Why Jenny Ng and Li Wei-ling make unconvincing heroes of press freedom

One-time consultant for the government Jenny Ng Pui-ying, who denounced her client's decision in the TV licensing row last year, returned for more limelight when she joined the press freedom march on Sunday.

As a managing partner at Value Partners, Ng "voluntarily" left the company after she went before the cameras to accuse the government of misquoting a company report to justify its decision to block a TV licence for businessman Ricky Wong Wai-kay's Hong Kong Television Network. Somehow she became a victim and a hero in pan-democratic circles. In reality, she was neither.

If she was a victim, it was only of her own unprofessionalism and poor judgment. She breached the cardinal rule of client confidentiality, yet did not further the public interest: we already knew the government decision was questionable, so who cares what Value Partners thought? But geez, where does it say a client must follow a consultant's recommendations?

At over 400 pages, presumably the Value Partners report offered different, even opposing options and possibilities. What was there to stop a client taking only those bits it liked? People seem to lose all common sense and perspective when it comes to the Leung Chun-ying administration. Witness the case of sacked Commercial Radio host Li Wei-ling who turned what looked like a fallout with her own bosses into a government suppression of free speech.

As a citizen, you should be free to criticise your government. HKTV, of course, deserved a licence. Why was it the government's business to discourage competition in a market if an entrepreneur such as Wong was committed financially to the venture?