bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Chloe Lai

Less than 24 hours after ATV announced it was airing a programme about last week's shoot-out, the Broadcasting Authority has already received 143 complaints.

The 30-minute show, which will include dead constable Tsui Po-ko's appearance on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in 2001, will be shown on the Home Channel tonight.

A spokesman for the authority described the number as 'rare' for a programme that had not even been broadcast.

The 143 complaints included the belief that the programme would create emotional disturbances, that it ignored the feelings of Tsui's family, would affect the investigation into the shoot-out and would damage the image of the police.

The Press Council has also received a flurry of complaints about newspaper reports of the Tsim Sha Tsui shoot-out.

It will investigate five written and one oral complaint about the coverage, some of which council vice-chairman Leonard Chu described as 'fictional'.

The council's secretariat refused to disclose the name of the newspapers complained about or the nature of the complaints.

Professor Chu,  of Baptist University's School of Communications, said he was particularly upset that the media had abused a dead person who could not defend himself.

'We're not big brothers, but we act on complaints,' he said. Many reports seemed to be based on impression rather than factual research, he said. 'The media need to be careful when reporting about a suspect, and ultra-prudent when it is about a dead person who cannot defend himself.'

Ho Kwok-leung, a social scientist at Polytechnic University, described coverage of the case as 'ridiculous and trial by the public'.

He said he was very angry with the broadcaster's decision to air the show.

'I'm not sure how the clips on a game show on how Tsui Po-ko and his wife answered questions relate to the shoot-out or help the police to solve the mystery,' he said.

'Tsui is a suspect but our society and the media have come to the conclusion that he is a murderer. A newspaper even called him a devil cop.

'And ATV's decision to air the programme puts the ridiculous saga to a totally unacceptable level, which completely ignores the feelings of his family.'



Complaints pour in over ATV plan to air show on gun battle