Advisory board for RTHK 'to be free of political ties'
The board appointed by the chief executive to advise RTHK on its editorial policy would not include members with political affiliations, a government minister said yesterday.
Speaking on an RTHK phone-in, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan tried to ease fears that the proposed board would interfere with the public broadcaster's editorial independence.
Lau reiterated that the director of broadcasting and the board would have no supervisor-subordinate relationship.
The government has been urged to clarify the roles of the board and its relationship with the broadcaster to avoid future controversy.
Speaking a day after the government proposed setting up a board to advise RTHK on editorial policy, Lau said that to safeguard RTHK's editorial independence, people with political affiliations and holding public positions should not be appointed as board members.
'The board is an advisory body without actual authority. It has no supervisor-subordinate relationship with RTHK,' she said.
Under the proposal, the board would advise the broadcaster on its editorial policy, programming standards and programme quality and conduct regular reviews of how well programming met audience expectations.
The director of broadcasting, who is also RTHK's chief editor, would have to submit an annual plan to the board of advisers. But Lau sidestepped a question on whether RTHK's annual plan would require the board's agreement.
Chan King-cheung, chief editor of the Hong Kong Economic Journal and a former member of a government-appointed review committee studying the feasibility of setting up a new public broadcaster, called for a clarification of the board's roles.
'Is it an advisory body or a governing body? Is it authorised to reject RTHK's annual plan? The board's roles are unclear,' he said.
'If the pair have no [supervisor-subordinate] relationship, what can the board do if RTHK does not accept its advice? What is the point of setting up the board then?' Chan asked.
On Tuesday, Lau said the power to make the final decisions rested with the director of broadcasting but 'he should not ignore the views of the board lightly'.
The board, which would comprise more than a dozen members of the community with the director of broadcasting the only government representative, would be chaired by a non-official member, Lau said.
Executive councillor Ronald Arculli said the chief executive might not need to appoint all members to the advisory board, adding that members of other advisory committees were not exclusively selected by the chief executive.
The International Federation of Journalists regretted the government's decision not to reshape RTHK into an independent media outlet.
The federation called for the administration to reconsider its decision in favour of encouraging a 'more open and democratic space' for independent journalism in Hong Kong.
The revived RTHK will be granted extra resources, and it will move to a HK$1.6 billion headquarters in Tseung Kwan O.
