Human rights journalism award Choi Yuk-ling and Lee Kwan-ah’s program won the award, RTHK refused to claim the award.
After the appointment of the Director of Broadcasting of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Mr. Li Baiquan, a government official with no media experience, ordered to ban RTHK’s works from participating in many news competitions. The winner of the 25th Human Rights Press Awards, organized by Amnesty International Hong Kong and others, was announced on Thursday, with RTHK’s “Clanking Collection” “7.21 Who Owns the Truth” winning the documentary (Chinese) award. The work was co-produced by freelance journalism writer-director Choi Yuk-ling and five journalists. The judges praised the work: “Tracing the tiniest clues, fearlessly and interrogatively questioning the powers that be. A classic of investigative reporting.” (By Derek Fong)
RTHK’s “Viewpoint 31” won two merit awards, and the two award winners included RTHK Assistant Program Director Lee Kwan-ah, whose contract was not renewed. The two programs in which Lee was involved include Viewpoint 31, “In the Name of Justice” and Viewpoint 31, “Awakening, When the Plague Spreads? .
One of the winners, Choi Yuk Ling, was just convicted on April 22 for producing a program on license plate checks. The incident also triggered a controversy on press freedom.
Another award-winning RTHK assistant programme director, Lee Kwan-ah, has also been informed that her employment will not be renewed and she will have to leave at the end of this month. Li Junya joined RTHK in October 2017 and was scheduled to complete a three-year probationary period in October 2020, but was suddenly asked to extend her probationary period by 120 days at the end of September. She asked Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor at a government press conference the day after the 7.21 incident in Yuen Long in 2019, “whether the 7.21 incident was a joint performance by the government, the police and the black,” and asked Lam Cheng to “speak human” during the follow-up question. After the incident, Li Junya was complained by the “blue silk”. The incident has raised concerns about further attacks on press freedom.
Before the announcement of the award list, the organizer of the Human Rights Press Awards confirmed that RTHK requested to withdraw from the competition, but because the competition has entered the judging stage, and can only be applied for by individuals to withdraw, so the main unit will not draw up RTHK entries. RTHK later stated that it would not receive the award.
Our reporter Lui Hei also won the Grand Prize in the Radio Broadcast and Sound Recording (Chinese) category for his “Series on the Renewal of the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops in San Francisco and China”.
In addition, Apple Daily won three awards and Standpoint News won two awards.
Recent Comments