Brian Chow Kwok-fung and Jace Au Lai-ngar, two Assistant Directors of Broadcasting responsible for radio and television broadcast at RTHK respectively, have resigned in tandem. The names of these two senior management personnel members should be familiar to the citizens who have been listening to RTHK programs. Though a source said the two senior managers quit neither because of the newly appointed director nor a difference between their stance and the government’s, a lot of criticism was levelled at the new director as soon as the news was broken. It can be seen from the abovementioned the impression the administrative officer landing at RTHK from nowhere has made on the public.

Now that Li Pak-chuen, Director of Broadcasting, has taken office for three months, everything has been turned upside down and everyone has been sensing danger everywhere at RTHK. The so-called editorial autonomy, mouthpiece of the people, professionalism and independence are rather like something outmoded now. Programs about current and public affairs RTHK used to be proud of has got out of shape in just a space of few months. Even though the personnel on the front line made a desperate struggle, they could not escape crackdowns by the management. Programs have been withdrawn and re-edited, and live programs turned recorded broadcasts, with restrictions of subject matters all over the place. Those who have a bit of feeling for RTHK should lament about it.

The SAR government vowed to give RTHK an overhaul, which shows the administration is exceedingly cowardly. The strategy employed by the government is palpably one that “gets rid of the people who raise problems rather than the problems raised by the people”. Looking back on the RTHK programs broadcast recently, one will find that each of them pierced the government in its sore spots. Take the episode of Hong Kong Connection about 7.21 Yuen Long incident. It embarrassed the government, so it had to impose restraints on search for various registries by the general public and bring the producer to trial. Yours truly does not have a clue why the SAR government covered up some people’s fault at the expense of the free flow of information in Hong Kong, which is one of the essential elements propping up the city as an international financial hub, and the foundation of Hong Kong’s prosperity.

In fact, the motive of the SAR government to turn RTHK into an official mouthpiece and even a propaganda machine is immensely apparent. However, now that the two experienced seniors have left the public broadcaster, can RTHK maintain the good quality of the programs as they were in the past, and its influential status in the eyes of Hong Kong citizens?

The SAR government needs to understand that RTHK used to have the clout and public credibility because it was not a government’s mouthpiece or propaganda machine. RTHK programs such as Headliner, which had made fun of and cursed at people and current affairs, and Hong Kong Connection, which had pierced to the truth with a single pertinent remark, had always shown consideration for the society, and had been nourishment for the mind of Hong Kong citizens for decades. Its attitude towards an affirmation of what was right and what was wrong, its persistence in the truths and its perseverance at fairness and justice that were accumulated bit by bit finally made it rise to fame. I’d like to ask what actually bolstered RTHK’s public credibility, clout and authoritativeness. And when all these are gone, can it serve as a propaganda machine?

The media ecology today is not comparable with the one that existed decades ago, as evidenced by the fact that TV and radio broadcast are no longer in the position to monopolize the market. How many people still wait for their favorite programs in front of the TV set and radio receiver regularly? The programs are only among many available for the public to choose from. Platforms such as YouTube and Clubhouse, regardless of images or sounds media, have been coming into being one after another, making it hard to turn RTHK, which has been deprived of its public credibility already, into a propaganda machine.

If the SAR government believes it can manipulate public opinion by putting RTHK under its control, it just talks idiotic nonsense. It is not an impossible task on the mainland where restrictions of the internet are stern, but it is to no avail in Hong Kong where there is still freedom on the internet. Unless a ban is imposed on the internet in Hong Kong, any attempts to crack down on the editorial autonomy at RTHK will only push the SAR government to the opposite of the citizens. If the government is callously adamant about controlling the internet, it will do it at the expense of the economic prosperity of Hong Kong, or even cause irreversible damage to the economy on the mainland. High-ranking officials of the SAR government, please let RTHK off the hook!

(Chung Shing-cheung, independent writer)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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