The death of public broadcasting
Hong Kong Freedom of Expression Report 2022
Chapter 5
Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) claims to be Hong Kong’s public service broadcaster, able to serve the public with the support of public funding and to operate with protection against commercial and political interference. If this was arguably so in the past, there remains little room for RTHK to claim that it retains this status after the fundamental changes made by Patrick Li Pak-chuen, who took up the post of Director of Broadcasting on March 1, 2021.
The imposition of Li, a civil servant with no media background, signalled the transformation of RTHK into a subservient government department. It is astonishing that it took just over a year to transform the public broadcaster, which previously enjoyed a large measure of editorial independence, into something similar to a department for propaganda.
Li’s promotion in July 2022, to Permanent Secretary of the Security Bureau, a D8 level post, means he jumped three grades in the salary system in 16 months – arguably a reward for what he achieved at RTHK. Ariel, a political gossip columnist in the pro-establishment online media outlet Bastille Post, quoted a top political insider as saying the promotion "was unsurprising”.
Ariel said Li had solved the “accumulated problems” of RTHK with bold and resolute measures. The term “accumulated problems” is used by the pro-establishment camp to criticise RTHK for being too free from government control or requests. The article quoted legislators praising the transformation of RTHK, saying they are “more comfortable” watching RTHK programs now.
However, the price for making the pro-establishment bloc feel comfortable and the promotion of the outgoing director of broadcasting is the death of public service broadcasting in Hong Kong. Article 19, a freedom-of-expression advocacy group based in London, said in 2005 that public service broadcasters contribute substantially "to the public's right to a diversity of information and viewpoints, and the free flow of information and ideas". The suffocation of RTHK's development therefore narrowed the diversified environment that Hong Kong once enjoyed.
From housekeeping to house cleaning
The first and the oldest public service broadcaster in Hong Kong, RTHK is a quasi-public broadcasting organisation that has served Hong Kong residents for nearly a century. Since its inception in British colonial days, it has been in the embarrassing position of having a hybrid structure somewhere between a true public broadcaster and a government department. The colonial government of Hong Kong tried several times to turn it into a truly independent media organisation. These efforts failed for various economic reasons and due to political pressure, including the vehement opposition of the Chinese government.
Without a formal and legal status, RTHK tried to reinforce its role as a public broadcaster by sending senior staff for training at the BBC, adopting the BBC's professional practices and codes, striving to safeguard editorial autonomy from the colonial government and joining international public broadcasting organisations from the mid-1980s onward.
RTHK was therefore regarded as a public broadcaster enjoying a high level of credibility and gaining professional recognition in the region. Traditionally, the Hong Kong government and RTHK maintained a sometimes uneasy relationship of trust which was later formalised through a mutually agreed RTHK Charter in 2010.
This charter specifies RTHK's relationship with the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB), RTHK's Board of Advisors and the Communications Authority. The CEDB usually played the role of a housekeeper for RTHK, meaning that apart from resolving critical budget issues and structural and personnel arrangements, the bureau did not involve itself in RTHK’s day-to-day administration.
However, the pro-Beijing camp frequently complained that RTHK was a hotbed for anti-government and anti-China voices and that it failed to be a dutiful government department. The broadcaster angered the Hong Kong government, police and the city's pro-Beijing establishment with its live coverage of the anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019.
“It is astonishing that it took just over a year to transform the public broadcaster, which previously enjoyed a large measure of editorial independence, into something similar to a department for propaganda.”
Supporters hold posters as Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) producer Bao Choy Yuk-ling (not seen) speaks to the press at the West Kowloon Courts building in Hong Kong on April 22, 2021, after she was found guilty of improperly searching a public vehicle licence database to help track down the perpetrators of an attack on democracy supporters by government loyalists. Credit: Anthony Wallace / AFP
“RTHK management did make slight concessions under government pressure and created a precedent by following the action of the Chinese government, which suspended the broadcast of BBC World News.”
