, B. and Ngo, J. (2014) 'A support group for the families of the people killed in the
Hillsborough', South China Morning Post, 19 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S173 Fraser, N. and Nip, A. (2014) 'Talks to go ahead as violence is condemned', South China
Morning Post, 19 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S174 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Brokers accept delay in stock plan', South China Morning Post, 20 October,
section Business, pp. 1.
S175 Chan, S. and Kao, E. (2014) 'Don’t incite others online, police warn protesters', South
China Morning Post, 20 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S176 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Fears over ‘radicals’, but Beijing stands firm', 20
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S177 Huang, K. (2014) 'Occupy wants self-rule: state media', South China Morning Post, 20
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S178 Siu, P., Ng, J. and Sung, T. (2014) 'Spinning out of control?', South China Morning Post, 20
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
111
S179 Tam, T. (2014) 'The sun may rise, but there’s no ray of hope for democracy', South China
Morning Post, 20 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S180 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Protesters unmoved by court orders to leave', 21
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S181 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Protests may hit jobs, spending, minister says', 21
October, section City News.
S182 South China Morning Post (2014) 'They have tiny riot shields, blue ribbons and little yellow
umbrellas. And', 21 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S183 Ng, J. (2014) 'UN group told of sex abuse claims at protests', South China Morning Post, 21
October, section City News, pp. 1.
S184 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Lawmakers’ popularity declines amid protests', South China Morning
Post, 22 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S185 Tsang, E. and Cheung, G. (2014) 'Leung to disclose proof of foreign influence', South China
Morning Post, 22 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S186 Ng, J., Lam, J. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Minister can’t break ice with students', South China
Morning Post, 22 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S187 Liu, Y. (2014) 'Protests have been hitting mainland tourists’ spending, but even though his
firm', South China Morning Post, 22 October, section Property, pp. 3.
S188 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Students, officials still far apart', 22 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S189 Sung, T. (2014) 'Sweet smell of success … in a jar', South China Morning Post, 22 October,
section City News, pp. 2.
S190 Cheung, E. (2014) 'Umbrellas to shelter gay rights parade', South China Morning Post, 22
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S191 Tsang, E. (2014) '11 held over attacks on government websites', South China Morning Post,
23 October, section City News, pp. 3.
S192 Chow, V. (2014) 'Art of protest is worth preserving', South China Morning Post, 23 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S193 Kao, E., Lau, C., Yu, A. and Sung, T. (2014) 'Clashes in Mong Kok after stand-off, ‘arson’
bid', South China Morning Post, 23 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S194 Kwong, M.K. and Yu, A. (2014) 'Economy, markets stay stable despite protests', South
China Morning Post, 23 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S195 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Flowers for anti-Occupy lawyer Maggie Chan', 23
October, section City News, pp. 2.
S196 Cheung, G., Ng, J. and Zhao, S. (2014) 'Government sources hint at tougher line on
Occupy', South China Morning Post, 23 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
112
S197 Chan, S. (2014) 'Soy sauce attack on Apple Daily', South China Morning Post, 23 October,
section City News, pp. 1.
S198 Chou, O. (2014) 'Universities see an edge in openness', South China Morning Post, 23
October, section City News, pp. 3.
S199 Chow, V. and Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Protesting stars lose shine on mainland', South China
Morning Post, 24 October, section Focus, pp. 5.
S200 Yu, A. (2014) 'Area for study in protest zone like a breath of fresh air', South China
Morning Post, 24 October, section Focus, pp. 6.
S201 Ruan, V. (2014) 'China has the means to fight slowdown: ADB', South China Morning Post,
24 October, section Business, pp. 1.
S202 Li, S. (2014) 'Developers deny protests will dent property profits', South China Morning
Post, 24 October, section Business, pp. 1.
S203 Cheung, T. (2014) 'Legco debate on tech bureau delayed – again', South China Morning
Post, 24 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S204 Nip, A. (2014) 'Mainland group tours up 90pc despite mass protests', South China Morning
Post, 24 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S205 Whitehead, K. (2014) 'Stand up and be counted; Hong Kong's full-time comedy club is
giving up-and-comers a chance to test their skills - and life in the city gives them plenty of
material, writes Kate Whitehead', South China Morning Post, 24 October, section Features,
pp. 05.
S206 Sung, T., Cheung, G. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Students to give protesters vote on response to
talks', South China Morning Post, 24 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S207 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Will CY Leung give keynote speech at the London
Dinner next week?', 24 October, section Business.
S208 Lau, C. and Chan, T. (2014) 'Anti-Occupy mob storms Mong Kok site', South China
Morning Post, 25 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S209 Chou, O. (2014) 'An author’s advice: Live true to yourself', South China Morning Post, 25
October, section City News, pp. 1.
S210 Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Firms upbeat … before Occupy at least', South China Morning Post,
25 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S211 Cheung, G. and Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'Former chief executive says Beijing will not resort to
force as it retains', South China Morning Post, 25 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S212 Harris, B. (2014) 'HK police ‘more tolerant than those in US or Europe’', South China
Morning Post, 25 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S213 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 25 October, section Nws_Day.
S214 Kwok, K. (2014) 'Occupy not a genuine fight for democracy: Mahathir', South China
113
Morning Post, 25 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S215 Yu, A. and Lo, C. (2014) '‘Unsafe’ banner at Lion Rock removed', South China Morning
Post, 25 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S216 South China Morning Post (2014) 'You’re tearing us apart, Tung tells protesters', 25
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S217 Lam, L. (2014) '‘The ferocity of the abuse has been startling’', South China Morning Post,
26 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S218 Carvalho, R. (2014) 'Fourth annual SlutWalk shames sexual violence', South China
Morning Post, 26 October, section Nws_HK, pp. 7.
S219 Fung, F.W.Y., Woodhouse, A. Ngo, J. and Nip, A. (2014) 'Separate protests mark a split
society', South China Morning Post, 26 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S220 Lam, L. (2014) 'Strife ‘caused by Western ideals, mistrust in Beijing’', South China
Morning Post, 26 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S221 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Two companies sue Next Media magazines', 26 October,
section Nws_HK.
S222 Chow, V. (2014) 'Arts scene takes cue from Occupy creativity', South China Morning Post,
27 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S223 South China Morning Post (2014) 'I hid in the tent for days … as I couldn’t come up with a
solution', 27 October, section Nws_Day, pp. 2.
S224 Lam, J. (2014) 'A jaded Benny Tai reclaims his voice', South China Morning Post, 27
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S225 Kao, E. (2014) 'Man Held over Journalist Assaults', South China Morning Post, 27 October,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S226 Cheung, G. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Month that shook a city to its core', South China Morning
Post, 27 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S227 Yiu, E. (2014) 'No date set for ‘through train’ after start missed', South China Morning Post,
27 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S228 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Occupy leaders call off survey', 27 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S229 Cheung, E. (2014) 'Pharaohs rule in the sedan chair dress stakes', South China Morning
Post, 27 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S230 Tam, T. (2014) 'Preschool politics and protests: it’s not child’s play', South China Morning
Post, 27 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S231 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Religion on the front line puts faith into practice', South China Morning
Post, 27 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S232 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Retail investment funds head for third record year', South China Morning
114
Post, 27 October, section Business, pp. 4.
S233 Cheung, E. (2014) 'Teachers’ union slams plan to review liberal studies', South China
Morning Post, 27 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S234 Ap, T. (2014) 'I.T sales off 30pc in holiday week', South China Morning Post, 28 October,
section Business, pp. 3.
S235 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Markets fall after link-up postponed', South China Morning Post, 28
October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S236 Cheung, T., Zhao, S. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Missing', South China Morning Post, 28 October,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S237 Chan, B. (2014) 'The roast', South China Morning Post, 28 October, section Lifestyle Post,
pp. 5.
S238 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Sponsorship of Arts Festival poses tough figure', South China Morning Post,
28 October, section Business, pp. 6.
S239 Ng, J. (2014) 'Student leader Chow feels parental pressure', South China Morning Post, 28
October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S240 Ng, J. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Student leader in plea to pan-dems', South China Morning Post,
28 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S241 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Activists seek preservation of Occupy records', 29
October, section Nws_Day.
