RTHK chief defends Headliner’s role as satire, but says ‘aspiration to serve’ bonds Hong Kong’s various departments

The head of public broadcaster RTHK on Thursday responded to recent high-level assertions that current affairs programme Headliner had “undermined” the work of Hong Kong police, underscoring the series’ status as a satire, while conceding the network must be open to criticism. In a letter sent to staff and distributed to media, broadcasting director Leung Ka-wing addressed the public row with police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung, who last week suggested the programme’s on-air jabs could result in an “erosion of law and order”. While acknowledging the “hard work and difficulties” faced by other departments, Ka-wing defended Headliner’s role on the network, pointing out it was “not a factual programme”. “Firstly, it is non-news. Secondly, it is satirical and ironic,” Leung wrote. “It belongs to the genre of satire which taps into hot societal topics through jocular expressions.” Central to the dispute are two Headliner episodes from last month that touched on hot button issues. In a February 14 episode, one comedy sketch implied police had stockpiled masks for officers amid a citywide shortage during the coronavirus epidemic. A February 28 episode, meanwhile, featured a segment that suggested police had failed to properly investigate deaths ruled to be suicides, a recurring talking point among anti-government protesters during months of social unrest. The two episodes led to the lodging of a formal complaint with the Communications Authority last week and a letter Tang publicly addressed to Leung. In his letter, Tang argued the show was failing to “reflect views from all sides” by siding with violent protesters – protesters who were conspicuously never the butt of the programme’s jokes. Addressing the situation further in a Saturday radio interview, Tang said while he liked watching Headliner, and had no problem with being imitated, “they cannot deliver false and misleading information and cause the public to lose trust in us”. Leung, who is expected to present his case to the RTHK Board of Advisers on Friday, argued in his letter that Headliner had a “definitive and unambiguous” character and approach “well recognised by the members of the public”. “While syncing with the social pulse, it serves as an effective outlet for grudges and resentment,” he wrote. He went on to say, however, that the broadcaster, which airs a diverse array of programming including news, information, education and sports 24 hours a day, shared broadly common goals with Hong Kong’s other government departments. “RTHK, as all our counterparts within the HKSAR Government, shares the common aspiration of serving the people of Hong Kong,” the letter said. “While we appreciate the hard work and difficulties of other government departments unequivocally, we also aspire for cross-departmental understanding and respect such that each performs its own functions, in hopes of better serving the public and the betterment of society.” Part of improving its programmes, he added, was listening to feedback. “We cherish every comment,” he wrote. “We can reassure the public again that RTHK does listen to complaints, accepts criticism, and never stops finding ways to improve.” Leung also noted that while Headliner received some 6,500 complaints between February 1 and March 8, there were more than 34,200 compliments sent in about the TV show. It was the second-most-watched show on RTHK’s official YouTube channel in February, recording more than 13.1 million views. Former lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen, who sits on the RTHK board of advisers, said he expected Leung to address board member’s concerns at Friday’s meeting. “There is an RTHK Charter for the station to follow, no matter if a programme is a news programme or not,” he said. That charter states RTHK must adhere to editorial principles of accuracy and impartiality. A police spokesman on Thursday said the force had no comment beyond Tang’s remarks of last Saturday. Current affairs observer Chan Wai-keung, meanwhile, a veteran lecturer at Polytechnic University, said the row between the two departments put Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in a difficult position. “The anti-government side will think Lam is suppressing RTHK because of its critical stance against her governance. On the other hand, the pro-establishment side is not happy either because they think Lam has not been tough enough against RTHK,” he said.