The Correspondent

Veteran art critic John Batten takes a fresh look at Art Basel Hong Kong, cutting through the usual headlines about record auction prices and celebrity artists. He explores the wider Hong Kong art scene—from the city’s evolving art market history and the rise of regional art fairs to how global trends are reshaping the market. Batten also shares insider tips on where to look beyond the Basel spotlight, including  Tsuen Wan, Wong Chuk Hang, and Hong Kong’s growing network of public art spaces. Plus, practical advice for navigating art fairs like a pro—what to wear, how to connect, and where to explore.Cover image courtesy John BattenJohn Batten’s Art Week links:Art Basel: www.artbasel.com/hong-kongMagazines:Artomity: artomity.art/Art Asia Pacific: www.artasiapacific.com/Art in Tsuen Wan:CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Art & Textile): www.mill6chat.org/Art in Wong Chuk Hang:Rossi & Rossi: www.rossirossi.com/Blindspot Gallery: blindspotgallery.com/de Sarthe Gallery: www.desarthe.com/Gold: www.serakai.studio/goldArt in Tin Wan (Pokfulam side of Aberdeen)Empty Gallery: emptygallery.com/exhibitions/eg38-jutta-koether/Gallery Exit: www.galleryexit.com/Art in North Point: www.para-site.art/Written, produced and presented by Jarrod WattTheme music composed and performed by Allen Youngblood

Laura Westbrook and Elaine Lai are journalists both born and raised in Hong Kong and both were reporting on the Tai Po tower fires for foreign news organisations.In many ways they experienced this news event very differently from both local and overseas born journalists covering this disaster.Laura Westbrook works for broadcast media channels all over the world, covering news all over south east Asia, but has been most recently - and most prominently - been reporting for the Al Jazeera channel, while Elaine Lai is a fourth year journalism student at Hong Kong Baptist University who works as an intern for Associated Press and also works as editor in chief of Hong Kong’s oldest student newspaper, the Young Reporter.Tai Po is where Elaine was born and raised, and where Laura started her first job in broadcast journalism. Both were among the first media on the scene, and subsequently worked for days on end covering what is now one of the worst fire disasters in Hong Kong's history. They discuss some of what was missed in world media coverage of Tai Po, and what it was like to see the blossoming of a huge community response for the fire victims which was ultimately shut down by a government concerned about un-named "hostile external forces".The conversation also touches on the impact of the fire on the local community and the role of social media in shaping public perceptions, and how overseas media narratives quick to blame Hong Kong's historic tradition of bamboo scaffolding for the fire's spread lead to a surge of Hongkongers taking to social media to refute these narratives. They speak about their efforts to manage mental health and exhaustion in days-long shifts dominated by trying to keep track of social media.Find out how the FCC has joined the aid effort and how you can help the victims of the Tai Po fire:https://www.fcchk.org/stand-together-how-you-can-support-the-tai-po-recovery-efforts/The Young Reporter: https://tyr-jour.hkbu.edu.hk/Written and produced by Jarrod WattTheme music composed and performed by Allen Youngblood

Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz delivers a stark assessment of America's economic trajectory in this compelling and wide-ranging conversation with veteran broadcast journalist and Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong first vice president Karen Koh. Drawing parallels between current political upheaval and historical threats to democratic institutions, Stiglitz argues that abandoning Enlightenment principles - science, education, and rule of law - undermines long-term economic prosperity. From the AI bubble inflating tech stocks while leaving Main Street behind, to immigration policies creating labor shortages across industries, Stiglitz dissects how policy chaos breeds uncertainty that stifles investment and consumer confidence. He challenges conventional wisdom on manufacturing revival through tariffs, advocating instead for innovation in green technology and construction.The discussion spans critical global challenges: deteriorating US-China relations hampering climate cooperation, trade deficits worsened by fiscal irresponsibility, and the emergence of a fragmented world order made more perilous by the complex geopolitical relationships involving North Korea, China, and Russia. Stiglitz warns that America's retreat from international leadership has created a "G minus one" scenario where other nations advance multilateral solutions without US participation. This episode offers essential insights for understanding how domestic political choices ripple through global markets, supply chains, and diplomatic relationships - and how all of this gets just a bit more complicated with the arrival of AI and its associated investment bubble.Produced by Jarrod Watt.Theme music composed and performed by Allen Youngblood.

