Lai See reports high-profile mistakes by rival media groups with great reluctance. Only the faultless and righteous may refer to the blunders of others in this business. But may we point out, with only mild reluctance, a howler seen on CNBC yesterday; it must have had Australian stock market investors choking on their breakfasts - would you believe it, the main Aussie market index was down 3,000.5 points to just 30.1 points at 7am, Hong Kong time? There it was, all over our giant plasma TV screen. We would not mention this at all, except the error stayed on our screen well into the breakfast session of Squark Box, a well known 'Tuark' show in TV. One wonders why no one in CNBC spotted the error earlier. Don't they watch their own show? Of course not, everyone is too busy creating it and the checking is left to alert viewers like Lai See. Needless to day, punters began to breathe easier as the S&P/ASX 200 made its remarkable recovery for the day, rising by 2,977.1 CNBC points to close at 3,017.3. Whew! Democratic gag: Democracy and the free flow of information go together like salt and pepper right? Not always if our experience yesterday with the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation is anything to go by. Having received faxed notification in advance, a reporter was despatched to the Hong Kong Club to hear a luncheon speech by General Chamber of Commerce chairman Christopher Cheng Wai-chee which the foundation had organised. When the reporter arrived, an official organising the seating made it clear that journalists were persona non grata. That was reiterated by Mr Cheng who was due to talk on the state of the Hong Kong economy and his policy prescriptions for the government. When we suggested we could call later to get the gist of things, he said: 'Yes but on another subject.' Democratic Foundation chairman Alan Lung Ka-lun took the point about his organisation doing its bit for the free flow of information but said speakers would sometimes only agree to appear if they were guaranteed a hack-free zone. He had learned his lesson after a stray reporter had inadvertently picked up some pearls of wisdom from a speech given to the foundation by Anson Chan Fang On-sang. Mr Lung said the scolding from the former top civil servant lasted longer than her speech. Rail backflip: The MTR Corp and KCRC merger drama looks to have slipped off the train. Turning a new corner was KCRC chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun who has achieved, what for a rail man is hard to achieve - a U-turn. Reversing his opinions on the benefits from a merger, he yesterday claimed the cons now outweighed the pros. Informed sources say Mr Tien's right-arm men have been pushing the government for its own listing, rather than being gobbled up by its glitzier and arguably better-run rival. But are concerns for the public weal and operating independence the only worries for Hong Kong's country railway. Certain sceptics were wondering whether Mr Tien's recantation might have had more to do with the likely elimination of costly top management and renumeration packages in a merged behemoth. Surely not. Scam alert: We received an e-mail yesterday from Madam Marie Kabila, second wife of the late Congolese president Laurent Desire Kabila: 'I am under severe pressure from this present military government headed by the first son of my late husband, General Joseph Kabila . . . he has seized all the deposited funds registered under my care.' Wouldn't you know it? Madam Kabila has US$30 million in a coded security vault overseas and needs a sucker, sorry 'reliable investor participant' to help release the money. Remarkably the e-mail carries a link to the US Secret Service Web site which warns about the incredible African scam-mail epidemic. See it at www.secretservice.gov/ alert419.shtml Graphic: whee30gbz
