State, market and civil society in Hong Kong : a study of multi-media advertising on buses

Multi-media advertising on buses in Hong Kong started in late 2000 This article analyses the on-going tension and struggle involving an internet-based anti-bus television civic group, bus companies, and the Transport Department. The case study sheds light on the power relations between the state and the market and between the state and civil society. The Transport Department’s close relationship with bus companies has probably hampered its regulatory role. Its inability to engage civic groups in charting policy directions weakens the latter’s “participation” role in interacting with the government and its “lobbying” role in checking capitalist activities within the business sector. The case study also reveals an interesting civic movement conducted mostly in cyberspace among an educated and computer-literate group of middle-class citizens in Hong Kong.