Opinion | Hong Kong chief executive's family troubles should be off limits

Last Tuesday morning, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's 23-year-old daughter, Chai-yan, posted bizarre messages on Facebook claiming physical abuse by her mother. Paramedics arrived at Government House but concluded no one needed treatment. Late that afternoon, the government announced the go-ahead for a super-pricey HK$141.5 billion third airport runway financed through a "user pays" plan that would cost departing travellers HK$180. In the evening, editors had to decide not only which was of greater public interest but which would impact people most.

Three Chinese-language newspapers, two seen as anti-Leung, chose to splash with the Facebook postings of the emotionally troubled Chai-yan. Unsurprisingly, one was the Leung-bashing Apple Daily. It even ran an editorial saying Leung liked violence, accusing him of cracking down on Occupy protesters. Chai-yan's postings, in fact, only claimed her mother had physically abused her. It takes great journalist licence to link Leung's parental handling of his daughter to the way he handled Occupy.

Eight newspapers, including this one, gave top priority to the third runway. That day and the next, I received calls from the media and people alleging self-censorship by the print and electronic media. They said Leung's family problems should have received top billing. We live in an age of reality TV shows and social media. People hunger to know about the personal lives of others. But are personal details of the emotionally unstable chief executive's daughter really more important than a huge project that has stirred up great controversy?

Anyone who saw TV footage of a confused Chai-yan walking back and forth with a vacant stare on a Government House balcony last Tuesday morning would have known she was not herself. Her state of mind would make it difficult for sensible people to accept her Facebook postings, peppered with expletives, on face value. Later that day, Leung faced the media to admit for the first time that his elder daughter was receiving medical treatment for emotional instability. He pleaded for privacy to deal with his painful family problems.

As chief executive, Leung has forfeited much of his right to privacy. But just because you are entitled to a pound of flesh doesn't mean you must claim it. Nothing in the rule book says just because Chai-yan made public her troubled relationship with her parents, you must milk it for all it's worth. His troubled family situation has hurt neither national security nor his governance in a way that warrants it being splashed across front pages.

My instant reaction after seeing Chai-yan on the balcony was sympathy for the family. My gut feeling was that the more media coverage there is of this emotionally unstable young woman, the more it will encourage her to post messages on social media. Surely, there is a risk this would further worsen her health.