The public does not want a government mouthpiece, says panel review member
The public service broadcasting review by the government should examine different models of financing for RTHK, including making it independent like the MTR Corporation and the Hospital Authority, a member of the review panel says.
Mathias Woo Yan-wai, creative director of the Zuni Icosahedron theatre group, said there was a public consensus that the public broadcaster should not be a government mouthpiece.
Speaking at a forum at the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in a personal capacity, he said: 'It should serve the public, not serve the government.
'But should it remain a government department or be 'corporatised'? And if it is corporatised, there are different kinds of models - it could be a Hospital Authority model, the MTR model ... they could take a certain percentage from rates collected by the government ... there are different kinds of model.'
Mr Woo lamented the lack of quality discourse on current affairs in Hong Kong. He said his vision of the city's public broadcaster was one of a 'global international vision' rather than just a community channel.
'If Hong Kong is an international city, why should the public service broadcaster not have an international vision and have programming in Cantonese, Putonghua, English, even other languages,' he said.