Threats turn to outright attacks
In early 2020, RTHK’s controversial satirical program Headliner became the centre of a political storm. Executives suspended the show after the Hong Kong police complained about an episode mocking the force. A few months later, police arrested the freelance producer of an RTHK TV investigative documentary about the authorities’ delayed response to a mob attack on protesters on July 21, 2019. The government later stepped up its efforts to revamp RTHK.
In February 2021, officials released a report on the governance and management of RTHK which denounced the broadcaster’s “seriously inadequate” editorial practices. The CEDB also announced the early termination of the contract of the then director, Leung Ka-wing. The annual budget of RTHK for 2021-22 was trimmed by 4.6 per cent – a move widely seen as punishment. The provision for public affairs and TV services was cut even more, by 9.2 per cent.
The then-RTHK management did make slight concessions under government pressure and created a precedent by following the action of the Chinese government, which suspended the broadcast of BBC World News in the country in mid-February 2021. China's National Radio and Television Administration said that BBC World News reports about China were found to "seriously violate" broadcast guidelines, including "the requirement that news should be truthful and fair" and not "harm China's national interests".
On the same day, RTHK said it would stop relaying BBC World Service programming. It had broadcast the service for more than four decades. The move sparked concern among foreign governments and journalist organisations. Keith Richburg, the head of the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, described RTHK’s decision as “surprising” because it did not look like the management would make such a decision unless “some direction” was given. He further said it was a “very worrying sign,” given that Hong Kong is “supposedly still autonomous.”
However, this was not enough to satisfy those who wanted to transform RTHK. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam told the Legislative Council that RTHK would have to undergo an immediate overhaul after receiving seven proven complaints in two years. The broadcaster has become a major target since Beijing imposed the National Security Law on Hong Kong on June 30, 2020. RTHK’s previous links with democratic politicians, Hong Kong civil society and international media organisations were targeted by the government. These groups and individuals were accused of causing social unrest and instability.
Carrie Lam, former Chief Executive of Hong Kong announces the invocation of the colonial-era Emergency Regulations Ordinance to ban the use of face masks for protestors, leading to widespread arrests. Lam would later use the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to increase control over Hong Kong’s democratic processes. Credit: Vernon Yuen / NurPhoto via AFP
“The project to “rectify” RTHK formally began in March 2021 when the Hong Kong government appointed Patrick Li, a long-time administrative officer, to take up the position of Director of Broadcasting.”
RTHK's decolonisation and realignment
The project to “rectify” RTHK formally began in March 2021 when the Hong Kong government appointed Patrick Li, a long-time administrative officer, to take up the position of Director of Broadcasting to replace Leung Ka-wing. This role was usually filled by a veteran staff member from within RTHK or an executive from another Hong Kong media organisation. The appointment indicated the government had deliberately abandoned its non-interventionist approach, not only explicitly strengthening RTHK’s ties with the bureaucracy but also reasserting direct control in day-to-day management.
The new director’s comprehensive control over RTHK was expressed at multiple levels, including the appointment of senior executives, changes of editorial policies and refocusing programme directions.
After Li assumed the role, more pro-government officers were recruited to serve as senior executives in RTHK. In mid-April 2021, several senior staff who came from different government departments were appointed. They included a former director of administration, Kitty Choi Kit-yu, as an advisor to the director of broadcasting; a former assistant secretary of RTHK's policy bureau, Freda Cheung Yun-chee, who became a senior manager; and two former staff members from the Communication Authority – Chan Chi-fai and Wong Wai-yin – to provide special support to RTHK management. In September 2021, Raymond Sy Kim-cheung, a former deputy director in the Marine Department, was redeployed to RTHK to take up the vacant post of Deputy Director of Broadcasting. He became Acting Director on Li's departure to his new position in July 2022.
The increased presence of career bureaucrats as senior executives in RTHK not only blocked the career prospects of current professional staff, but also aligned RTHK’s management style and policy direction with those of other government departments.