S242 Lai, Y.K. (2014) 'C.Y. regrets his ‘poor voters’ remarks', South China Morning Post, 29
October, section City News, pp. 1.
S243 Cheung, T., So, P., Lam, J. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Emails show Tai given HK$1.45m in
donations for HKU', South China Morning Post, 29 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S244 South China Morning Post (2014) 'HK protests to weigh on sales of new homes', 29
October, section Property.
S245 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Lester Shum released after refusing bail', 29 October,
section City News.
S246 Cheung, G., Ng, J. and So, P. (2014) 'Liberal leader to be cut from advisory body', South
China Morning Post, 29 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S247 Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'Police monitors to declare roles in Occupy Central', South China
Morning Post, 29 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S248 Chow, V. (2014) 'Political drama set to win HKTV’s election', South China Morning Post,
29 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S249 Li, S. (2014) 'Tenants seek rent relief from Occupy impact', South China Morning Post, 29
October, section Property, pp. 1.
S250 Chow, V. (2014) 'Call to preserve wealth of Occupy Central records', South China Morning
115
Post, 30 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S251 Chim, S.W. (2014) 'Confidence of smaller firms hits 2-year low', South China Morning
Post, 30 October, section Business, pp. 3.
S252 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Don’t rock the boat', South China Morning Post, 30 October, section
Focus, pp. 4.
S253 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Government urged to keep umbrella movement records',
30 October, section Business, pp. 10.
S254 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Liberal leader defiant as he resigns', 30 October, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S255 So, P., Yu, A. and Siu, P. (2014) 'Movement ‘threatens city’s growth’', South China Morning
Post, 30 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S256 Robertson, B. (2014) 'Outlook good for Asia’s job market, says headhunter', South China
Morning Post, 30 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S257 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Raising a glass', 30 October, section City News, pp. 2.
S258 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Regina Ip dons both blue and yellow', 30 October,
section City News.
S259 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Security chief shows his impartial side', 30 October,
section City News, pp. 2.
S260 Yiu, E. (2014) 'SFC details stock connect compensation agreement', South China Morning
Post, 30 October, section Business, pp. 1.
S261 Lee, D. (2014) '‘There’s no 100 per cent protection against hackers’', South China Morning
Post, 30 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S262 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Academics focus on ‘umbrella movement’', 31 October,
section Nws_Day.
S263 Ng, J. (2014) 'Calls to probe Occupy an abuse of power, Legco told', South China Morning
Post, 31 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S264 Chow, V. (2014) 'Group wants to save Occupy Central artwork', South China Morning Post,
31 October, section City News, pp. 3.
S265 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'The Rule of law more important than democracy', South China Morning
Post, 31 October, section City News, pp. 1.
S266 Tsang, E. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Students may try to crash Apec summit to seek talks', South
China Morning Post, 31 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S267 Lee, D. (2014) 'Tear-gassed tweeter began social media explosion heard around the world',
South China Morning Post, 31 October, section Focus, pp. 4.
S268 Siu, P. (2014) 'Umbrella code of conduct', South China Morning Post, 31 October, section
Focus, pp. 4.
116
S269 Cheung, G., So, P. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Warning on airing dissent in secret', South China
Morning Post, 31 October, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S270 So, P. (2014) 'Another banner day for Occupy protest supporters', South China Morning
Post, 1 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S271 Lam, J. (2014) 'Autonomy for city ‘will not strike at sovereignty’', South China Morning
Post, 1 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S272 Cheung, G. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Democrats seek role to end Occupy impasse', South China
Morning Post, 1 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S273 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Learn to add a dose of green; Terrariums are fun to
create and perfect for space-tight Hong Kong', 1 November, section Supplements, pp. 01.
S274 Woodhouse, A. and Lee, D. (2014) 'Protests can’t scare off Halloween revellers', South
China Morning Post, 1 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S275 Cheung, G., Lam, J. and Lai, Y.K. (2014) 'Tung think tank seeks to heal rifts opened by
Occupy protests', South China Morning Post, 1 November, section Local (Hong Kong
News), pp. 3.
S276 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Vincent Lam comes from a rough background and isn’t afraid to take a
punch. Now', South China Morning Post, 1 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S277 Fung, F.W.Y. and So, P. (2014) '‘Dissolve Legco if reform vetoed’', South China Morning
Post, 2 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S278 Nip, A. and Chim, S.W. (2014) 'Don’t change the peg, says John Tsang', South China
Morning Post, 2 November, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S279 Lam, L. (2014) 'Islanders rapped for waste pile from beach clean-up', South China Morning
Post, 2 November, section Nws_HK, pp. 8.
S280 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Memorial plaque vandalism probed', 2 November,
section Focus, pp. 4.
S281 Chan, T. (2014) 'More injunctions sought to clear roads', South China Morning Post, 2
November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S282 Nip, A. (2014) 'Patten accepts the yellow umbrella', South China Morning Post, 2
November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S283 Carvalho, R. (2014) 'Sacked Macau don joins HK institution', South China Morning Post, 2
November, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S284 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Umbrella repairers have got Hong Kong covered', South China Morning
Post, 2 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S285 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Exco member snubs anti-Occupy petition', South China Morning Post, 3
November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S286 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Lawyers gather to protect rule of law', 3 November,
117
section Nws_Day.
S287 Tsang, E. (2014) 'More protesters claim they were beaten by police', South China Morning
Post, 3 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S288 Lam, J., Chan, S. and Siu, P. (2014) 'Protesters reject Tai’s call to surrender to the police',
South China Morning Post, 3 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S289 Lam, J. and Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Reform referendum ‘not realistic’', South China Morning
Post, 3 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S290 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Zhou Fengsuo, a former student leader of Beijing’s
democracy movement in 1989', 3 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S291 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Beware of travellers carrying umbrellas on planes', 4
November, section Business.
S292 Lam, J. (2014) 'Echoes of ’89 in Admiralty', South China Morning Post, 4 November,
section Focus, pp. 6.
S293 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Exchange Fund loses HK$18.7b', South China Morning Post, 4 November,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S294 Chan, G. (2014) 'Hong Kong is very good at making foreign ideas its own. Just consider
Maxwell', South China Morning Post, 4 November, section Lifestyle Post, pp. 7.
S295 Chan, T. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Lawyers urge protesters to leave occupied sites', South China
Morning Post, 4 November, section Focus, pp. 6.
S296 Kao, E. (2014) 'Occupy fails to deter bids for fair stalls', South China Morning Post, 4
November, section City News, pp. 1.
S297 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Record for new year fair stall', 4 November, section
Local (Hong Kong News).
S298 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Stock through train scheme still on track', South China Morning Post, 4
November, section Business, pp. 2.
S299 So, P. (2014) 'A new political order – student group tops HKU poll', South China Morning
Post, 5 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S300 Ng, J., Cheung, T. and Cheung, G. (2014) 'By-elections plan looks a non-starter', South
China Morning Post, 5 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S301 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Former governor Chris Patten told a parliamentary inquiry into Hong
Kong’s', South China Morning Post, 5 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S302 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten was due to
give evidence yesterday at a', 5 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S303 Cheung, T., So, P. and Kwong, M.K. (2014) 'Leung to push for stocks through train to start',
South China Morning Post, 5 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S304 Kao, E. (2014) '‘Umbrella movement’ fires fair imagination', South China Morning Post, 5
118
November, section City News, pp. 2.
S305 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Conflict over rule of law meaning in exam', South China Morning Post, 6
November, section City News, pp. 3.
S306 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Generation gap and battle plan divide campaigners', South China
Morning Post, 6 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S307 Cheung, T., So, P. and Cheung, G. (2014) 'Patten ‘inflicted wounds’ on city as governor',
South China Morning Post, 6 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S308 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Politics catches up with Louis Shih after all', 6
November, section City News, pp. 2.
S309 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Beijing, not Occupy, ‘threatens rule of law’', South China Morning Post, 7
November, section City News, pp. 1.
