HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government on Friday called for more scrutiny of the city’s public broadcaster by government-appointed advisers. According to pro-democracy activists, the government’s latest step is to restrict press freedom.
The government has issued a 157-page report accusing Radio Television Hong Kong, an outlet often criticized critically by officials, of lack of transparency and objectivity.
The report comes hours after the government announced that the head of the public broadcaster would leave six months earlier. His replacement is a civil servant from outside the broadcasting service with no journalistic experience.
For supporters of the beleagured pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, the problems of RTHK have marked the fate of independent journalism under an increasing suppression of differences of opinion. Compared to the BBC, the broadcaster is often funded by the government, but its editorial independence is promised in its charter.
Hong Kong’s communications authority last year ordered the broadcaster to discipline employees on a political satire program after they ruled that a shit had insulted the police force. (The program itself was later suspended.) In August, RTHK removed a podcast containing an interview with a well-known activist after authorities warned it could violate safety law.
Three months later, police arrested Choy Yuk-ling, an award-winning RTHK producer who made the documentary about the mob attack.
One prominent legislator of the establishment proposed that RTHK be included in the government’s department of public relations. Pro-Beijing figures have filed thousands of complaints against the station and staged protests outside its offices.
Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam said this month that the number of motivated complaints against RTHK in recent years was “unacceptable.”
“My position is that RTHK needs to improve a lot,” she said. “There are a lot of things in Hong Kong that need to be fixed.”
The government’s report was the result of a seven-month review, which officials announced last spring in response to widespread public concern about the broadcaster’s performance. The investigation was led by a senior government official, Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei. Lamb according to her called ‘favorite’.
The report calls RTHK’s editorial processes “seriously inadequate” and says that there is no clear mechanism to ensure proper handling of sensitive / controversial issues. It also accused RTHK of offering ‘no assurance’ that public complaints would be investigated impartially.
It criticized the broadcaster for not actively seeking advice from the government-appointed council. The council is led by figures with close ties to Beijing.
The report states that RTHK should keep written records of how coverage decisions are made, cultivate a stronger relationship with the advisory board and ensure that the editor-in-chief plays a more active role in forming coverage.
Some wonder how the more active role under the newly announced head, Patrick Li, will play. While the outgoing editor-in-chief, Leung Ka-wing, has worked as a reporter and editor at various news organizations, Mr. Li, currently the deputy secretary of home affairs, does not have a journalistic background.
The government did not have Mr. Leung’s early departure was not explained, but said his contract was ‘settled early with mutual consent’.
In a short letter to employees, Leung wrote that he was grateful for five and a half years leading the station and that he was at peace despite turbulent times, according to a Facebook message from RTHK.
Edward Yau, secretary of the Bureau for Trade and Economic Development, told a news conference on Friday that RTHK had previously been led by non-journalists. He said the department, which oversees the broadcaster, was looking for an internal successor but could not find a suitable candidate.
Mr. Yau added that the editor-in-chief would not be solely responsible for steering programming, although he criticized the existing leadership for taking on a “more passive role”.
The findings of the report were drafted as recommendations rather than commands, and officials said there is no set timeline for implementing them. RTHK said in a statement that it would “carefully study and follow up on the report”.
Mr. Yau emphasizes that RTHK will maintain editorial independence. But, he added, “there will never be editorial autonomy without responsibility, freedom without restriction.”
Elsie Chen contributed research from Seoul and Liu Yi from Beijing.