When the Law Reform Commission came out with its recommendations on the regulation of covert surveillance last month, they were largely welcomed by legislators and the legal community. The media, however, was loud in its opposition.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said that if the commission's recommendations were accepted, they would prevent journalists from carrying out investigative work. The association's vice-chairman, Camoes Tam Chi-keung, was quoted as saying: 'If the suggestions are passed by the government, it could be harmful to press freedom in Hong Kong.' Similarly, the Hong Kong News Executives' Association said the proposals placed unrealistic restrictions on journalists.
The Law Reform Commission is proposing the creation of two new criminal offences. One is trespassing on private premises with the intent to observe, overhear or obtain personal information. The second is physical intrusion into private premises by means of a technical device.
In 40 years of working as a journalist, I have never once broken into anyone's home or planted a bug in their bedroom. It never seemed necessary. But when I thought about these media organisations' objections, I wondered if, somehow, I have not been properly discharging my journalistic duties.
It was with some interest, therefore, that I read about the Hong Kong News Awards presentation ceremony this week, sponsored by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong and presided over by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. He said he hoped that the awards would eventually have the same status as the Pulitzer Prize in the United States.
Looking at the winners in the various categories, such as Best News Writing, Best Business News Reporting, Best Science News Reporting, Best News Writing and Best Headline Writing, I wondered if any of the journalists involved had to break into anyone's home or surreptitiously plant listening devices on their premises in order to discharge their journalistic duties. Somehow, I don't think so.
As for the Pulitzer Prize, during the heyday of investigative reporting, The New York Times won a Pulitzer in 1972 for the publication of the Pentagon Papers - a top-secret US Department of Defence history of American involvement in the Vietnam war from 1945 to 1971.