S310 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Government critics earn top marks in liberal studies', South China Morning
Post, 7 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S311 Nip, A. (2014) 'HK white-collar staff may get 5pcrise, survey finds', South China Morning
Post, 7 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S312 Cheung, T., So, P., Tsang, E. and Sung, T. (2014) 'Most people want Occupy to end, says
DAB poll', South China Morning Post, 7 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp.
3.
S313 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Silent Majority discusses policing', 7 November, section
Nws_Day.
S314 Chow, V. (2014) 'Artists face a dilemma in deciding whether to back the student protests for
real', South China Morning Post, 8 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S315 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Two Beijing advisers launch jargon attack on Occupy ‘security threat’',
South China Morning Post, 8 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S316 Ng, J. and Tsang, E. (2014) 'Umbrellas out at rainy anti-Occupy protest', South China
Morning Post, 8 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S317 Toh, H.S. (2014) 'Democracy ‘essential to HK and Lion City’', South China Morning Post,
9 November, section Nws_HK, pp. 7.
S318 Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'Hong Kong’s colourful annual gay pride parade took on an overtly
political tinge', South China Morning Post, 9 November, section Local (Hong Kong News),
pp. 3.
S319 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Occupiers warned to watch for thieves', 9 November,
section Nws_HK.
S320 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Occupy link probed in assault on policeman', 9
November, section Nws_HK.
S321 Ng, J. and Chow, V. (2014) 'Tung sees ‘no point’ to talks in Beijing', South China Morning
119
Post, 9 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S322 Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'Activists join a new battle, 35 years on', South China Morning Post,
10 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S323 Sito, P.and Li, S. (2014) 'Italian brands in plea for rent cuts', South China Morning Post, 10
November, section Business, pp. 1.
S324 Chen, A. (2014) 'Xi skirts prickly issues, calls for mutual trust', South China Morning Post,
10 November, section National (China News), pp. 5.
S325 Sung, T. (2014) 'Accounting firm urges city to cut profit tax rate', South China Morning
Post, 11 November, section City News, pp. 4.
S326 Siu, P. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Hongkongers less likely to identify as Chinese: poll', South
China Morning Post, 11 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S327 Cheung, G. and So, P. (2014) 'How Leung swayed Xi with pledge on protests', South China
Morning Post, 11 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S328 Yang, J. (2014) 'Markets steam ahead as date set for through train', South China Morning
Post, 11 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S329 Lau, C., Chu, J. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Police can arrest protesters who obstruct bailiffs', South
China Morning Post, 11 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S330 Young, S. (2014) 'Prosecutions call for a sensible approach', South China Morning Post, 11
November, section City News, pp. 2.
S331 Chan, G. (2014) 'Sitting on Harcourt Road in Admiralty with a pencil in hand, Luis Simoes
starts', South China Morning Post, 11 November, section Lifestyle Post, pp. 7.
S332 Cheung, G. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Tung looks to future at think tank launch', South China
Morning Post, 11 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S333 Lam, J. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Tung says grey-haired think tank is still sharp', South China
Morning Post, 11 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S334 Cheung, T. (2014) 'The world should have confidence in Hong Kong’s judicial
independence, as a', South China Morning Post, 11 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S335 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Young people urged to form their own political party',
South China Morning Post, 11 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S336 Ng, J., Chu, J. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Preparations under way to clear sites, Lam warns', South
China Morning Post, 12 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S337 Lam, J., Ng, J., Chu, J. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Protest leaders to surrender ... but not until next
week', South China Morning Post, 12 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S338 Ng, J. (2014) 'Public to be consulted on reform within month', South China Morning Post,
12 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S339 Cheung, T., Ng, J. and Lam, J. (2014) '‘Unbearable pain’ for Benny Tai’s daughter', South
120
China Morning Post, 12 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S340 Siu, P. and Yu, A. (2014) 'Veteran unionist marshals support behind the protesters’
barricades', South China Morning Post, 12 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S341 Chan, S. and Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Clearance may not occur till next week', South China
Morning Post, 13 November, section City News, pp. 2.
S342 Lau, C., Kwong, M.K. and Ng, K.C. (2014) 'It’s nothing to do with U.S., Obama tells Xi',
South China Morning Post, 13 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S343 Lam, J. (2014) 'Lecturer drawn to sit-in by spirit of self-sacrifice', South China Morning
Post, 13 November, section City News, pp. 2.
S344 Chan, S. (2014) 'Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying (pictured) was struck in the face with
stinky', South China Morning Post, 13 November, section City News, pp. 2.
S345 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Tear Gas', 13 November, section Listing.
S346 Ng, J. (2014) 'Top court judge questions ‘odd’ injunction', South China Morning Post, 13
November, section City News, pp. 1.
S347 Fung, F.W.Y. and So, P. (2014) 'Pan-democrat casts doubt on surrender plan', South China
Morning Post, 14 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S348 Fung, F.W.K., So, P. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Student leaders plan ‘protest trip’ to beijing', South
China Morning Post, 14 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S349 So, P., Lam, J. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Beijing trip on track – without help from Fan', South
China Morning Post, 15 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S350 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Civic Party activist refuses to renew bail', 15 November,
section City News.
S351 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Committee to examine Occupy complaints', 15
November, section City News.
S352 Chu, J. (2014) 'Court to rule if appeal is allowed on injunction', South China Morning Post,
15 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S353 Lau, M. (2014) 'Down and out among the bright lights of casinoland', South China Morning
Post, 15 November, section National (China News), pp. 6.
S354 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 15 November, section Nws_Day.
S355 Chu, J. and Harris, B. (2014) 'Appeal court clears way to end occupation', South China
Morning Post, 16 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S356 Ng, J., Nip, A. and Lau, S. (2014) 'Beijing bans student leaders’ mainland trip', South China
Morning Post, 16 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S357 Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Adventurer teaches French any time and anywhere', South China
Morning Post, 17 November, section City News, pp. 4.
S358 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Deutsche bets on HK for China’s rich', South China Morning Post, 17
121
November, section Business, pp. 7.
S359 Lau, C. and Zhao, S. (2014) 'Hong Kong families split over protest movement', South China
Morning Post, 17 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S360 Li, I. (2014) 'reason', South China Morning Post, 17 November, section Lifestyle Post, pp.
7.
S361 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'The tough path of choosing the middle road', South China Morning Post,
17 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S362 Lam, J. (2014) 'German diplomat optimistic about HK', South China Morning Post, 18
November, section City News, pp. 1.
S363 Yiu, E. and Ren, D. (2014) 'HK link brings rushon mainland shares', South China Morning
Post, 18 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S364 Lam, J. (2014) 'Occupy’s worried father', South China Morning Post, 18 November, section
Focus, pp. 4.
S365 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Professor rains on graduate parade', South China Morning Post, 18
November, section City News, pp. 1.
S366 Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Britain rules out banning tear gas exports to city', South China
Morning Post, 19 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S367 Lam, Jeffie, and Alan Yu (2014) 'Protesters urged to refocus struggle on long-term goal',
South China Morning Post, 19 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S368 Chow, V. (2014) 'Ricky Wong seeks new audience as HKTV goes live', South China
Morning Post, 19 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S369 Ap, T. (2014) 'Sa Sa sales growth slows amid Occupy protests', South China Morning Post,
19 November, section Business, pp. 3.
S370 Ng, J. (2014) '3-metre fence proposed to keep protesters at bay', South China Morning Post,
20 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S371 Cheung, G. (2014) '83pc say Occupy protests must end now', South China Morning Post, 20
November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S372 Sito, P. (2014) 'Causeway Bay loses top spot in world retail rents', South China Morning
Post, 20 November, section Business, pp. 3.
S373 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Legco decision makers miss midnight calls', 20
November, section City News.
S374 Ng, J. and Chan, S. (2014) 'Masked men ‘misled’ protesters', South China Morning Post, 20
November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S375 South China Morning Post (2014) 'No need for petition, says rural leader', 20 November,
section City News.
