Another episode from a Radio Television Hong Kong series has been pulled before airing, as the new head of the public broadcaster continues to slash more content from its programming in a bid to tighten editorial control. An episode from the political TV show “LegCo Review” that was supposed to air on Thursday was suddenly pulled, Apple Daily confirmed with the public broadcaster. Both the trailer for Thursday’s episode and information on next week’s segment were removed from the website. RTHK instead aired a program that featured interviews with teachers who received government awards.

This came after episodes from popular culture and life series “Hong Kong Stories” also slashed episodes with interviews with a local band, writer and photographer.

Hong Kong band LMF’s interview on “Hong Kong Stories” — a 30-minute TV series spotlighting local life and culture — was scrapped after the broadcaster’s newly appointed director of broadcasting Patrick Li deemed their songs “indecent” because they contained swear words. An episode featuring interviews with novelist Chiang Hiu-mei and photographer Jimmy Lam was also pulled.

Lam, who published a photography volume titled “City - sick,” said his interview with “Hong Kong Stories” focused on art and creative expression. The interview only briefly touched on the police’s handling of the 2019 pro-democracy protests, and on social issues such as the face mask shortage during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“Does that mean all future programs can only broadcast material that praised the government, like state media in mainland China?” Lam said.

Lam said his interview was filmed back in December 2020, which was shot over five days as he discussed his published photo album and how to portray what was happening in society through photography.

The revelations are the latest in a string of shake ups at the public broadcaster, which the government criticized as having “deficiencies in [its] editorial management mechanism” in a review published in February.

Patrick Li, a career bureaucrat, replaced veteran journalist Leung Ka-wing as head of the public broadcaster in March. He had no prior experience working in the media industry, and has worked as an administrative officer for the government since 1990, with his most current position before the RTHK appointment being Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs.

Lam said director Li’s decision to pull his interview was unreasonable, and he felt disappointed with the broadcaster’s decision.

“If he (Li) makes editorial decisions singularly based solely on his own judgement, this will homogenize programs. Wouldn’t that equate to killing off creative freedoms?” Lam said.

Chiang, writer of “Once in a Blue Moon,” said she was asked about her thoughts on the anti-extradition bill protests in 2019 during the interview.

“Whether they will play that episode I was in or not, I don’t really care. I just want everyone to know where the RTHK’s red line is these days. I just hope that producers can have editorial independence. There is no need to create such boundaries for a program that mainly touches on human emotions and feelings,” she said in a Facebook post.

RTHK told Apple Daily it “did not have anything to add” when asked about allegations of censorship.

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