Many families in Hong Kong live with financial pressures, lack of space and a host of other social problems. But when these problems explode into conflict and violence, it's the act, not the underlying cause, that the media zoom in on.

And when the act involves spousal or elderly abuse, they almost ignore the story altogether.

The Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC) reported these findings after studying 2,430 news reports and commentaries over six months in four major Hong Kong newspapers and the ATV and TVB newscasts.

Family-related stories made up less than three per cent of all stories covered and more than half of the stories concerned violence, such as murder, suicide and assault, or juvenile delinquency.

"We were surprised at how limited the overall coverage was, only three per cent. A large part of our lives revolves around family, so some of our biggest problems will be family-related," Thomas Abraham, Assistant Professor of the JMSC, said.

Curiously, only certain kinds of violence tended to be covered. A comparison of stories with cases reported to the Social Welfare Department showed 71 per cent of child abuse cases were covered in the media, but only five per cent of spousal abuse cases and two per cent of elderly abuse cases.

"It's not to say every case of spousal or elderly abuse is newsworthy, but it is indicative that public recognition of these problems appears to be quite low," he said.

"If you don't talk about the issues, the larger societal problems often get buried. What good journalism and good news organizations can do is select issues and find ways to promote discussion about them."

Most of the stories in the study, though, focused solely on the individuals involved and treated the situations as isolated events.

The striking exception was the Tin Shui Wai tragedy in which a woman killed herself and her two children in October 2007. Because there had been other unhappy incidents in the area, the media questioned the social factors behind the murder-suicide – an indication that, with sufficient motivation, news organizations in Hong Kong are willing to look at the bigger picture.

"They asked, why this housing estate? Why were there so many problems there? What were the underlying social issues?" Mr Abraham said. "Quality journalism can ask these deeper questions and in a sense help society to reflect on itself and understand itself."

It can also help to convey solutions. However, only 1.9 per cent of the stories focused on advice, help or solutions to family-related problems, although some of this information was contained in other stories, such as surveys and government policies.

The study has provided input to a larger ongoing project on family problems and family health, happiness and harmony in Hong Kong, conducted by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and the School of Public Health. The "FAMILY: A Jockey Club Initiative for a Harmonious Society" and the JMSC study are funded by the Jockey Club.