Hong Kong Association of Media Education (HKAME)

About HKAME
The Hong Kong Association of Media Education (HKAME) is a non-profit membership organization established in early 2000 by a group of volunteers who are concerned with the media and cultural environment of Hong Kong. Over the years, the membership has gradually grown to around 100. The members are mainly educators, youth workers and media concerned citizens.

The HKAME believes that:
In modern society, people are surrounded and influenced by all kinds of traditional and new media. Citizens of Hong Kong, particularly children and youth, should be able to become aware of the impact of media messages on their daily lives. Media education - the training for media literacy skills - is for guiding them to intelligently engage with the media.
Media literacy skills are not inborn abilities but acquired by learning. They are critical life skills and every child should have an opportunity to receive media literacy training.
Media education is to teach people how to understand, analyze, use and monitor the mass media. Critical thinking is the core concept. Media education aims at training not only smart media consumers but also informed and responsible citizens. Media education encourages active media consumption and promotes media reform.
Media education is not just for media criticism. Media education also teaches people how to enjoy and appreciate media products. Media education is an alternative to merely censoring or blaming the media.
Media owners, media practitioners and journalists play a very important role in shaping our media environment and they should be involved in media education programs in order to build a better society.

Vision and Mission
The HKAME is dedicated to promote media education movement in Hong Kong. Its mission is to bring media literacy to every Hong Kong citizen, particularly school children, teachers, social workers and parents.

Long-term Goals
The HKAME has the following long-term goals:

• To advocate for including media education in the formal school curriculum.
• To arouse public awareness of media education and raise the media literacy level in our society.
• To foster media reform in order to improve the media and cultural environment of Hong Kong.
• To contribute to the research and development of media education in Hong Kong

• Organizing media education seminars and conferences
• Conducting media education workshops (e.g., workshops on advertising analysis, TV drama deconstruction, popular music consumption, news analysis)
• Providing media education teacher training courses
• Writing media education columns in local newspapers
• Presenting academic papers on development of media education in Hong Kong
• Making exchange and linkage with international media education organizations
• Lobbying the Department of Education to include media education into school curriculum
• Giving talks on media education to schools
• Offering advice to schools on their media education projects supported by the Quality Education Fund

History and Background
In the late 1990s media education gained momentum in Hong Kong. Some school teachers made their first attempt to teach media education in the classroom and some youth organizations, such as the Breakthrough, launched creative media education programs. In order to further develop and better coordinate the media education initiatives, a group of media educators including school teachers, university lecturers and youth workers gathered together to establish the Hong Kong Association of Media Education. In the meantime, the media environment in Hong Kong had rapidly deteriorated and media education began to gain support from teachers and parents. According to a recent survey conducted by the HKAME, more than 300 schools and organizations in Hong Kong have been engaged in different kinds of media education programs. However, in order to make the media education movement take root in Hong Kong, the HKAME needs more resources to perform a leading role in promoting media education and achieve its long-term goal.

Executive Committee
Chairman: Dr. Cheung Chi-Kim (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong)
Vice Chairperson: Dr. Alice Lee (Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University)

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