The controversy over RTHK's axing of two popular radio hosts has deepened, and legislators will ask the RTHK's chief to explain the decision at a panel meeting next month.
Director of broadcasting Roy Tang Yun-kwong is expected to appear at the December 12 meeting of the information technology and broadcasting panel to brief lawmakers on why RTHK wants to dump Robert Chow Yung and Ng Chi-sum.
Panel chairman Wong Yuk-man said yesterday the RTHK decision, which the station had wanted to keep secret but was leaked, might have implications for freedom of speech and RTHK's editorial independence.
'It is a very unusual move and RTHK's handling of the issue is very suspicious,' Wong said.
Leung Ka-wing, head of the public affairs unit of RTHK's Chinese-language radio programme division, denied that politics was behind the move, which he said had started taking shape a year ago.
He also said the station had planned to make public the changes around Christmas.