Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa exchanged views with secondary school students about the responsibilities of the media.
Mr Tung was participating in a Media Education Forum at the Breakthrough Youth Village.
Its objective was to encourage people to express their views on the role of the media, and to increase their awareness of issues affecting them.
The students presented the results of their research on the reading habits of local people after interviewing about 70 families between September and November.
The findings were accompanied by students' analysis and opinions.
'The media should be self- disciplined and report the news objectively and accurately. They should educate the public and help them understand the real social situation, and provide a channel to express their opinions,' the students said.
They believed that an ideal article in a newspaper or maga zine should be truthful, objective and easily understood. They also wanted to see different types of material clearly separated.