This episode is the audio of a recent FCC Hong Kong Club Lunch, moderated by FCC correspondent governor Jing Yang, in conversation with award-winning investigative journalist Karen Hao. Hao's investigation of Open AI and her subsequent book the Empire of AI is a bestseller. Yang begins the conversation by delving into one of AI’s most vexing questions: what is intelligence, and why is it so difficult to measure?Here's how AI summarised the ensuing discussion:From failed benchmarks and the philosophical roots of AI debates to the rise of machine learning, listeners learn why scientific consensus on intelligence remains elusive, complicating assessments of both human and artificial intellect. The conversation tracks OpenAI’s history—from early disappointments with games like chess and Dota, through securing multi-billion-dollar funding, to its dominance and ethical controversy in the modern AI industry. With a spotlight on exploitative hidden labor in developing countries, the podcast unpacks how the race for AGI reshapes economic power, policy, and technology investments. Hao explores OpenAI’s market strategy, financial risks, and political influence, as well as the disruptive trends from open-source competitors and global innovation. Ultimately, the episode challenges listeners to confront the growing ethical, financial, and philosophical stakes behind AI’s ongoing revolution.Find more Club Lunches and QandA sessions with guest experts and authors at the FCC Hong Kong Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FCCHKFCCWritten and produced by Jarrod WattFCC podcast music composed by Allen Youngblood

Meet some of the Gen Z journalists awarded the Clare Hollingsworth Fellowship for the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Hong Kong: Jay Ganglani, Kriti Gandhi, and Samra Zafalqar.The Fellowship is named in honour of Clare Hollingsworth, a legendary journalist and a long time member of the FCC - most famously associated with what has become known as the scoop of the century - when as a rookie reporter way back in 1939 travelling through Poland she spotted and reported the German army forces massing on the Polish border.She didn’t stop there - she went on to travel to and report from Palestine, Algeria, China, Yemen and Vietnam, earning herself the moniker the “doyenne of the war correspondents” and died just 8 years ago here in Hong Kong at the ripe old age of 105. She’s a shining example of a journalist forever curious, forever ambitious and forever in the hunt for the big story - and you’re about to meet some of the people who have been selected by the FCC panel to receive the Clare Hollingsworth fellowship.Jay and Kriti have just spent the last 12 months as Hollingsworth Fellowship holders, and reflect on the experiences in that role as well as what they've witnessed in the newsrooms they work in. They share the mic with Samra Zulfaqar, one of the newly announed Hollingsworth Fellowship holders for 2025-26, along with Trista Xinyi Luo.Learn more about the Clare Hollingsworth Fellowship: https://www.fcchk.org/fcc-clare-hollingworth-fellowship-2025-2026-applications-open/ 

Western media companies continue to wrestle with the ethics of utilising AI in the newsroom as concerns continue over how many human journalists will be left in charge. According to a report in Digiday, the Reuters newsroom is now using agentic AI, creating and processing video metadata to cut different edits of video coverage with a human overseeing the final edit and output.Meanwhile, in mainland China: entire videos output using a one sentence AI prompt, from script to sound and video. A national AI content factory, delivering personalised AI video content for a nation of 1.4 billion people. Craig McCosker, Group Product Manager at the ABC in Australia, discusses his recent experiences at the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union's Beijing AI Forum. He highlights the shift towards "one sentence production" of media in China, where AI systems can independently handle tasks like scriptwriting and dubbing.McCosker also discusses his theory of the AI media ladder, detailing five levels of AI autonomy in media production, the Chinese focus on personalized broadcasts and the ethical considerations in AI content creation. You'll also hear of the global race for AI sovereignty, driven by language and cultural specificity, and the potential impact of AI on media ethics and regulation.Read Craig McCosker's Digital Futures newsletter on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/DigitalHorizonsDigiday story: Inside Reuters Agentic AI video experiment Written and produced by Jarrod Watt