FIERCE competition in the mass media in recent years has led to unhealthy developments, such as distorted news reporting, and the media is attempting to bring things under control by introducing 'monitoring' measures. Commercial Radio 1 programme director Ip Hon-leung said the idea of launching a programme to monitor the media surfaced two years ago when intense competition showed signs of adversely affecting news broadcasting. 'There is room for improvement in our mass media,' Mr Ip said. 'The problem is to find someone with the knowledge and the credibility to judge.' In order to bring some order into the world of broadcasting and news reporting, CR1 introduced the programme Media Monitoring . Broadcast on Sundays, it is hosted by Wong Yuk-man, former department head of the Faculty of Journalism of Chu Hai College. Mr Wong is now a news commentator. Although CR1 introduced the programme, this did not mean the radio station was not to be 'monitored', Mr Ip said. 'CR1 is also part of the media and should be watched, or it would not be fair by the others.' Another new programme, The Heart of the Matter , a phone-in show broadcast every weekend, gives the public a chance to air their grievances or lodge complaints. The programme is hosted by businessman Albert Cheng King-hon and Legco members Christine Loh Kung-wai and James To Kun-sun. 'Mr Cheng represents the public, and Ms Loh and Mr To are known for their concern for the community and their familiarity with the people's problems.' Mr Ip said that while phone-in sessions for complaints was a common media show in Hong Kong, the programme differed from others in that it was backed by a research team. Complaints are examined and the team follows up cases, if necessary. Research back-up is also available in Media Monitoring. Several new programmes, such as Entertaining News , The Latest Fashions , Learning by Errors and Weekly Sales , were introduced this week as part of the programme reform moves in programming.
