Necessity for media education in early childhood programmes in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong, like any other cities of the 21st century, is characterised by various sources of media for education, advertisement, relaxation and entertainment. Young children are immersed in the rich mass media environment whether at home, at school, or on the streets. The messages contained in these media sources are delivered in various forms and are meant to achieve specific goals for specific groups of people. While media education has been introduced in some primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong (Cheung, 2015), less has been said and done about the same in early childhood programmes (Cheung, 2012). This article builds a case for an urgent need for the introduction and implementation of media education in early childhood programmes in Hong Kong.