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My Take
Opinion
My Take
Alex Lo

Political or not, RTHK decision is right

  • Lifting mandated showing of RTHK programmes is not censorship, as it is unfair to force private TV stations to air public shows with low ratings

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Pro-government supporters protests against RTHK, outside their headquarters in Kowloon Tong. Photo: May Tse
Alex Lo has been an SCMP columnist since 2012, covering major issues affecting Hong Kong and the rest of China.

Some RTHK staff have an exaggerated sense of self-importance in inverse proportion to the quality of programmes they produce.

The RTHK Programme Staff Union is crying foul over a Communications Authority decision to let private TV stations decide whether to air programmes produced by the publicly funded broadcaster.

“It is crystal clear that the government is making use of various means to target a unit under its structure, RTHK, which dares to speak the truth,” it said.

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The mandated RTHK broadcasting rule might have made sense once, when it didn’t have its own TV channels. Now, any household with a reasonably updated TV set can receive RTHK on its digital broadcasting channels.

It is simply unfair to force private stations to air public programmes with low ratings.

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Pro-government supporters protests against RTHK, outside their headquarters in Kowloon Tong. Photo: May Tse
Pro-government supporters protests against RTHK, outside their headquarters in Kowloon Tong. Photo: May Tse

Predictably, opposition politicians are complaining about censorship. But is it not the opposite of censorship where all broadcasters, public or private, can decide on their own what to air?

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