Radio Television Hong Kong angry about TVB pulling satirical programme on Xi Jinping visit
Public broadcaster makes formal complaint to regulator about move, which TVB claimed was done to broadcast breaking news; instead it broadcast a re-run on Xi
Radio Television Hong Kong has filed a complaint to the Communications Authority over broadcaster TVB’s abrupt pulling of a controversial programme that poked fun at Xi Jinping on Friday, when the president was in town to mark the 20th anniversary of the city’s handover to China.
The episode of the current affairs programme Headliner, which was replaced by a re-run of a broadcast on Xi and a programme on feng shui, also made repeated references to the imprisoned Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who was released from jail on medical parole last month after he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
Amen Ng Man-yee, head of RTHK’s corporate communications unit, told the Post that RTHK was only notified eight minutes before the programme was supposed to be aired on TVB Jade at 6pm last Friday.
Ng said TVB told RTHK the switch was needed for the broadcast of some breaking news, a reason which she questioned.
Instead of running the RTHK show, TVB Jade broadcast a recording of Xi meeting with various sectors in Hong Kong earlier in the day and then a programme on feng shui.