TV media should be ashamed of ferry disaster reporting
Alice Wu says freedoms don't give some journalists the right to ask cruel, stupid questions
Perhaps all too often my favourite former professor, Tom Plate, used to say: "There are no stupid questions." But it was just his way of encouraging learning and inquisitive minds. That's what schools are for - they're where we should all be entitled to immunity from persecution (not to mention ridicule) for stupidity.
But what happens after we leave our alma maters? Well, theoretically, we grow up - and take responsibility for our actions, and yes, residual stupidity.
We make stupid mistakes, ask stupid questions, and for that, we usually get what we deserve. It's part of life: I have the right to free speech, but if my stupidity and ignorance offends others, they have every right to tell me to "shut up".
And so, here I am, telling some in the news media to "shut up".
In Hong Kong, that last statement will generate gasps of disbelief. It will be considered sacrilegious, and I could be persecuted - Cultural Revolution style - with my counter-revolutionary comment. But where does one's right to report end and right to disrespect begin?
The Lamma ferry tragedy has shocked Hong Kong. Rescue responses, reports concluded, were swift, professional and massive. Rescue workers, as well as some survivors, have been lauded as local heroes (as they should be).