HONG KONG’S mass media at the end of 2015 included 53 daily newspapers (including a number of electronic newspapers), 683 periodicals, three domestic free-television program service licensees, three domestic pay-television program service licensees, 18 non-domestic television program service licensees, one government-funded public service broadcaster and three sound broadcasting licensees.

The availability of the latest telecommunications technology and keen interest in Hong Kong’s affairs have attracted many international news agencies, newspapers with international readership and international broadcasters to establish regional headquarters or representative offices here.

The production of regional publications in Hong Kong underlines its importance as a financial, industrial, trading and communications center.

Registered Hong Kong-based press at the end of 2015 included 26 Chinese-language dailies, 12 English-language dailies, 10 bilingual dailies and five in Japanese.

One of the English dailies publishes a daily Braille edition in conjunction with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind. Of the Chinese-language dailies, 20 mainly cover local and international news, four specialize in finance and the rest focus on horse racing.

The larger newspapers include overseas Chinese communities in their distribution networks and some have editions printed outside Hong Kong, in particular in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Hong Kong is the regional base for a number of international titles such as International New York Times, Financial Times, The Nikkei, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today International. Global wire services with significant operations in Hong Kong include Agency France-Presse, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Thomson Reuters. International broadcasters with studios in Hong Kong include Channel News Asia, CNBC, CNN and Phoenix TV.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association is the biggest industry-wide union of journalists and one of the most active. Formed in 1968, it has more than 600 members. .