The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong (The Society) held its 69th Annual General Meeting on October 21, 2025. The Council elected Ms. Tammy Tam as Chairperson, Mr. Alex Ko, Mr. Raymond Huang and Mr. Vincent Teng as Vice-Chairpersons. Other office-bearers elected were Honorary Secretary Mr. Luo Xinghui and Honorary Treasurer Mr. Eric Lai. The Council also appointed Mr. Alan Lo as Executive Director and Mr. Lo Wing-hung as Spokesperson.
A total of fifteen Council Members were elected. They are Mr. Alan Lo (AM730), Mr. Jack Pun (Ta Kung Pao), Mr. Raymond Huang (Wen Wei Po), Mr. George Ng (China Daily – Hong Kong Edition), Mr. Alex Ko (Ming Pao Daily News), Mr. Vincent Teng (Hong Kong Economic Journal), Ms. Ang Jin (South China Morning Post), Ms. Tammy Tam (South China Morning Post), Ms. Betty Kwok (Sing Tao Daily), Mr. Ivan Tong (Sing Tao Daily), Mr. Lin Ying (Lion Rock Daily), Mr. Luo Xinghui (Hong Kong Commercial Daily), Mr. Eric Lai (Hong Kong Economic Times), Mr. Lo Wing-hung (Bastille Post) and Mr. Zheng Xurong (The New Evening Post). In addition, Mr. Lee Cho-jat has stepped down from his role as President of the Society and will continue to provide guidance and support to the Society's development as Honorary President. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Lee for his unwavering commitment and support over the years.
The Society will, as always, continue to safeguard the interests of the industry, enhance professional standards, and facilitate candid exchanges and dialogues on the industry's future development and related issues between the industry and the Government. At the same time, it will actively unite and rally industry stakeholders in supporting the development of the automated advertising sales platform "NewsocHub" initiated by the Society. The platform aims to assist the industry in expanding its digital advertising business to meet current and future challenges.
The 2024 Hong Kong News Awards Presentation Ceremony was held on May 9, celebrating the outstanding achievements of journalists across the newspaper industry.
The event was officiated by the Chief Executive of the HKSAR, Mr. John Lee Ka-chiu. This year's competition drew an overwhelming response, with over 630 entries received. No matter how challenging the outlook for the newspaper industry may be, or how the media landscape continues to evolve, newspapers—as a major source of news—must remain steadfast in their commitment to truth, shoulder their social responsibilities in promoting positive values within society.
The renowned Hong Kong lyricist Chow Yiu Fai's inaugural lyrics writing class at Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) has graduated. Students Henry and Mon shared in an interview with Bastille Post that the course inspired them to observe and perceive life more deeply, while the class instructor, Prof. Chow Yiu Fai, said he hopes students can learn how to bravely express their own voices to the outside world, which is an emotional value that belongs uniquely to 'humans' in this age of AI, through communication and sharing in class.
(From left to right): Student Mon, Renowned Hong Kong lyricist Chow Yiu Fai, Student Henry, Photo by Bastille Post
Everyone Has a Story Worthy of a Song
Prof. Chow Yiu Fai bid farewell to Hong Kong Baptist University last September — where he had taught a lyrics writing course for 14 years — to start a new lyrics writing class at Hong Kong Metropolitan University.
Prof. Chow Yiu Fai, Photo by Bastille Post
Most students in the class had no prior experience in artistic creation and worried in the early stages that they wouldn't be able to write smooth, touching lyrics in Cantonese. In response, Prof. Chow actively encouraged them to "step out of their comfort zone," learn to observe the details of life around them, and record every moment they long to cherish. He told his students that they don't need to wait for inspiration to strike before writing lyrics. As long as they observe the world and life closely with their hearts, they will find that everyone around them has a story worthy of a song.
Henry, Photo by Bastille Post
Under his guidance, student Henry visited Tak Gei Zaan Tuck Shop in Cha Kwo Ling and recorded the shop owner, Auntie Tak's, remembrance in the face of Hong Kong's urban changes. With the urban development of East Kowloon, Cha Kwo Ling, which was once prosperous in the 1980s, has become a declining urban village as more and more residents move out. By November 2025, only a few dozen residents remained. Faced with an environment that is no longer what it used to be, Auntie Tak still stuck to running her business in Cha Kwo Ling, hoping to leave a memory for the remaining residents through the presence of Tak Gei Zaan Tuck Shop.
