A major Hong Kong public broadcaster is in danger of becoming a government mouthpiece as Beijing tightens its grip, an insider says. The person familiar with the matter described mounting editorial pressure on the agency and orders for it to withdraw from journalism awards activities.
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is feeling the changes brought about by a newly appointed head and Hong Kong’s new national security laws, fueling fears that the broadcaster will eventually merge more closely with the Communist-controlled Hong Kong government.
Last month, the Hong Kong SAR government appointed Patrick Li Pak-Chuen, a career civil servant with no media experience, as RTHK’s new director of broadcasting. Since then, Hong Kong media have reported that several programs deemed biased by RTHK’s new management have been taken off the air by Li Pak-Chuen. Pak-Chuen Lee is also the managing editor of RTHK.
Voice of America interviewed a senior staff member familiar with internal discussions at RTHK. The source asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation and to be able to speak candidly. The source said that overall, journalists at RTHK feel uncertain about the new management direction and are being pressured to conform.
In response to a request for comment from Voice of America on RTHK’s Director of Broadcasting Lee Pak Chuen, the head of the station’s Institutional Communications and Programming Standards Unit said the station is “editorially autonomous, as set out in the RTHK Charter,” and that the station “will continue to comply “.
But sources at RTHK described the atmosphere at the station as “tense” and “oppressive”, acting in a “top-down manner”. Producers now have to get prior approval for current affairs programs, and writers and directors have asked for more pro-government voices to be included in the programs. Even when “impartiality” is demonstrated, the employee said, ideas for the show are rejected with little explanation.
“They don’t tell you where the line is until they suddenly say you’ve crossed it, but they don’t provide details about how the line was crossed – you can’t interview certain people, for example, and that’s all in the dark,” the source said. “Secret.”
Voice of America has found it increasingly difficult to contact sources inside Radio Television Hong Kong, with many refusing to be interviewed for fear of retaliation.
The fear is that Radio Television Hong Kong will eventually come close to being a Chinese government-controlled media outlet. “This situation is looming over us,” the source said. “There are already speculators who are offering to produce something that is not too far from propaganda.”
Radio Television Hong Kong, the only public broadcaster in Hong Kong, launched its first radio program in 1928 under the British Hong Kong government, but later became a separate division. By the 1990s, RTHK began producing web, television and radio content and was bound by its charter of editorial independence.
The broadcaster is funded by an annual government grant. The Commerce and Economic Development Bureau estimates that RTHK spends about HK$1.5 billion ($135 million) annually. It produces content for seven radio channels and three television channels, and provides news services in three languages.
Speech Censorship
Starting in 2019, political factors invaded Radio Television Hong Kong as anti-Beijing protests continued to erupt. Since then, several programs have been taken off the air because they were deemed critical of the government. These programs include Headliner, a satirical program accused of bias against the Hong Kong police.
After reports that prominent activist Nathan Law was wanted for violating national security laws, RTHK removed an interview with him from its website. He is now in exile overseas.
RTHK has set up an internal vetting team to review the content of future programs, and RTHK now plays the Chinese national anthem daily on its radio channels. The move is seen as promoting “patriotism” among Hong Kong people. The announcement comes after the Chinese government accused the BBC World Service and decided to stop its programs from landing in China.
Radio Hong Kong has won international press recognition for its coverage of the 2019 protests. But pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily reported that the broadcaster is expected to reject a human rights award from local news groups and Amnesty International. The award was reportedly given to a Radio Television Hong Kong documentary about the July 2019 mob attack on citizens in Yuen Long following a protest.
The source at RTHK told VOA that the order not to accept the award or participate in the journalism competition “came directly from management” and that the restriction covers all forms of media, including “radio and television.
The broadcaster’s corporate communications team told VOA that an internal audit found “room for improvement” at RTHK, including “the nomination mechanism for radio and television programs for local, mainland Chinese and international awards.”
Humiliation and criminal prosecution
RTHK’s journalists were also scrutinized.
Producer Yvonne Tong was publicly reprimanded by the government for violating the “One China Policy” when she discussed Taiwan’s measures to combat the new outbreak with a World Health Organization (WHO) official.
Nabela Qser, assistant program director, received complaints from pro-government sources for her outspoken questioning of Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, during a press conference in 2019. Lijunya’s initial employment contract was terminated, but she accepted a new short-term contract, adding a degree of uncertainty to her future at the agency.
On Thursday (April 22), a Hong Kong court found Bao Choy, the freelance producer of the now-award-winning Yuen Long documentary, guilty of illegally obtaining data related to the documentary. Choy was fined HK$6,000 (about US$773). The documentary highlights the delayed response of Hong Kong police to the mob attack. Dozens of people were injured in the attack.
In February, all civil servants, including hundreds of Radio Television Hong Kong employees, were asked to sign a pledge of allegiance to the government in a recent effort to quell unrest in Hong Kong. The fear is that this will make critics of the government a target under the new national security law.
Nicholas Cull, a professor of public diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC), told Voice of America that “complete media integration is Beijing’s long-term goal.”
This is part of a deteriorating global media environment, he said. Broadcasters in Poland, Slovenia and Hungary have been targeted. “In many places, there is an assumption that public broadcasters should have state control,” Carr said.
Reporters Without Borders, a media watchdog group, said the national security law is “particularly dangerous” for journalists. In the press freedom index released Tuesday (April 20), Hong Kong ranked 80th out of 180 countries in the order of first being the freest.
With “political correctness” becoming the only consideration for the new director of broadcasting, the situation is deteriorating, with poor communication within the agency, few meetings and less transparency and clarity from senior staff, said the source at Radio Television Hong Kong who spoke with VOA.
“Propaganda is propaganda and reporting is reporting,” the source said. “But I have to say that the line is going to get blurred and the end of the road may be China Central Television (CCTV).”
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