S376 Zhang, J. (2014) 'The edge', South China Morning Post, 21 November, section Lifestyle
122
Post, pp. 7.
S377 Cheung, T., Chan, S. and Yu, A. (2014) 'Four more men arrested over legco storming', South
China Morning Post, 21 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S378 Lai, Y.K., Lam, J. and Yu, A. (2014) 'Half of occupiers ready to pack it in', South China
Morning Post, 21 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S379 Cheung, T. and Ng, J. (2014) 'China ‘was very much against democracy’', South China
Morning Post, 22 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S380 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Hong Kong', 22 November, section Nws_Day, pp. 2.
S381 Chu, J. and Lau, C. (2014) 'Protester loses bid to stay injunction', South China Morning
Post, 22 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S382 Cheung, T. (2014) '‘Reform framework contradicts Basic Law’', South China Morning Post,
22 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S383 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Split deepens among Occupy protesters', 22 November,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S384 Ng, J. (2014) 'Dialogue is ‘possible if occupiers want it’', South China Morning Post, 23
November, section Nws_HK, pp. 7.
S385 Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Freespace fair lets audience join in on the action', South China
Morning Post, 23 November, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S386 Ngo, J. (2014) 'HK officials to attend cross-border talk', South China Morning Post, 23
November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S387 Chow, V. (2014) 'HKTV’s political drama gets youth vote', South China Morning Post, 23
November, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S388 Ng, J. (2014) 'Occupy founders hold ‘dialogue day’', South China Morning Post, 23
November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S389 Lam, J. and Tsang, E. (2014) 'Protest leaders split over surrender', South China Morning
Post, 24 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S390 Cheung, T. (2014) '69,000 postcards carry sit-in message', South China Morning Post, 24
November, section City News, pp. 4.
S391 Lam, J. and Tsang, E. (2014) 'Protest leaders split over surrender', South China Morning
Post, 24 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S392 Sung, T. (2014) 'Rally in support of police ahead of clearance', South China Morning Post,
24 November, section City News, pp. 4.
S393 Tsang, E. (2014) 'Tear gas risk for health workers', South China Morning Post, 24
November, section City News, pp. 4.
S394 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Young protesters give new life to fading optimism', South China
Morning Post, 24 November, section City News, pp. 3.
123
S395 Lau, C. (2014) 'Judge questions 80-hour detention', South China Morning Post, 25
November, section City News, pp. 4.
S396 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Move to change liberal studies discussion points', South China Morning
Post, 25 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S397 Chan, S. and Lau, C. (2014) 'Operation Mong Kok: 3,000 police at ready', South China
Morning Post, 25 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S398 Lau, C., Kao, E., Sung, T. and Chan, S. (2014) 'Arrests, pepper spray as clearance starts',
South China Morning Post, 26 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S399 Lee, D. (2014) 'British MPs’ Shanghai trip cancelled amid Occupy row', South China
Morning Post, 26 November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S400 Zhao, S. (2014) 'Scholarship students will have to return home', South China Morning Post,
26 November, section City News, pp. 3.
S401 South China Morning Post (2014) 'A bad day for People Power’s Albert Chan', 27
November, section City News, pp. 2.
S402 Gao, K. (2014) 'Internet newshounds ‘support protest’', South China Morning Post, 27
November, section City News, pp. 2.
S403 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Loyalists quit their usual smoking corner', 27 November,
section City News.
S404 Lam, J. (2014) 'Mapping city’s future', South China Morning Post, 27 November, section
Focus, pp. 4.
S405 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Nathan Road cleared ... for now', 27 November, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S406 Ng, J., Siu, P. and Lau, C. (2014) 'Police slammed over ‘violence’', South China Morning
Post, 28 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S407 Chan, S., Tsang, E. and Lee, D. (2014) 'Post photographer tells of his pepper solution
ordeal', South China Morning Post, 28 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S408 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Students vow to escalate protests', 28 November, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S409 Ng, J., So, P. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Lam silent amid pleas for Occupy concessions', South
China Morning Post, 29 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S410 Lai, Y.K. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Post’s film shows Apple Daily cameraman accused of
assaulting officer was', South China Morning Post, 29 November.
S411 Tsang, E. (2014) 'Protest disruption cost us HK$7.8m: tram operator', South China Morning
Post, 29 November, section City News, pp. 1.
S412 Lai, Y.K. and Lo, C. (2014) 'Video sheds light on lensman’s arrest', South China Morning
Post, 29 November, section City News, pp. 1.
124
S413 Chan, M. and Fung, F.W.Y. (2014) 'The cross-strait silence', South China Morning Post, 30
November, section Focus, pp. 4.
S414 Lau, C. (2014) 'Democracy takes centre stage at Clockenflap', South China Morning Post,
30 November, section Nws_HK, pp. 6.
S415 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Kacey Wong Kwok-choi', 30 November, section Sunday,
pp. 16.
S416 Harris, B. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Strategy against protesters ‘is damaging city’', South China
Morning Post, 30 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S417 Lam, J. and Lau, S. (2014) 'Student leaders plan to press occupiers off streets', South China
Morning Post, 30 November, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S418 Mok, D., Cheung, T., Siu, P. and Zhao, S. (2014) 'Clashes as protest escalates in Admiralty',
South China Morning Post, 1 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S419 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Clashes as protest escalation begins', 1 December,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S420 Zhao, S. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Students urged against further action', South China
Morning Post, 1 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S421 Ap, T. and Siu, P. (2014) '46pc sales slump at Pacific Place, says tenant', South China
Morning Post, 2 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S422 Siu, P. (2014) 'Continuing strife could hit economy, says Tsang', South China Morning Post,
2 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S423 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Leung Issues Toughest Warning over Occupy', 2
December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S424 Lam, J. and Cheung, G. (2014) 'Pan-democratic lawmakers come out against student-led
escalation as dissent', South China Morning Post, 2 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S425 Cheung, T., Lee, D., Lo, D. and Tsang, E. (2014) 'Police officers injured in morning of
violence', South China Morning Post, 2 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S426 Chu, J. and Chan, T. (2014) 'Political climate won’t come into it, says judge', South China
Morning Post, 2 December, section Focus, pp. 5.
S427 Lee, D. and Wan, A. (2014) 'Row after British lawmakers told to stay out of HK', South
China Morning Post, 2 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S428 Chow, V. (2014) 'Volunteers race against time to save artworks', South China Morning Post,
2 December, section Focus, pp. 5.
S429 Lau, S. (2014) 'Ban on British lawmakers questioned', South China Morning Post, 3
December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S430 Cheung, G. and Lam, J. (2014) 'Benny Tai planned to launch action in Central, but young
protesters ended up', South China Morning Post, 3 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
125
S431 Chu, J. (2014) 'Benny Tai silent on taxi fare claim', South China Morning Post, 3 December,
section City News, pp. 4.
S432 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Inspector suspended over ‘leaked details’', 3 December,
section City News.
S433 Lau, S., Lam, J. and Lau, C. (2014) 'Jail or fine? Trio’s penalty hinges on actual roles',
South China Morning Post, 3 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S434 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Losing ‘one country’ and ‘two systems’', 3 December,
section Opinion & Insight, pp. 14.
S435 Chou, O. (2014) 'Novelist Mo Yan advises writers to be original', South China Morning
Post, 3 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S436 Lam, J., Lo, C., Ng, J. and So, P. (2014) 'Police identify 200 for probe', South China
Morning Post, 3 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S437 Lau, C. (2014) 'There is no rift over hunger strike: Joshua Wong', South China Morning
Post, 3 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S438 Ngo, J. and Kao, E. (2014) 'Call for probe into police violence', South China Morning Post,
4 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S439 Tsang, D. (2014) 'Falling demand and protests hit hopes for growth', South China Morning
Post, 4 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S440 South China Morning Post (2014) 'In need of a little; retail therapy', 4 December, section
City News, pp. 2.
