My editor sent me to the vigil with a digital recorder to capture crowd sounds and comments from participants. I also offered my photography skills and brought my Nikon D40 to make pictures for the VOA Web site.
I took the MTR to Causeway Bay and walked the short distance to the park. I arrived early – around 6:45p.m. The vigil was due to start at 8p.m., but the park was already loud and filled with people.
I knew Hong Kong’s Catholic bishop – Cardinal Zen – was scheduled to speak at 7p.m. in the Band Pavilion so I made my way over there and joined the other media in a roped off section to the right of the stage. A crowd of several hundred with their candles burning sang hymns as they waited for the bishop. He spoke at 7:30p.m. but it was in Cantonese so I couldn’t understand his speech. When he was done, a huge throng of media crowded him as he left the stage. I’d never seen anything like it. He must be a very prominent figure.
After this I walked over to the main vigil area – six soccer pitches – where thousands of people were sitting on the ground listening to speeches and singing along to Chinese protest songs. I entered the press area and joined all the media gathered in front of the main stage. I made some photos of organizers on the stage and participants in the first few rows holding candles. I captured some crowd sound and left the press area to find a subject willing to be interviewed.With so many people milling around me, it was overwhelming to decide whom to approach for an interview – especially in a city where English is not the main language. But eventually I zeroed in on a man and his wife. The man agreed to be interviewed but declined to give his name. As you’ll read in the article, he said the city “has a long memory.” Usually I would be opposed to including a source that wouldn’t give his name, but I thought his decision perhaps reflected the high-degree of self-censorship critics say Hong Kong is afflicted with.
With my “man on the street” interview done, I returned to VOA to write and voice my script. I had written most of the script earlier in the day and needed only to drop in my acts. The focus this year was on comments made by Ma Lik so I was sure to include that high up in the script. I was also lucky enough to get an interview with Albert Ho before the vigil, so I was able to have a quote from him ready to go.
It’s also interesting to note that when I was writing my script before the vigil, I remembered a class discussion where Mike said that most people at Tiananmen were not killed in the square but rather in the streets around it. I made that clear in the script.Many of VOA’s language services in East Asia were clamoring for my story so I had to rush to finish writing it and voice it. The editor chopped off some of it due to length. My piece was what VOA calls a “long CR” or correspondent report. A CR is only supposed to be between two and two and a half minutes.
I voiced the edited script and produced it in the studio. I established crowd sounds at the beginning and then did a fade under. I did the same thing at the sign off. I also had an act from my “man on the street” and a quote from Albert Ho. The script was posted on VOA’s Web site along with a photo that I took. I regret that the audio was not posted online but my editor tells me sometimes VOA’s Web department is overloaded.
Attending the vigil was a moving experience and helped me to even better understand what makes Hong Kong unique. It was a long day (11a.m. – 11 p.m.) but a fulfilling one. I’m proud of the way my piece turned out and am glad I had the opportunity to cover such an important event.
All my photos from the vigil (and from my entire stay in Hong Kong) can be viewed here.
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