What exactly is the government afraid of when it launches important policy initiatives from behind the smokescreen of anonymous briefings to the media? This practice seems to be growing, and although recent representations from the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) have secured a tepid official pledge to improve the situation, it falls far short of an unequivocal commitment to transparency.
It is easy to dismiss this whole matter as something of primary concern for journalists; given our lowly place in the pecking order, this would mean very little. However, the elementary need for policymakers to present their policies in the flesh and openly answer questions is one of the cornerstones of good government. If government ministers are not prepared to defend their policies in public, this must raise the question of what they have to hide.
A three-month survey conducted by the HKJA, from March to May, found no less than 12 policy initiatives launched anonymously in background briefings by officials. Among them were some quite significant matters such as new laws on unfair trade practices, the idling-engine ban and, most surprisingly, the revised constitutional reform package that brought the Democratic Party onside and was eventually endorsed by legislators.
The ground rules for these briefings are that no one can be referred to by name, that media reports must not mention that the briefing itself has taken place and, in some cases, reporters are not even allowed to make clear that the information is coming from the government itself but from a 'source', whatever that's supposed to mean. Worse still, it is common practice for these briefings to be held at very short notice and close to deadlines, making it difficult to obtain responses from other parties.
In a statement to the HKJA, Pauline Ling, assistant director of the Information Services Department, said that the government's way of conducting briefings 'is an accepted media practice that is also adopted in other countries'. Hopefully she is not, yet again, setting the bar so low for Hong Kong as to compare it to countries with a very poor record for government transparency.
The simple fact of the matter is that in open societies, policy initiatives are launched in an open way by the government minister responsible for them. While it is not unusual for governments to 'test-market' initiatives by way of officially inspired leaks, once a policy has been formulated, there is no question of some anonymous briefing.