S441 Cheung, T. and Sung, T. (2014) 'Police let Occupy founders walk away', South China
Morning Post, 4 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S442 Chan, S., Sung, T. and Cheung, T. (2014) 'Revised manual encourages officers to think
twice', South China Morning Post, 4 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S443 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Violence ‘to spur action on clearing protest sites’', South China
Morning Post, 4 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S444 So, P., Lau, C. and Chu, J. (2014) 'Student federation to ponder a retreat within a week',
South China Morning Post, 5 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S445 Cheung, G. (2014) 'Top U.S. Diplomat Warns of Threat to Hk Autonomy', South China
Morning Post, 5 December, section City News, pp. 3.
S446 Chu, J. (2014) 'Bus operator clears legal hurdles to free up Admiralty', South China
Morning Post, 6 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S447 Lau, C. and Lau, S. (2014) 'CY resists calls to meet hunger strikers', South China Morning
Post, 6 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S448 Lau, C. (2014) 'Liberal studies changes ‘politically motivated’', South China Morning Post,
6 December, section City News, pp. 4.
126
S449 Lau, S. (2014) 'Rita Fan names two for 2017 election', South China Morning Post, 6
December, section City News, pp. 2.
S450 Lau, C. (2014) 'A war of words continued yesterday between a US photographer and a car
owner who', South China Morning Post, 6 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S451 Ng, J., Cheung, E. and Ngo, J. (2014) 'Consultation ‘soon after Occupy ends’', South China
Morning Post, 7 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S452 Chan, S. (2014) 'Special police fund gets millions', South China Morning Post, 7 December,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S453 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Arrest for ‘incitement of unlawful gatherings’', 7
December, section Nws_HK.
S454 Sung, T., Chan, S. and Tsang, E. (2014) 'CY says authorities ready for ‘furious resistance’',
South China Morning Post, 8 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S455 Tsang, E. and Kao, E. (2014) 'Protesters complain of abuse while detained', South China
Morning Post, 8 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S456 Cheung, T. and Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Startup incubator opens in Qianhai', South China Morning
Post, 8 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S457 Cheung, T. (2014) 'Pupils offer moderate path against apathy', South China Morning Post, 8
December, section City News, pp. 2.
S458 In, N.H. (2014) 'Wearing a face mask? You must be choking', South China Morning Post, 8
December, section Lifestyle Post, pp. 7.
S459 Ngo, J. (2014) 'Protests entering ‘danger zone’', South China Morning Post, 8 December,
section City News, pp. 3.
S460 Lo, C. and Chan, S. (2014) 'Police in final push to end protest', South China Morning Post,
9 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S461 Cheung, T. (2014) 'MPs’ visit could fan flames, says ambassador', South China Morning
Post, 9 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S462 Chu, J. (2014) 'Man in Occupy ‘arson’ bid jailed for 6 months', South China Morning Post,
9 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S463 Lau, S. (2014) 'Macau held up as role model for basic law', South China Morning Post, 10
December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S464 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Activists say no clashes planned', 10 December, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S465 Tsang, E. (2014) 'Mapping out the protest sites for history', South China Morning Post, 10
December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S466 Chou, O. and Lam, J. (2014) 'As police prepare to clear protest sites, experts and academics
warn the...', South China Morning Post, 10 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
127
S467 Woodhouse, A. (2014) 'Dashing through the shoals with jolly St Nick', South China
Morning Post, 10 December, section City News, pp. 3.
S468 Ng, J. (2014) 'Democrat aiming to inject some youthful enthusiasm into party', South China
Morning Post, 10 December, section City News, pp. 3.
S469 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Zero tolerance in final sweep of Admiralty', 11
December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S470 Chow, V. (2014) 'Volunteers photograph, reclaim artworks', South China Morning Post, 11
December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S471 Ngo, J. (2014) 'A last look round main protest site', South China Morning Post, 11
December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S472 Chan, S. (2014) 'The game changes', South China Morning Post, 11 December, section
Focus, pp. 4.
S473 Cheung, T. (2014) 'Listen to all lawmakers, Liberals urge CY', South China Morning Post,
11 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S474 Cheung, T. and Chueng, E. (2014) 'Beijing’s travel ban ‘burning bridges’', South China
Morning Post, 11 December, section City News, pp. 3.
S475 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Some lawmakers wise to avoid Admiralty', 11
December, section City News, pp. 5.
S476 Ng, K.C. (2014) 'Restaurants and bars set for lean times ahead', South China Morning Post,
11 December, section City News, pp. 5.
S477 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Orderly end to 75 days of turmoil', 12 December, section
Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S478 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Admiralty protest site', 12 December, section Focus, pp.
4.
S479 Lo, C., Ng, J., Ng, K.C., Gao, K. and Siu, P. (2014) 'List of who’s who taken into custody',
South China Morning Post, 12 December, section Focus, pp. 5.
S480 South China Morning Post (2014) '2013', 12 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S481 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Eye on Occupy', 13 December, section Nws_Back, pp.
12.
S482 Cheung, C.F., Fung, F.W.Y., Tsang, E. and Cheung, T. (2014) '‘Small fixes’ not enough to
solve city’s big problems', South China Morning Post, 13 December, section Local (Hong
Kong News), pp. 1.
S483 Lo, C., Yu, A. and Gao, K. (2014) 'Hundreds of police officers will clear the final Occupy
Central protest zone in...', South China Morning Post, 13 December, section Focus, pp. 4.
S484 So, P. and Ngo, J. (2014) 'Police reveal details of ‘final’ Occupy clearance', South China
Morning Post, 14 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
128
S485 Fung, F.W.Y. and So, P. (2014) '8-point plan to make most of vote options', South China
Morning Post, 14 December, section Nws_HK, pp. 5.
S486 South China Morning Post (2014) 'Call to ‘enlighten’ city after protests', 15 December,
section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S487 Ng, J. and Chan, S. (2014) '‘Non-cooperation’ is protesters’ next gambit', South China
Morning Post, 15 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S488 Yiu, E. (2014) 'Jimmy Lai resigns as Next Media chairman', South China Morning Post, 15
December, section Business, pp. 1.
S489 Ng, J. (2014) 'Re-elected Lau calls for party to focus on young', South China Morning Post,
15 December, section City News, pp. 1.
S490 Cheung, T. (2014) 'An anti-occupy activist looks ahead', South China Morning Post, 15
December, section City News, pp. 3.
S491 South China Morning Post (2014) '2006-11: Chairwoman, David Li Kwok Po College
Parent-Teacher Association', 15 December, section City News, pp. 3.
S492 Chan, S., Yu, A. and Ng, J. (2014) 'Police target protest leaders as sites cleared', South
China Morning Post, 16 December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 1.
S493 Lau, S. (2014) 'Hui jury enters second day of deliberations', South China Morning Post, 16
December, section Local (Hong Kong News), pp. 3.
S494 Li, S. (2014) 'HK widens lead as priciest city for retail rents', South China Morning Post, 16
December, section Business, pp. 4.
S495 Ng, J. and Chu, J. (2014) 'Lawmaker angry after police drop snooping probe', South China
Morning Post, 16 December, section City News, pp. 4.
The Wall Street Journal Asia
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W2 Chu, K. and Law, F. (2014) 'Generational Divide Exposed in Protest Movement', The Wall
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W3 Yung, C., Wong, J. and Chow, J. (2014) 'Protests Grow as Police Withdraw', The Wall Street
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W4 Steger, I. (2014) 'Hong Kong Protests: Student Becomes A Standard-Bearer', The Wall
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W5 White, C. (2014) 'Modest Idealism on Hong Kong's Streets', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 1
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W7 Chao, D. and Law. F. (2014) 'Hong Kong Protests: Protests Extend Beyond Organizers'
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W9 Chow, J. (2014) 'Leung Refuses to Resign', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 3 October, pp. 1.
W10 Browne, A. (2014) 'China's World: The View From Old Hong Kong', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 6 October, pp. 1.
W11 Wong, J., Browne, A. and Osawa, J. (2014) 'Protesters' Ranks Divided', The Wall Street
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W12 Chen, T., Lamar, M. and Law, F. (2014) 'Inside Students' Nerve Center', The Wall Street
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W13 Feith, D. (2014) 'Hong Kong at the Barricades', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 8 October, pp.
