ATV has run a current affairs programme featuring the Y. Elites Group - a club backed by the scions of Hong Kong's tycoons - and allowed the organisation to appear as a sponsor of the episode.
Y. Elites featured in the second-half of News Magazine, a 30-minute current events programme that runs on Saturday nights on ATV Home. Before the start of last week's show, a screen appeared saying the sponsors of the episode were the Y. Elites Group and a hair-dye product, and the same message was played at the end.
The first segment examined land zoning violations. The second half of the show was devoted to the group, and started by showing its preparations for the Boao Youth Forum, which it hosted in Hong Kong on Monday.
Six members of the group were interviewed, including group chairman Jaime Sze Wine-him, who is the son of Sze Chi-ching, a local delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Group vice-chairman Kenneth Fok Kai-kong - grandson of the late Henry Fok Ying-tung, a vice-chairman of the CPPCC - also spoke. Four other members spoke - with all but one driving home the same point: Y. Elites Group was not only for young tycoons - it was not a 'gang of princelings'.
The segment, which ran for about 10 minutes, also included footage of the group's members at other events attended by officials from the Hong Kong government and the central government's liaison office. The piece did not interview anyone from outside the group.
The News Magazine host said at the end of the programme that next week's episode would feature Y. Elites again, this time discussing whether the group had made a contribution to Hong Kong by holding the forum.