The period also witnessed an exodus of experienced professional staff members. According to news reports, at least 18 staff either quit or were fired within three months of Li’s appointment. Current affairs program staff were the hardest hit. Among those who resigned were Public and Current Affairs section head, Doris Wong, Hong Kong Stories executive producer Fong Hiu-shan, Headliner executive producer Liu Wai-ling, senior executive producer Sit Yau-tak, assistant director Brian Chow from the radio division and award-winning reporter, Yvonne Tong. Another journalist, Nabela Qoser, known for posing hard-hitting questions to government officials, did not have her contract renewed. Gladys Chiu Sin-yan, head of the RTHK Programme Staff Union, cited increasing political demands and systemic injustice as the reason for her resignation in late April 2021.
Outspoken and experienced journalists and presenters were also affected. Steve Vines, a former president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong, Allan Au from Radio 1, and Tsang Chi-ho from Radio 2 either were sacked, resigned or terminated their contracts due to the increasingly tough working environment. RTHK responded that the changes were the result of a “regular review” of programs, manpower and broadcasting arrangements. Most of those leaving cited political reasons. Before his departure, Steve Vines said it seemed that for somebody who was critical, the time to remain at RTHK had ended. The new-look RTHK was apparently no longer a place to embrace diverse opinions.
Top-down management style employed
The chain of command within RTHK’s organisational structure also underwent far-reaching changes. In the past, the Director of Broadcasting, as editor-in-chief, had seldom meddled in programming. Executive producers of different units or subsections held delegated powers and autonomy to vet programme ideas and content.
However, starting in March 2021, a nine-member editorial committee headed by the Director of Broadcasting was empowered to vet all program content and to issue top-down directives to journalists and directors regarding details of productions. Producers were encouraged to submit program plans “to the board for review at the early stages of planning, enabling that committee to be more proactive in guiding the production process." This "upward referral" system allowed RTHK management to prevent controversial issues from seeing the light of day.
In late September 2021, a 90-page document was formally issued to RTHK staff setting out editorial responsibilities, policies and procedures. The document, based on a previous version but with added emphasis on national security concerns, stressed that RTHK programs must not provoke or deepen hatred, discrimination or hostility towards the central or Hong Kong governments. It also stated that "under no circumstances” should programs “provide a platform to encourage, incite, promote, glorify, endorse or sympathise with any act or activity endangering national security or otherwise contain any contents which are contrary to the interests of national security."
The new guidelines also barred journalists from referring to democratic Taiwan as a country or a country-like entity, in keeping with Beijing's territorial claim on the island. They are also instructed to “be cautious in contacts” with foreign governments and “political organisations.” RTHK staff who do not comply risk disciplinary action.
The International Federation of Journalists’ affiliate the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) expressed concern over the ambiguity of some requirements. It also said the directives' style may not be good for the production and quality of programs. The HKJA urged management not to go down an autocratic road and instead to communicate with the RTHK staff union to address its concerns.
A Hong Kong and China Flag flies on top of the RTHK Television House in Hong Kong on April 20, 2021. Credit: Vernon Yuen / NurPhoto via AFP
“With a thorough rectification of the power structure, management style and production guidelines, RTHK headed towards the new policy goal of becoming a government mouthpiece.”
A new identity as government mouthpiece
By the end of 2021, the overhaul of RTHK was almost complete. The government regarded this process as a house-cleaning exercise. With a thorough rectification of the power structure, management style and production guidelines, RTHK headed towards the new policy goal of becoming a government mouthpiece.
Its focus of service would be directed towards the governments of both mainland China and Hong Kong governments rather than the local audience. For example, a series of 10 five-minute programmes was created on December 4, 2021 to promote China’s constitutional law. A few months earlier, RTHK's TV Channel 31 was asked to join China’s state broadcaster in showing programs praising the ruling Communist Party and promoting patriotism. To celebrate the party’s centenary, RTHK had to show related programs produced by China’s Central Television, including an awards ceremony for outstanding party members and a series about the battles in 1948-1949 that helped the Chinese Communist Party to win power.
