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One of the TV advertisements.

Hong Kong government ads an attempt to influence lawmakers on reform, lawyer tells High Court

Photojournalist attempts to block government's 'make it happen' broadcasts on grounds they are political, rather than serving public interest

Thomas Chan

A series of government advertisements entitled "2017, Make it happen" were an attempt to influence the public to pressure lawmakers to pass an electoral reform proposal, a lawyer argued in the High Court yesterday.

Retired photojournalist Cheung Tak-wing, is seeking leave to launch a judicial review to ban the radio and television ads, which have been broadcast since April 22.

Barrister Paul Shieh Wing-tai SC, representing Cheung, rebutted the government's argument the ads were "announcements in the public interest".

He said they contained no information and jumped to the conclusion that the reform proposal must be passed.

He added that the purpose of the ads was only "to influence the public in order to influence the respective Legco members to vote in certain way". The Legislative Council is to vote on the proposal later this month.

[The ads suggest] passing the deal is a good thing for Hong Kong
BARRISTER PAUL SHIEH

The court heard broadcasting licences required licensees to include "announcements in the public interest", such as health and safety issues and government policies, provided by the government with the direction of the Communications Authority.

Shieh said that to justify an ad as an "announcement in the public interest", the government had to show a certain proportion of the public would benefit from it if they acted on it.

The barrister also questioned the timing to the broadcasts. He said the proposal was not yet government policy as it had not been passed by the legislature.

"Why now? It's just a proposal," Shieh said. "[The ads suggest] passing the deal is a good thing for Hong Kong. We need to pocket it first."

But Johnny Mok Shu-luen SC, for the Information Services Department, argued that "announcements in the public interest" could mean "different things at different times for different purposes".

He said the ads that Cheung was challenging were part of a continuous campaign that sent out the same message.

He told the court the message was that "the public should grasp the opportunity to see to it that universal suffrage can be realised in 2017 in the form of enabling over five million eligible voters to vote for the chief executive on the basis of one person, one vote".

Mok also said Cheung should have challenged the ads, which were part of a promotional campaign dating back to August last year, earlier.

Barrister Abraham Chan, representing the Communications Authority, said it was for the government to decide what was in the public interest.

Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung said he expected to hand down his ruling next week.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: 2017 ads 'there to sway votein Legco'
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