Honorary University Fellows
Mr Man Cheuk Fei is a distinguished journalist, and Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Master Insight Media Limited. He holds a BA from the University of Hong Kong and an MPhil in Government and Public Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A believer in lifelong education, he has studied on scholarship at Stanford University, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in Florida, and Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management. He was awarded a Knight Fellowship from Stanford University and a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University.
Mr Man started his journalistic career in 1990 at Next Magazine as a political reporter, and joined the Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) in 1992 as Editor/Writer of the Commentary section. He became Assistant Chief Editor in 2000, served as Chief Editor of HKEJ Monthly from 2001 to 2013 and launched Master Insight Media in 2014. He has published five books and is currently completing his sixth.
Mr Man's loyalty to the University of Hong Kong began during his undergraduate years, when he participated in different student bodies, including as the elected Internal Vice-President of the Students' Union and a Tutor of the Old Halls. As an alumnus, he has served as a Member of HKU’s Court and Council, and as a Standing Committee Member of Convocation. Mr Man has lent his support and counsel to numerous panels and committees at his alma mater, including as Chairperson of the Discrimination Complaints Committee, and has been inter alia, a Member of the Grievances Panel for Staff, the Council's Group to Hear Appeals of Disciplinary Committee Cases, the Committee for the Selection of Wardens and Hall Tutors, the Review Panel on the Centenary Ceremony, the Search Committee for the Dean of Dentistry in 2012 and the Selection Committee for the next HKU Vice-Chancellor in 2013.
Other organisations and institutions that have had the benefit of Mr Man's leadership and support include the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, the Hong Kong University Graduates Association, the HKUGA Education Foundation, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Lingnan University, the Hong Kong University of Education and the Hang Seng Management College.
Citation delivered by Professor Derek COLLINS, Dean of Arts
“News is what someone doesn’t want printed. All else is advertising.” This quote has been attributed to many, including the renowned author George Orwell. But if its attribution is uncertain, its exhortation to question, to challenge and to investigate is not, and it is surely a mantra the best journalists know and live by.
Mr Man Cheuk Fei is a distinguished journalist, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of Master Insight Media Limited and an outstanding example of this spirit of inquiry.
Mr Man is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong, studying here in the Department of Chinese, and was conferred a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987. His loyalty to HKU began during these undergraduate years, when he participated in different student bodies, including as the elected Internal Vice-President of the Students’ Union and a Tutor of the Old Halls.
In 1990, he joined Next Magazine as a political reporter – thus beginning his career in journalism. He subsequently became the founding Editor-in-Chief of Teacher Plus, a monthly magazine for Hong Kong educators. In 1992, he joined the Hong Kong Economic Journal (HKEJ) as Editor/Writer of the Commentary section. He became Assistant Chief Editor in early 2000 and served as Chief Editor of HKEJ Monthly from 2001 to 2013. He launched Master Insight Media in 2014, and is Publisher and CEO of the media group.
He has published five books and is currently completing his sixth.
A believer in lifelong education, Mr Man received a scholarship in 1994 for a media management program at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St Petersburg, Florida, in the United States. In 1999, he received his MPhil in Government and Public Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 2000, he was offered both a Knight Fellowship from Stanford and a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard. He chose Stanford. From 2011-2012, he attended on scholarship an EMBA media course at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.
In spirit, you could say that Mr Man never left HKU. He served as a Convocation Standing Committee Member from 2003-2013, a Court Member from 2004-2016, and Council Member from 2007-2016. During his service at Council, he was appointed Chairperson of the Discrimination Complaints Committee, and has served on the Grievances Panel for Staff, the Council’s Group to Hear Appeals of Disciplinary Committee Cases and the Committee for the Selection of Wardens and Hall Tutors.
He was a member of the Review Panel on the Centenary Ceremony in 2011, the Search Committee for the Dean of Dentistry in 2012 and the Selection Committee for the next HKU Vice-Chancellor in 2013.
Other organisations and institutions that have had the benefit of Mr Man’s leadership and support include the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists, the Hong Kong University Graduates Association, the HKUGA Education Foundation, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Lingnan University, the Hong Kong University of Education and the Hang Seng Management College.
Mr Pro-Chancellor, we have seen how the need to question and inquire has permeated so much of Mr Man’s life. But perhaps there is another way to look at it.
Can we say instead that his has been a lifelong quest for answers? And in that quest, he has touched many lives along the way. He has provided – if not always answers – then at least objective analysis, intellectual inquiry and greater clarity to the issues at hand. In this sense, he is not telling us what we want to hear, but what we need to hear.
Perhaps Mr Man might agree with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour when she says: “I believe that good journalism … can make our world a better place.”
It gives me great pleasure, Mr Pro-Chancellor, to present Mr Man Cheuk Fei for the Honorary University Fellowship, in recognition of his contributions to Hong Kong, to academia and to making the world a better place.