Hong Kong’s embattled public broadcaster in the cross hairs again as Carrie Lam slams ‘unacceptable’ performance in Legco session
- Improvement at RTHK ‘badly needed’, chief executive says, noting she is ‘still waiting’ to hear from its chief editor over a variety of complaints
- The broadcaster has repeatedly been accused by the pro-establishment camp of bias against Lam’s administration and city police
Hong Kong’s leader has once again lashed out at embattled public broadcaster RTHK – the subject of repeated controversies in recent years – calling its performance “unacceptable” and saying improvements were badly needed to “set things right”.
Addressing a pro-establishment lawmaker’s question at a Thursday Legislative Council meeting, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also asked its head, director of broadcasting Leung Ka-wing, to make his stance clear on the complaints filed against the broadcaster.
There is a chief editor [at RTHK]. I expect the chief editor to spell out his stance on those incidents. And I am still waiting
Legislator Steven Ho Chun-yin, of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, on Thursday accused RTHK of “biased reporting”, disseminating “fake news”, making editorial mistakes, and smearing the police force.
Asked how she planned to address the network’s perceived failings, Lam said: “I would like to make clear my stance, and my stance is that improvement is badly needed by RTHK.
“As a public broadcaster and government department, in less than two years, there were seven substantiated complaints against it, including one serious warning and three warnings. This is certainly unacceptable,” the chief executive said.
