ATV plan for drama about shoot-out draws complaints
Broadcasting watchdog warned against censorship
The Broadcasting Authority has already received two complaints against ATV's plan to make a series
based on the recent police shoot-out in Tsim Sha Tsui - and the station has not even started filming the
drama yet.
The authority said the complaints, received on April 13 and 18, called on ATV not to make a drama out
of the incident involving constable Tsui Po-ko, who is suspected of gunning down a constable and
seriously injuring another at a Tsim Sha Tsui underpass on March 17. Tsui died in the shoot-out.
The Broadcasting Authority received 143 complaints before ATV showed a 30-minute special last
month on the shoot-out, which featured a clip of Tsui participating at the station's quiz show Who
Wants to be a Millionaire?
Denny Ho Kwok-leung, associate professor at the Polytechnic University's department of applied
social sciences, said ATV should wait until the conclusion of the court proceedings surrounding the
case before producing the drama. An inquest into Tsui's death will be held later.
Tsui's family is reported to have been traumatised by the attention from the media, with some family
members being tailed by reporters and paparazzi.
Mr Ho added that compared with the more than 600 complaints received after ATV's 30-minute
special, the reaction this time was mild.
The authority said it would look into the complaints against the planned drama before deciding on
further action.
Another academic warned that the government should be careful when acting on complaints against
programmes that had not yet been broadcast.
Chinese University's journalism professor Kenneth Leung Wai-yin said that any handling of complaints
against a programme that had not been produced could be seen as censorship.
'Does it mean that you aren't even allowed to think about it? In a free society, prior restraint or
censorship is not acceptable,' said Professor Leung.
'Certainly the public can voice their opinion, but in some cases, opinions expressed can stop some
content going public.'
ATV said no final decision had been made on whether to produce the drama.
'We haven't confirmed anything. We are only doing research at the moment. Whether such a
programme will be aired, or even produced, will still depend on many factors,' a spokeswoman said.
But she admitted that the station had plans to make a drama based on the police shoot-out.
Mr Leung said it was common to make melodramas or docudramas on famous cases, such as JFK
by Oliver Stone and the recent Munich, about the attack on Israeli athletes during the Munich Olympics
in 1972.
'If ATV does enough research and does not make the programme libellous it will not be a big
problem,' he said.