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W14 Steger, I., Yung, C. and Chen, T. (2014) 'Protesters, Officials Schedule Talks', The Wall
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W15 Browne, A. (2014) 'China's World: Hong Kong Tumult Derails 'One China' Dream', The
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W16 Chow, J. and Yung, C. (2014) 'Hong Kong Officials Scrap Talks', The Wall Street Journal
Asia, 10 October, pp. 1.
W17 Gluckman, R. (2014) 'A Protest Veteran in Hong Kong', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 10
October, pp. 13.
W18 Lam, H. (2014) 'In Hong Kong, the Next Generation of Democrats', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 13 October, pp. 12.
W19 Wong, J., Wong, G. and Deng, C. (2014) 'World News -- Hong Kong: No Easing Seen In
the Standoff', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 13 October, pp. 3.
W20 Curran, E., Law, F. and Wong, J. (2014) 'Clashes Erupt Over Road Blocks', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 14 October, pp. 1.
W21 Browne, A. (2014) 'World News: Hong Kong -- China's World: For Protesters, Ridicule Is
an Effective Formula', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 15 October, pp. 6.
W22 Hutzler, C. (2014) 'World News: Hong Kong: Ex-China Official Says Foreign Powers Fuel
Protests', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 15 October, pp. 6.
W23 Lamar, M., Law, F. and Wong, J. (2014) 'Violence Alters Protests' Course', The Wall Street
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W24 Wong, G. and Lamar, M. (2014) 'Hong Kong Students Call For Peace Ahead of Talks', The
Wall Street Journal Asia, 20 October, pp. 1.
W25 Lamar, M. (2014) 'World News: Hong Kong: Occupy Students Settle Into a Routine', The
Wall Street Journal Asia, 23 October, pp. 18.
W26 Ho, P. (2014) 'World News: Hong Kong: Banker Airs Frustration, Interrupting Live
Webcast', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 24 October, pp. 3.
W27 Steger, I. (2014) 'Split Among Protesters Scuttles Vote', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 27
October, pp. 1.
W28 Law, F., Yung, C. and Lamar, M. (2014) 'World News: Asia: Hong Kong Protesters Push
Allies to Step Up', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 28 October, pp. 3.
W29 Ho, P. (2014) 'World News: Asia: Hong Kong Rejects Call for Vote', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 3 November, pp. 4.
W30 Yung, C. (2014) 'World News: Asia: Hong Kong Protesters Plan March to China Liaison
Office', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 6 November, pp. 5.
W31 Hunter, G. S. (2014) 'A Day Later, Enthusiasm for Link Fades', The Wall Street Journal
Asia, 19 November, pp. 26.
W32 The Wall Street Journal Asia (2014) 'Broken Windows in Hong Kong', 20 November, pp.
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W33 Clarissa, S. (2014) 'Brave New China', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 28 November, pp. 10.
W34 The Wall Street Journal Asia (2014) 'Raising the Stakes in Hong Kong', 3 December, pp. 9.
W35 Law, F. and Yung, C. (2014) 'World News: Asia: 'Occupy' Founders to Surrender', The Wall
Street Journal Asia, 3 December, pp. 3.
W36 Steger, I. (2014) 'World News -- Asia: Generational Split in Hong Kong Protest', The Wall
Street Journal Asia, 4 December, pp. 4.
W37 Feith, D. (2014) 'Arresting Democracy in Hong Kong', The Wall Street Journal Asia, 5
December, pp. 9.
W38 Lamar, M. and Steger, I. (2014) 'Protesters Consider Retreat From Streets', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 5 December, pp. 1.
W39 Lamar, M., Law, F. and Steger, I. (2014) 'Political Generation Rises', The Wall Street
Journal Asia, 11 December, pp. 1.
W40 The Wall Street Journal Asia (2014) 'Strangling Free Hong Kong', 12 December, pp. 9.
The China Daily
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C1 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'VP calls for unity', 29 September, Front Page, pp.
1.
C2 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Authorities condemn ‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 29
September, Front Page, pp. 1.
C3 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Soundbites', 29 September, Front Page, pp. 1.
C4 He, S. and Li, S. (2014) 'Retailers brace for Golden Week holidays’ biz losses', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 30 September, HK Business, pp. 4.
C5 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'City shut down on 2nd day of blockades', 30
September, Front Page, pp. 1.
C6 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'HK’s Fitch rating unaffected', 30 September, HK
Business, pp. 4.
C7 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Beijing expresses confidence in CE', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
30 September, Front Page, pp. 1.
C8 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Stock market falls but HK’s economy stable', 30
September, Front Page, pp. 1.
C9 Zhou, M. and Chai, H. (2014) 'Mainlanders hold mixed views toward HK travel plans',
China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 30 September, HK Business, pp. 4.
C10 Li, S. (2014) 'Protesters rapped for obstructing public transport services', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 1 October, Hong Kong, pp. 5.
C11 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Opposition losing its grip on protests: Analysts', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 1 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C12 Chu, G. and Luo, S. (2014) 'Hong Kong’s distribution services and logistics disrupted by
‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 1 October, Hong Kong, pp. 5.
C13 Li, J. (2014) 'Tang: ‘Occupy’ surely unlawful', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 1 October,
Hong Kong, pp. 4.
C14 Li, J. (2014) 'MFA reiterates opposition to foreign interference in HK', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 1 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C15 Deng, A. (2014) 'Police task weary, thankless job', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 1
October, Hong Kong, pp. 5.
C16 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Bid to seize power doomed to fail: Chen Zuo’er', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 2 October, Front Page, pp. 1-2.
C17 Li, J. (2014) 'Central govt does not bow to pressure', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 3
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C18 Chui, T. (2014) 'Clashes break out in Mong Kok', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 4
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C19 Chen, C. and Lu, A. (2014) 'Restaurant staff forced to take leave as tourists absent', China
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Daily Hong Kong Edition, 4 October, Hong Kong, pp. 2.
C20 Chan, O. (2014) 'Tsang:HK’s financial system largely intact', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 4 October, Hong Kong, pp. 2.
C21 Yang, S. (2014) '‘Occupy’ chiefs to blame', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 4 October, To
The Point, pp. 4.
C22 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Leung blasts violent tactics', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 4
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C23 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Making a point', 7 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C24 Xinhua (2014) 'International figures expose ‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 7
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C25 Chui, T. (2014) 'Protests likely to have serious legal consequences', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 7 October, Front Page, pp. 1-2.
C26 Gao, F. (2014) 'HK’s credit rating unaffected despite continued protests', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 7 October, HK Business, pp. 8.
C27 Dai, E. (2014) 'Stocks soar as protest pressure eases', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 7
October, HK Business, pp. 8.
C28 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Pro-establishment lawmakers prepare to fight back', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 8 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C29 Li, J. (2014) 'LegCo plenary meeting postponed for safety concern', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 8 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C30 Chen, C. (2014) 'Economic outlook still bleak, warn banks', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 8 October, HK Business, pp. 5.
C31 Chui, T. and Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Survey finds most HK people oppose ‘Occupy Central’',
China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 8 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C32 Lin, J (2014) 'HK’s growth forecast lowered to 2.2%', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 9
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C33 He, S. and Li, S. (2014) 'Retail, service sectors bear brunt of protests', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 9 October, HK Business, pp. 8.
C34 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Don’t denigrate constitutional principles: HKBA', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 9 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C35 Chui, T. (2014) 'Occupation holds up vital LegCo work', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 9
October, Nation HK, pp. 4.
C36 Li, J. (2014) 'Pro-establishment strikes back', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 10 October,
Front Page, pp. 1,4.
C37 Liu, L. (2014) 'Ma Ying-jeou criticized for ‘irresponsible comments’', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 11 October, Nation HK, pp. 4.
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C38 Li, J. (2014) 'LegCo may use special powers to probe ‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 11 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C39 Chui, T. (2014) 'HK braces for possible clashes', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 11
October, Nation HK, pp. 4.
