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SCMP Reporter

THE Hong Kong Monitor is a newly formed opinion group concerned about the political, social and economic development of Hong Kong in the years leading to 1997 and beyond.

  We believe that the first public hearing ever held in Hong Kong on May 28, for the mid-term review of the ATV and TVB licence was a total disappointment.

  It also set a most unfortunate precedent of how public hearings should be conducted.

  First of all there was a lack of publicity for such an important event.

  Public hearings are novel to the people of Hong Kong and many have no idea of what these are for (apparently the same also applied to those who hosted this first hearing).

  It is thus imperative that the responsible authority publicise these events.

  The choice of the Central Government Office during working hours for the first hearing only managed to discourage participation.

  Rules of the game were distributed only on the spot.

  The Recreation and Culture Branch did not furnish a report on the number and categories of complaints against the stations in the past six years, nor did it remark on instances when it found the two stations in violation of their mandate.

  Remedial actions by the two stations in response to government complaints were not revealed.

  Instead, the stations were given time to air two mostly self-congratulatory videos presenting only their side of the story.

  The moderator of the hearing tried his best to deflect questions from the station representatives. He insisted that the purpose of the hearing was to listen and not to respond.

  If such is indeed the purpose of the hearing, the organisers should have put a tape recorder on stage instead of people.

  Questions from the audience were bunched together before the station representatives were asked to respond, and then only after repeated insistence by the audience.

  For example, the points raised by Mr Lau Shan-ching's survey on TVB's decision not to air BBC's Mao documentary were not answered by TVB until Mr Lau made repeated queries.

  Secretary of Recreation and Culture, Mr James So, acted more like a defence lawyer for the two stations than an impartial government official.

  During the hearing, he used precious hearing time to expound on matters of principle and allowed the two station representatives to dodge important questions from the audience.

  If the Broadcasting Authority is serious in its intention to gather public opinion, it should remind the officials concerned that their proper duties are to facilitate expression of opinion by the public and elicit frank and honest responses from the two stations.

  The station representatives are there not just to record public opinion, but to explain and clarify the rationale of the actions of their respective stations.

  A public hearing should be a forum for exchange of opinions and ideas and responses from both stations are essential to carry forward meaningful discussions.

  If the station representatives can hide behind the skirt of the government officials, why bother to have them present at all?   THE HONG KONG MONITOR 



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ATV - Asia Television Limited

TV licence hearing disappointing