Reflecting on his interview with Auntie Tak, Henry said that through the song "Numerous Little Things" (which shares a similar pronunciation with "Little Shop" in Cantonese) that he created based on her story, he not only gained an in-depth understanding of Hong Kong's urban transformation, but also developed a new perspective on the meaning of creation. In his view, although he had grown up and lived in Hong Kong for many years, he had never paid attention to the everyday scenery around him; he simply liked to record his inner emotions in words. After this creative practice of writing lyrics, he realized that, in addition to personal expression, creation should also serve as a form of documentation, preserving the stories of ordinary people around us. "I want to record something for someone, for something," he said. According to him, perhaps in the future, Cha Kwo Ling will become a faded chapter of history, but he was fortunate enough to leave a testimony for it and preserve a precious voice of old Hong Kong's story.
Mon, Photo by Bastille Post
Another student, Mon, wrote the song "People on the Water" based on her father's life experience. The song focuses on the contrast between her father's past life on the water and his down-to-earth daily life on land, expressing his nostalgia for his years with the sea. Mon said she was grateful to gain a deeper understanding of her father's past through the lyrics class. She mentioned that in class, Prof. Chow would encourage everyone to talk more with their parents, listen to their past experiences and views on life, and try to turn their stories into lyrical material. This creative experience of putting the people and things around her into words made her realize that a lyricist's creativity is accumulated by "continuously experiencing the big and small things in life". Only by observing society and experiencing life more deeply can one write flesh-and-blood works.
Such a course revelation further inspired her creative drive. She said that some time ago, while visiting M+ in West Kowloon with friends, she noticed the huge neon signs on display. She hopes to apply what she has learned in the lyrics class to write down her observations and thoughts about Hong Kong's neon signs, thereby preserving the light and shadow of an old era that is gradually disappearing.
Mon performed the song written by her at the lyrics writing class concert. Photo source: HKMU
Facing the AI Wave, Holding On to the Value of Words
Although writing moving lyrics is not easy, with the rapid development and maturity of AI, many voices in society have emerged to dismiss artistic creation, believing that AI is bound to have a huge impact on the lyrics creation industry. In response, Prof. Chow and his students said that self-created lyrics still possess an irreplaceable emotional power compared to machine-generated works.
Prof. Chow mentioned that AI can write extremely gorgeous lyrics in a short time through the accumulation of massive corpora, but that is not the essence of creation. He hopes that through the teaching of the lyrics class, students will gradually realize that lyric writing is not only about cultivating their own sensibilities, but also about learning to connect emotionally with others.
In his view, although the three-hour classroom session is short, it provides students with a free creative space where they can share through communication, tell the stories they want to tell, learn from each other's writing highlights, and discover the joy of life together. Such an emotional exchange built through lyrics is difficult for AI writing to provide. "AI may be able to help everyone quickly learn how to write a perfect lyric," he said, "but the significance of my lyrics class is letting students communicate, share, and create something together, none of which is something that AI can offer them."
Prof. Chow shared the joy of lyrics creation together with his students. Photo source: HKMU
In addition, Henry and Mon said that although AI can get straight to the problems in a lyric, such a pursuit of extreme flawlessness can easily lead creators to focus merely on perfection and ranking competition, while ignoring the emotional value of mutual support on the writing journey. In the lyrics class, Prof. Chow actively encourages everyone to say, "Why do I have such thoughts?" rather than whether the thought is good or not, so that students don't have to worry about the pressure of being compared. Instead, they can progress at their own pace, explore the joy of creation through mutual sharing, and feel the unquantifiable emotional value that AI cannot provide.
The students of lyrics writing class wrote down touching stories from their lives, transforming the shining moments of ordinary life into sincere Cantonese songs. Photo source: HKMU
As for the students' performance throughout the lyrics writing course, Prof. Chow was deeply moved. He said it was truly gratifying that the young generation of creators could continue to write their own stories and those of others in such an era of great change. He is also pleased to continue the tradition of launching lyric writing classes at HKMU for more students who enjoy creating lyrics. "Teaching, especially when we're talking about creation, is about life impacting life," he said.
The group photo of Prof. Chow Yiu Fai and the students of lyrics writing class, Photo source: HKMU