The promotion of individuals became the theme of some programs. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was given her own RTHK talk show in April 2021. The show aired four times a day over 20 days, and allowed her to freely promote Beijing’s new election rules and her public policies without exposing them to challenges and questions from independent journalists. The 40-episode show was coordinated by the Information Services Department, which acts as the link between the Hong Kong government and the media. The chief executive was accused of using these shows to pave her way for re-election, something that in the end did not happen. The Hong Kong government’s interference in programming decisions facilitated the government’s self-promotion rather than letting RTHK fulfil a check-and-balance watchdog function.
The Chinese music charts of RTHK’s radio service also came into question. In August 2021, the theme song of a mainland-produced patriotic drama series, Glory of Youth, which aired on RTHK's Channel 31 with little media attention, was placed at the top of the billboard. It had placed 16th one week before. Its surge to the top of the charts prompted criticism, with newspapers quoting various netizens condemning it as a rigged match or the suicide of the chart.
“Representatives from the RTHK Programme Staff Union liaised with management to ask for concrete guidelines and an explanation of its editorial judgement to both staff and the general public.”
Censorship and program axings replace editorial autonomy
The reformed RTHK also imposed a new censorship system which ruthlessly removed all politically sensitive and controversial programs, presenters and content, regardless of whether these topics and content were popular or well received. Under this system, RTHK’s program quality will no longer be based on professional judgement and journalistic standards but mainly on political correctness and faithfulness to the government line.
Censorship has appeared in almost the entire production process, including the axing of a complete series, removal or rescheduling of specific episodes even when production had already been completed, banning creative ideas, and even stopping interviews with some studio guests.
As the editor-in-chief, the Director of Broadcasting can determine which programs are broadcast. Within a month of his appointment, six current affairs programs were suspended. Li exercised direct censorship in a tough way. A weekly roundtable called Midnight Talk Show, in which social science academics aired their views, gave way to mainland Chinese dramas.
Letter to Hong Kong, a Sunday morning current affairs radio show that invited politicians and public figures from a range of backgrounds to present their views on various issues, ended abruptly in July 2021 after being aired for almost 30 years. RTHK replaced the show with Hashtag Hong Kong, a new program which plays music and invites NGOs and non-profit groups to discuss livelihood issues.
These moves coincide with increasing pressure on RTHK from the government and pro-Beijing figures in Hong Kong over its perceived bias in favour of pro-democracy politicians. A letter written by Tuen Mun district councillor Michael Mo Kwan-tai, thanking detainees in prison for their sacrifice and wishing them a happy Easter, was supposed to air in April 2021. It was withdrawn three days before airing. A letter by Eugene Chan Kin-keung, the former chairman of the RTHK Board of Advisors, was broadcast instead. RTHK said this was an ordinary programming adjustment.
The dropping of politically sensitive programs was widely criticised. Nineteen members of the RTHK Programme Advisory Panel issued a statement in March 2021 condemning the director of broadcasting’s actions as erasing RTHK content in disregard of the promise of the broadcaster's editorial independence and press freedom. It turned RTHK into a propaganda machine rather than encouraging civic society platforms. The signatories expressed outrage, saying the move went against RTHK's Charter.
Yet the elimination of programs continues despite criticism from society. The long-running English-language current affairs show The Pulse was axed in July 2021. The program went viral after a senior World Health Organization official was asked in an interview whether Taiwan should be a WHO member. The interviewer, Yvonne Tong, quit after pro-Beijing groups accused her of using public money to incite Taiwan independence. Veteran journalist and program host Steve Vines, subsequently left Hong Kong after 35 years, citing “white terror" in reference to the current media situation in Hong Kong.
Another controversial move was the suspension of China on the Dot in July 2021. The show, which had been airing from Monday to Friday for more than a decade, was one of RTHK's best known radio programs. With the slogan "Knowing China Better", the show featured guests talking about current affairs and livelihood issues in mainland China.