C40 Chan, O. (2014) 'Protests turn secondary homes sales sluggish', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 11 October, HK, pp. 7.
C41 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Support for police', 13 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C42 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'CE: Talks require realistic demands', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
13 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C43 Lu, A. (2014) 'Shop rentals may see 10-20 percent decline this year', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 14 October, HK Business, pp. 8.
C44 Li, J. (2014) 'Lee Cheuk-yan allegedly received American funds', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 15 October, Nation HK, pp. 4.
C45 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'More listings on local bourse', 15 October, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C46 Chan, K.H. and He, N. (2014) 'Chen says HK undergoing a color revolution', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 15 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C47 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Luk Fook sales decline by 20%', 16 October, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C48 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Protesters intimidate journalists on duty', 16
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C49 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'QUOTABLE', 16 October, Nation, pp. 4.
C50 Chan, K.H. (2014) '‘Occupy’ a plot hatched over year: CE', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 16 October, Front Page, pp. 1,5.
C51 Liu, L. (2014) 'Victims prepare to sue occupiers for business losses', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 17 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C52 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Govt to talk with students', 17 October, HK Focus,
pp. 7.
C53 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Protests cost HKWDF millions', 17 October, HK
Focus, pp. 7.
C54 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'CE reiterates support for police', 17 October, Front
Page, pp. 1,5.
C55 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Public demands probe', 17 October, Front Page, pp.
1.
C56 Chu, G. (2014) 'DBS slashes growth forecasts for HKSAR', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 18 October, HK Business, pp. 8.
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C57 Chan, K.H. (2014) '‘External forces’ behind protests, says Leung', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 20 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C58 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Poll: 68 percent of Hongkongers reject ‘Occupy’',
20 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C59 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) '‘Occupy’ promotes a separatist agenda, says
People’s Daily', 20 October, Front Page, pp. 1-2.
C60 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Hong Kong jobless rate stays unchanged in Q3', 21
October, Business Digest, pp. 18.
C61 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Aid for hard-hit industries ready', 21 October, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C62 Li, J. (2014) 'Students urged to be realistic in dialogue', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 21
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C63 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) '‘Occupy’ hurts HK’s economy', 21 October, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C64 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'District councilors demand end to ‘Occupy’', 21
October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C65 Li, J. (2014) 'Government sincere and candid in dialogue', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
22 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C66 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Students oppose ‘occupy’', 23 October, Front Page,
pp. 1.
C67 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Public back police to clear protests: Poll', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 23 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C68 Chui, T. (2014) 'Transport sector will seek arrest warrants for protesters', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 24 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C69 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'LegCo meeting aborted ', 24 October, HK Focus,
pp. 7.
C70 Chen, C. (2014) 'Weak market derails mainland auto firms’ share sales in HK', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 25 October, HK Business, pp. 6.
C71 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Injunction stays in force', 25 October, Front Page,
pp. 1.
C72 Lu, A. (2014) 'Record 74,000 private flats ready soon', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 25
October, HK Business, pp. 6.
C73 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'End protests, advises Tung', 25 October, Front
Page, pp. 1.
C74 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'New petition shows most HK people firmly reject ‘Occupy’', China
Daily Hong Kong Edition, 27 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
135
C75 Yang, H. (2014) 'Mainland growth spurs surge in I.T net profit', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 28 October, HK Business, pp. 8.
C76 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Campaign characterized by ‘hatred and violence’', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 28 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C77 Yu, X. (2014) 'Investors face disconnect as ‘through train’ stalls', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 28 October, Business, pp. 17-18.
C78 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Doctors oppose ‘Occupy Central’', 29 October, HK
Focus, pp. 7.
C79 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Protests ‘not cause of delay’', 29 October, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C80 Yeung, M. and Guan, F. (2014) '‘Occupy’ takes heavy toll on family life', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 29 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C81 Liu, L. (2014) 'Tai refuses to reveal source of donations', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
30 October, Nation, pp. 3.
C82 Li, J. (2014) '‘Occupy’ prompts Tung to earlier launch of think tank', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 30 October, Nation, pp. 3.
C83 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Tien loses advisory role, resigns as party leader', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 30 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C84 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'MTR patronage increases 10%', 30 October, HK
Focus, pp. 7.
C85 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Cyber-bullying condemned', 31 October, HK
Focus, pp. 4.
C86 Li, J. (2014) 'More hurdles ahead for incinerator, landfill bill', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 31 October, Nation, pp. 3.
C87 Chui, T. and Liu, L. (2014) 'Probe urged into financing of ‘Occupy Central’ protests', China
Daily Hong Kong Edition, 31 October, Front Page, pp. 1.
C88 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'CALL FOR AN END', 1 November, Front Page,
pp. 1.
C89 Deng, A. (2014) 'Academics say ‘Occupy’ is a ‘color revolution’', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 1 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C90 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) '‘Occupy’ supplies suspicious', 1 November, Nation
Digest, pp. 2.
C91 Li, J. (2014) 'Tung’s think tank discussesways forward', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 1
November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C92 Liu, L. (2014) 'Growingcallsfor end to‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 3
November, Front Page, pp. 1.
136
C93 Li, J. (2014) 'Occupiers’ proposals unrealistic, says Lam', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
3 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C94 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Infection source still unknown', 4 November, HK
Focus, pp. 7.
C95 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Stock Connect on track: Tsang', 4 November, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C96 Chen, C. and He, S. (2014) 'No cheers despite retail sales surge', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 4 November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C97 Liu, L. (2014) 'Lawyers unite to condemn protests', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 4
November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C98 Yu, X. and Zheng, Y.P. (2014) 'Stock plan ‘delayed’ by protests', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 4 November, Business, pp. 17.
C99 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'HONG KONG 1.8 million sign petition against
Occupy protests', 5 November, Nation Digest, pp. 2.
C100 Li, S. and Lu, A. (2014) 'Shopping malls in full swing for X’mas', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 5 November, HK Business, pp. 5.
C101 Liu, L. (2014) 'Patten must stop fanning flames, MFA says', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 6 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C102 Lu, A. (2014) 'Property next on protesters’ ‘hit list’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 7
November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C103 He, S. and Li, S. (2014) 'All bets on ‘through train’ stocks', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 7 November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C104 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Bourse link delay ‘won’t hit stocks’', 7 November,
HK Business, pp. 8.
C105 Liu, L. (2014) 'Public want protest sites cleared', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 7
November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C106 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Think tank to tackle youth and patriotism', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 11 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C107 Dai, E. (2014) 'Scheme will cushion blow from protests', 11 November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C108 Chui, T. (2014) '‘Occupy’ protesters must take a reality check: Ex-HSBC chair', China
Daily Hong Kong Edition, 13 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C109 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'EXCERPTS OF THE PRESIDENTS’
REMARKS:', 13 November, Nation, pp. 2.
C110 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'President Xi supports HK enforcing law over
‘Occupy’', 13 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C111 Chui, T. (2014) 'Trojan Horse in Hong Kong', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 13
137
November, HK Focus, pp. 8.
C112 Chui, T. (2014) 'Marshals’ act not ‘citizen’ sarrest’: Barrister', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 14 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C113 Chan, K.H. and Li, S. (2014) 'Uncertainty lingers over injunctions', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 14 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C114 He, S. and Chui, T. (2014) 'Growth forecast cut to 2.2% because of ‘Occupy’', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 15 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C115 Liu, L. (2014) '‘Occupy’ causes deep divisions', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 18
November, Nation, pp. 4.
C116 Lu, A. (2014) 'Jobless rate stagnates at 3.3%, impact looms', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 18 November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C117 Chan, K.H. and Chui, T. (2014) 'Police clash with violent mob at LegCo after clearing of
barricades', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 19 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C118 Chu, G. (2014) 'Sa Sa’s H1 net profit slips 4.9%', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 19
November, HK Business, pp. 6.
C119 Lu, A. (2014) 'Retail rentals tipped to come down 6% next year', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 19 November, HK Business, pp. 6.
