RTHK introduces editorial management system led by director with no media experience
A new editorial management system has been introduced to public broadcaster RTHK, according to commerce secretary Edward Yau. The system will be led by the station’s director, who has no prior media experience.
The system was discussed at the Legislative Council on Wednesday when New People’s Party lawmaker Eunice Yung asked Yau about measures to monitor the embattled station.
RTHK has already started implementing measures recommended by a government review report to enhance its editorial management, devise a clearer editorial process and improve its complaint-handling mechanism, Yau said.
It included a new editorial management system under which the station’s senior management would hold meetings to ensure that programs complied with the requirements stipulated in RTHK’s charter and producers’ guidelines, according to Yau.
Since Patrick Li, a career bureaucrat who has no prior experience in media, took over as RTHK’s director of broadcasting in early March, several episodes of the station’s programs have been pulled off the air.
RTHK recently produced a new program chronicling the history of China over the past 100 years in order to strengthen the public’s sense of national identity and their understanding of national security, Yau said.
The station has also introduced programs to explain the provisions of the national security law and will produce programs on life in the Greater Bay Area as well as on Lingnan culture and the scenery of China to further cultivate the audience’s sense of national identity and improve their understanding of our national culture, Yau added.
RTHK and its staff have to abide by all Hong Kong laws, and it was therefore unnecessary to make changes to the charter in response to the new national security law, Yau said.
Edward Lau, a member of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress, praised Li for taking the responsibility to review programs. He asked Yau what kind of support the government would give to Li.
Yau responded by saying that Li was not the only person responsible for “improving” RTHK, as that was a job to be done together with the management, program staff and the whole of RTHK.
Pro-Beijing camp convenor Martin Liao criticized RTHK for being a biased news outlet, and said the government should rethink the station’s position under tremendous social and political changes so it could align with public expectations.
The issue was not RTHK’s position, Yau said, but rather how it would implement its charter, which is something the government would be working on.
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