RTHK declined to offer an explanation for its suspension. A complaint from pro-establishment legislator Elizabeth Quat may be a clue. She told Li in a budget allocation meeting in April 2021 that lots of complaints had been received and China on the Dot was among the problematic programs. She said the program was criticised as smearing and vilifying mainland China and asked Li how to better monitor program content.
Other content affected included the live TV show City Forum, which was suspended in September 2021 after running for 41 years. The forum was a platform where panellists discussed social issues from different angles and took questions from the audience. Another example of censorship related to the political show Legco Review, in which an episode scheduled to air at the end of May 2021 was dropped. Management was unhappy that a segment of the episode was presented by pro-democracy figure Audrey Eu, and at the inclusion of footage of the June 4 marathon in Hong Kong obtained from news sources.
It was alleged that the segment on the marathon was aired without the Director of Broadcasting’s "final approval". Staff argued that it was common practice to use news clips without prior screening. The program was later outsourced to a production team headed by a journalist working for a pro-Beijing newspaper after RTHK executives accused the producers of violating the approval process. The RTHK production team involved was taken off program-related work while the case was investigated.
‘Sensitive’ content in the firing line
Another current affairs show to come under fire was Hong Kong Connection. Though it was not axed, some sensitive stories were pulled. Episodes about the difficulty of practising digital journalism in Hong Kong, the suppression of a student union by a local university, another episode related to "improving the electoral system" and an episode related to the Diaoyu Islands controversy were vetoed by the editorial committee. Topics related to events marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989 and a follow-up to the 2019 mob attack on protesters in Yuen Long were also scrapped.
Management repeatedly emphasised that political topics could not be covered in the future. Representatives from the RTHK Programme Staff Union liaised with management to ask for concrete guidelines and an explanation of its editorial judgement to both staff and the general public. The Director of Broadcasting turned down an invitation to attend a meeting with staff. Not long after the executives banned these stories, management tapped outside contractors to make Hong Kong Connection episodes.
Non-current affairs programs were also affected under this new censorship system. In August 2021, artist Kong Yiu-wing received an interview request from an RTHK arts program about his exhibition Hong Kongers’ Archive of 100 Objects, a collection of artefacts exploring Hong Kong identity. Pro-Beijing figures have always attacked the idea of a separate Hong Kong identity as unpatriotic, and Kong was unsure how the new RTHK would handle the topic. In the end, the producer did not film any of the political artefacts in the exhibition, such as copies of pro-Beijing and pro-democracy newspapers, focusing instead on vintage recording equipment. A day before it was scheduled to air, an RTHK employee called Kong to tell him the episode had been scrapped by higher-ups.
Musicians who supported pro-democracy protests have had their work banned by RTHK. DJs for radio channels say they have been instructed not to play songs by popular artists including Denise Ho and Anthony Wong Yiu-ming after the 2019 protests. Newspaper Ming Pao reported at the end of January 2022 that RTHK management told presenters not to play songs, old or new, from a list of 10 singers and bands, even if they had nothing to do with politics. The report was confirmed by an unnamed DJ who told the reporter that the ban had affected programming. Affected musicians included pop and rock bands Rubber Band, C All Star and Dear Jane, as well as singers Serrini, Kay Tse, Charmaine Fong and Alfred Hui. RTHK did not deny the existence of such a blacklist. A DJ also confirmed that the station vets the guests who are invited for programme interviews. It is clear that censorship at RTHK is now carried out at a very micro level.
A Barricade with an RTHK logo at RTHK Television House in Hong Kong, China on April 20, 2021. Credit: Vernon Yuen / NurPhoto via AFP
A public broadcaster that no longer serves the ‘public’
What is clear is that the Hong Kong government has a clear vision of turning RTHK into a promotional vehicle for national interests, national identity and national security. The intrinsic values of a public broadcaster are no longer treasured because the Chinese political system does not tolerate concepts such as civil society, public interest, editorial autonomy or the fourth estate. In its view, a public broadcaster, like other media, is not there to empower the public but to support the government.