C120 Chan, K.H. and Li, S. (2014) 'Attack on HK legislature condemned Offenders liable to long
prison terms', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 20 November, Front Page, pp. 1,5.
C121 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Injunction to be enforced soon', 21 November, HK
Focus, pp. 7.
C122 Li, S. (2014) 'Govt vows to investigate ‘Occupy’ heads', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
21 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C123 Li, S. (2014) 'Foreign Ministry rejects foreign interference in HK', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 22 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C124 Chui, T. and Li, S. (2014) 'Court rejects bid to block clearances', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 22 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C125 Liu, L. (2014) 'Survey:95%SMEs affected by ‘Occupy’', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
22 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C126 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Over 80% of respondents want occupation to end: Opinion poll', China
Daily Hong Kong Edition, 24 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C127 Luo, W.T. (2014) 'Reforms poised to drive Asian equity markets', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 25 November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C128 Chan, K.H. and Liu, L. (2014) 'Bailiffs to clear barricades on Argyle Street', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 25 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C129 Chen, C. (2014) 'L’Occitane going big with e-commerce', China Daily Hong Kong Edition,
138
25 November, HK Business, pp. 9.
C130 Chu, G. (2014) 'Chow Tai Fook in inventory overhaul', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 26
November, HK Business, pp. 9.
C131 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Carrie Lam advises students to break with radicals', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 26 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C132 Li, J. (2014) 'Time for Hong Kong SAR to promote national education', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 27 November, Nation, pp. 3.
C133 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Tai wants actions in High Court', 27 November,
HK Focus, pp. 7.
C134 Liu, L. (2014) 'Legal experts wary of cyberspace incitement in ‘Occupy’?', China Daily
Hong Kong Edition, 29 November, Front Page, pp. 1.
C135 Lu, A. (2014) 'HK’s growth to be ‘tardy’ next year', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 29
November, HK Business, pp. 8.
C136 He, S. (2014) 'Retail sales shine on smartphone craze', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 2
December, HK Business, pp. 8.
C137 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Protests may hit products expo', 3 December, HK
Business, pp. 8.
C138 Li, J. (2014) 'Opposition camp behaving irrationally: Tik', 3 December, Nation, pp. 3.
C139 Chan, K.H. and Liu, L. (2014) 'Three ‘Occupy Central’ initiators to surrender to police
today', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 3 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C140 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Campaign unraveling as ‘Occupy’ trio surrender', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 4 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C141 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'CE rules out restart of reform', China Daily Hong Kong Edition, 8
December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C142 Chan, K.H. (2014) 'Govt, police prepare for Admiralty clearance', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 10 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C143 China Daily Hong Kong Edition (2014) 'Expert: Opposition will suffer ‘conservative
backlash’', 11 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C144 Li, J. (2014) 'Top adviser advocates more youth policies in HK', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 12 December, HK, pp. 2.
C145 Yeung, M. (2014) 'Justice chief dismisses conflict of interest criticism', China Daily Hong
Kong Edition, 15 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C146 Chan, K.H. and Liu, L. (2014) 'CE calls for respect of law', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 16 December, Front Page, pp. 1.
C147 Lu, A. (2014) 'SOGO store sees light at the end of the tunnel', China Daily Hong Kong
Edition, 16 December, HK Business, pp. 9.
139
Appendix 4 – Coding keywords
Key actors
Below is a list of keyword examples used to determine the tonality of the mentions about the different actors examined in the analysis. By supplying the following list, it is hoped to improve the transparency in terms of coding criteria of this research.
The GovernmentTonality Types Examples of words used to describe the actor and his actions
Positive Noun sincerity; stability; resolution; goodwill; Beijing’s smart guys
Adjective capable, tolerant, pragmatic, lawful, constitutional
Specific
Descriptions
done a good job handling the protest; take firm action; committed to
protecting freedom of expression; safeguard social stability; protect
the safety of people and property; for the sake of Hong Kong welfare;
the standing committee’s decisions could not be violated; the
government would continue to function even under siege
Negative Noun 689 (used to signify the votes CY Leung received); no response; no
concession; terrible proposal; restrictive framework; fake democracy
Adjective inhuman; confrontational; called into question its strategy
Specific
Descriptions
doesn’t act; not taken direct responsibility; failed to keep its promise
to keep Hong Kong unchanged for 50 years; not listening; continued
refusal to compromise; impose limits on political reform
Neutral Specific
Descriptions
Hong Kong matters are China's internal affairs; top Hong Kong
government officials went to mainland China; the federations’
meeting with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other
top officials; dialogue with government officials over political reform
The ProtestersTonality Types Examples of words used to describe the actor and his actions
Positive Noun unity ; impressive performance; volunteer spirit; more freedom;
140
willingness to accept the legal consequences
Adjective non-violent; peaceful; orderly; helpful; selfless; self-disciplined; pro-
democracy; for a good cause
Specific
Descriptions
don't tolerate violence; safeguard Hong Kong; protect students; fight
for a better future; push for greater democracy; many Hong Kongers
supported the movement; what they’re doing is for the whole of Hong
Kong; some residents or business owners in the protest sites are
actually sympathetic towards the Occupy movement; young people
volunteered to clear and recycle rubbish; poor weather would not
undermine the protesters’ determination to seek democracy
Negative Noun disruption; unreasonable demands; violent radicals; mayhem; siege;
foreign force; colour revolution; subversion; illegal assembly; lack of
leadership
Adjective illegal; not realistic; radical; out of control; futile; warlike; irrational;
Specific
Descriptions
stormed government buildings; topple the Hong Kong government;
breach police lines; affect people’s livelihoods; undermine the rule of
law; jeopardise social order; people want the occupation to stop; hurt
the city's economic activities; students' demands kept shifting
Neutral Specific
Descriptions
Protesters remain camped out in three districts in Hong Kong;
the students were joined by organizers of the Occupy Central
group;university students held meetings to discuss how to organise a
fresh round of class boycotts; called for the public to sustain the
movement;
The PoliceTonality Types Examples of words used to describe the actor and his actions
Positive Noun justice; duty; public safety; petition backing the police
Adjective impartial; appropriate; restraint,
Specific
Descriptions
restore order; handle the protests in a lawful way; uphold the rule of
law; praised the police action; had no alternative but to fire tear gas,
acting on court injunctions; attempts at negotiating with protesters
Negative Noun tear gas; crackdown; police abuse; anger at the tactics used by police;
use of force by police against students, unnecessary force against a
peaceful protester
Adjective excessive; disproportional; brutal; violent
Specific no tear gas bombs towards innocent people; officers in riot gear used
141
Descriptions batons and pepper spray in unsuccessful attempts to disperse
thousands of protesters; appeared to stand aside as triad gangster
attacked protest sites; "intimidating" journalists; continued to beat up
retreating people
Neutral Specific
Descriptions
need time to clarify its role with the Department of Justice on any
clearance action; 7,000 police officers were reportedly deployed;
stand guard outside City Hall
Media Frames
The following is the list of keyword examples used in the frame analysis to search through the data base imported in the qualitative analysis software Nvivo. The resulting references were then coded manually under different frames to ensure accuracy.
Frames Examples of keywords
Democracy Reform; fair/ open election; universal suffrage; true/ real/ genuine democracy,
public/ civil/open nomination; withdraw/ retract framework
Peaceful Orderly; self-disciplined; helpful; friendly; medical; protect the students
Law and order illegal; unlawful; unauthorised; rule of law; crime; law; order; constitution;
Basic Law; unshakable; unchangeable; break the law; enforce the law; liable
Suppression Tear gas; baton; blood; brutal; beat; violent; injuries; crackdown
Chaos clash; chaos; confrontation; scuffle; violent; radical; dangerous; out of control
Socio-economic
disruption
damages; loss; disruption; volatility
(affect/hurt) economy; business; financial investment; tourism; sales; GDP;
property market; livelihood; stock market
Internal Split divided; split; separated; conflict; leaderless; disagree; hijack; no organiser;
lack of leadership
Foreign influence Foreign forces; external forces, the West; betray; the US; separatist agenda;
interference
142