Carol P. Lai is Assistant Professor at the Department of Media and Communication, the University of Macau. She is a veteran journalist who has travelled extensively from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s to cover mainland China news. Elected as the chairperson of the professional trade union, Hong Kong Journalists Association, in 1997, she played a leading role in lobbying for press freedom internationally and in raising public awareness about free speech in the 1990s. She has also written book chapters and articles on journalism, media independence and the importance of pluralism in Hong Kong politics.

This book examines the Hong Kong media over a forty year period, focusing in particular on how its newspapers and TV stations have struggled for press freedom under the colonial British administration, as well as Chinese rule.

Making full use of newly declassified material, extensive interviews and specific case-studies, it provides an illuminating analysis of the dynamics of political power and its relationship with media censorship.

Overall, this book is an impressive discussion of the evolving face of the Hong Kong media, and is an important contribution to theoretical debates on the relationship between political power, economics, identity and journalism.