The “public” component seems to have disappeared from the new RTHK. The broadcaster no longer requires endorsement from other public organisations or the general public. For example, RTHK made an unprecedented decision to withdraw all submitted entries to any kind of program awards – whether local or overseas – and refused to accept them. Even though some programs had been nominated for the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards, the New York Festivals Radio Awards and other local news awards, RTHK informed the organisers of its decision to withdraw its nominations.
Management explained that the “selection mechanism [is] under review”. The HKJA and the RTHK Programme Staff Union expressed “extreme regret” and said that denying the efforts of staff members was unfair. Ming Pao quoted an anonymous employee who said the move went against RTHK’s culture of excellence. The employee queried whether the new management was afraid that programs might win awards and preferred that they did not attract viewers.
The station no longer gives priority to public accountability, at least in notifying the public about program or content changes. In the first few months of Li’s leadership, more than 12 new productions were pulled from their original airtime, all at very short notice. More than 200 past episodes of the documentary Hong Kong Connection and the news talk show The Pulse have been deleted from the public broadcaster’s YouTube channel.
The functions of social media as a backup and an extension of RTHK’s reach also changed. RTHK management decided in May 2021 that all RTHK programs on YouTube and Facebook would be kept for only one year, meaning that the general public could no longer retrieve earlier shows. Both primary and secondary school teachers found this change inconvenient as they had often used archived RTHK programs as teaching materials.
At the end of 2021, RTHK announced at the bottom of its website that it would “pause” the social media pages of a dozen programs. RTHK would halt the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages of 12 shows, which were previously operated by individual production teams. Later, it was announced that RTHK WEB+ would be shut down. The page, which posted multimedia content about e-learning, culture and music, thanked people for their backing over the years and asked them to keep supporting the public broadcaster’s Facebook page. Such an arrangement will prevent the audience from giving feedback and interacting with individual program makers, making it more detached from the public broadcaster.
Further evidence of this detachment could be seen in RTHK’s withdrawal of support for the inter-university debate competition, which has taken place since 1984. In December 2021, the organising committee invited RTHK to host the semi-final and final of the 2022 University Debate Competition, but RTHK refused to do so.
A major decision to dissolve the RTHK Programme Advisory Panel also signalled disengagement from the public. Since its establishment in 1993, the 140-member board represented different stakeholders including those from the academic, cultural and sports sectors, as well as district boards. RTHK executives could collect important opinions from this panel. However, it ceased to operate after its term ended on April 30, 2022.
An RTHK spokesman explained in early May that due to a simplification of the advisory structure of RTHK, it had found an alternate channel to collect public opinion. However, the move was widely seen as RTHK turning a deaf ear to the public. Grace Leung, a journalism lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the top-down approach to programming made it unnecessary for RTHK to listen to the public. It also denoted the political role that RTHK now plays.
“What is clear is that the Hong Kong government has a clear vision of turning RTHK into a promotional vehicle for national interests, national identity and national security.”
Omissions and Beijing terminology in news content
Unlike programmes being axed, changes in news reports are less noticeable to the general public. News regarded as sensitive was sometimes dropped. Some items were dropped at the proposal stage and others were spiked after news gathering had been completed. Since such stories never aired, the public may not be aware of their disappearance. If a sensitive story was too significant to kill, it would be played down. Events surrounding the anniversary of the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in Beijing on June 4, 1989 were good examples.
The situation worsened after the arrival of the new Director of Broadcasting. Self-censorship was no longer hidden. Pro-democracy scholars and other commentators who did not toe the government line were blacklisted.
Such omissions were not limited to politics. Staff received verbal instructions not to interview respiratory disease specialist Dr Leung Chi-chiu without reason from mid-February to late July 2022. Dr Leung, who may not toe the government line, is quite popular among journalists, especially during the Covid-19 epidemic. The timing of the blacklisting coincided with a fresh wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, when daily cases exceeded 10,000, overloading medical facilities. Subsequently, no reason was given for Dr Leung being allowed back on air, although some speculated it might have been due to Patrick Li's departure from Director of Broadcasting to take up the position of Permanent Secretary of the Security Bureau.
