Management of Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK has banned staff from submitting their programs to vie for awards and ordered them to withdraw entries from competitions.

The RTHK confirmed its decision in response to Apple Daily enquiries. The station said that it was reviewing every aspect of the operations, including the nomination mechanism for television and radio shows concerning local, mainland Chinese and international awards.

During this transitional period, the RTHK would not take part in the selection process for any awards, and would pull those nominations already submitted. The station did not give in its reply the length of the transition or whether staff would be allowed to send programs to competitions in the future.

Earlier, sources told Apple Daily that the radio section of the station was told on Wednesday to stop entering media contests as the management was reviewing the existing mechanism.

Staffers whose programs had been submitted must write to the organizers to request withdrawal from all local and international competitions, including the Consumer Rights Reporting Awards and the United States International Film and Video Festival, according to the sources.

Approval from the director of broadcasting must be obtained before anyone could enter a competition, sources said. The television section often contested awards, but it was uncertain at this stage if the TV teams would be subjected to the same order, they added.

The Human Rights Press Awards confirmed that RTHK director Patrick Li had made contact to request the withdrawal of its entries “in totality” from consideration for the prizes, citing the review as the reason.

The award organizer said it had not removed any RTHK entries since the judging process was already underway, and because entries could be taken out only by the individuals who submitted them.

The RTHK has often won honors at various contests. It scooped up six prizes at the Human Rights Press Awards last year, with a radio report on “The Exodus from Polytechnic University” winning the Audio prize, and the “Anti-extradition Bill Movement Series” under the “Hong Kong Connection” program winning the Documentary Video (Chinese) prize.

Another episode on the Hong Kong Connection program, entitled “721 Yuen Long Nightmare,” was a finalist in the Best Investigative Report section of the 2020 New York Festivals TV and Films Awards. The show’s producer Bao Choy is standing trial for making false statements while searching a government vehicle database for coverage in a separate episode related to the July 21, 2019, mob attack in Yuen Long.

Li has also pulled several programs off air, prompting the RTHK’s program staff union to demand a meeting with him. The union claimed that the director wanted to talk to staff in written communication only and refused to see them. Messengers for Li failed to explain the reasons for canceling shows and instead often trotted out confidentiality rules, it said.

The union said it understood that Li was willing to meet employees via video conference and would be glad to hold an online meeting for the staff only. It urged Li to participate if such an event was held.

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