Worse still, a political directive was issued. Citing the “One China” principle, RTHK issued an internal notice on July 20, 2021 outlining what terminology should be used in relation to Taiwan. The government in Taiwan maintains it is an independent nation, while Beijing regards the island as part of the People's Republic of China and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.
The memo states that nothing can be said or implies that Taiwan is an independent country. Use of terms such as "country" or "Republic of China" – Taiwan's official name – are therefore banned, as are “Taiwan president” and "Taiwan government", which should be replaced by "Taiwan leader" and "Taiwan authorities". The memo sent to staff said that RTHK should "exercise a high level of caution in use of terminology in relation to Taiwan". Yet management failed to explain why such a change of terminology had been made while Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy supposedly remained intact – or indeed while mainstream newspapers continued to refer to the Taiwan government and president.
Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu Chao-hsieh became the first “casualty”. In reports on the establishment of a Taiwan representative office in Lithuania, Wu’s title was changed to “person in charge of the department of foreign contacts” in RTHK's Chinese-language news updates.
The way that news items are selected and highlighted has also come to resemble mainland media outlets. The visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan on August 2 and 3, 2022, is a case in point. The visit was splashed across major world news outlets, but was strangely missing from RTHK on the day of her arrival. The only mention of the visit came in stories about its condemnation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing.
On the following day, among the 164 news items in RTHK's Chinese-language Latest News section, just 13 were related to Pelosi's visit – and all were condemnations by officials in the Mainland and Hong Kong as well as the latter’s pro-establishment camp. There were no reports on Ms Pelosi's activities in Taiwan or what she said there.
An event with such immense impact on cross-strait and Sino-American relations should merit intense discussion in phone-in programs. But RTHK's Chinese-language morning and late afternoon shows were silent on the issue. These programs usually invite guests from different walks of life to explore hot issues in Hong Kong and overseas. However, no-one was invited to discuss the Taiwan visit in the week before and after it took place.
Apart from adhering to the official Chinese government line, the depoliticisation of programming may be an added reason for the lack of discussion on Pelosi’s visit. Retired principal assistant secretary for home affairs Ng Hon-wah wrote in Ming Pao in mid-August that he found the two current affairs phone-in programs did not discuss any political topics in the two to three-month period before he wrote the piece. Only livelihood issues were explored.
Ng guessed sensitive topics were avoided out of caution so that RTHK would not accidentally get caught by the National Security Law. If RTHK felt compelled to exercise self-censorship in such a thorough way, he argued that it would be difficult for the government to persuade the public that the legislation had no effect on freedom of expression. He also expressed the opinion that the depoliticisation of RTHK programs may prompt people to turn to other more sensationalist media outlets.
Visiting US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi waves to journalists during her arrival at the Parliament in Taipei on August 3, 2022. Credit: Sam Yeh / AFP
A government department with national duties
By the end of 2021, RTHK had been completely transformed and many old elements were barely recognisable. However, the new RTHK is continuing to evolve. One possible move is that RTHK might be structurally detached from the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau to come under the newly created Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. An Arts and Innovation Report published in May 2022 by Our Hong Kong Foundation, which was founded by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, proposed to revamp existing government bureaus and departments, and called for the formulation of a comprehensive and industry-driven blueprint that embraces technology to guide the development of Hong Kong’s creative culture industry.
The report suggested the government should consider setting up a new agency, or amalgamating existing departments or agencies, such as RTHK, CreateHK, and the Arts Tech Task Force. This new bureau would be responsible for devising a blueprint that takes into consideration the national call to action while keeping abreast of local developments and sensitivities.
Though it is hard to predict what will happen with the establishment of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, it is very likely that RTHK will have to further integrate with other government departments and might will come under pressure to be more proactive in fulfilling its national duties.