TVB welcomed the Communications Authority’s decision on Wednesday allowing it and another free-to-air broadcaster to stop running programs from public broadcaster RTHK, as did many sensible people in Hong Kong.
But the decision is far short of what they have desired or demanded — privatize the public broadcaster or shut it down altogether. They might be guilty of being too radical by coming up with such suggestions. But they have a case.
The only raison d’etre for public broadcasting is to “serve all in the quest for the common good”, as prescribed by UNESCO. This is supposed to be achieved by “enabling people to better understand themselves by understanding the world and others”. This is exactly where RTHK has failed miserably.The only raison d’etre for public broadcasting is to “serve all in the quest for the common good”, as prescribed by UNESCO. This is supposed to be achieved by “enabling people to better understand themselves by understanding the world and others”. This is exactly where RTHK has failed miserably.
By allowing its programs to repeatedly smear the city’s law-enforcement officers, the broadcaster has in no way contributed to the common good. Rather, it has arguably done a great disservice to society by causing public misunderstanding of the police, which in turn has spoiled the relationship between the police and public, compromising residents’ cooperation with and support for the force to the detriment of law and order.
RTHK has also conspicuously failed to live up to another major principle governing the operation of a public broadcaster — providing citizens with information, education and entertainment free of political influences, or free from partisan pressure.
The broadcaster has repeatedly vilified the police force and made a mockery of government officials during months of anti-government protests. But it has never taken issue with the black-clad rioters, not to mention condemning them for the wanton violence and vandalism they have committed right in front of the cameras of RTHK’s own reporters. Indeed, RTHK reporters were seen as “comrades in arms” and treated nicely by the ‘’blackshirts’’ when they covered the riots because they had, without fail, displayed unmistakable partiality to the ‘’blackshirts’’ by directing their cameras only to the police and deliberately editing their reports to only highlight police actions. In contrast, reporters from TVB were repeatedly harassed or even attacked by the ‘’blackshirts’’ just because they had maintained professionalism and remained neutral in their coverage of the riots.
To the great disappointment of most Hong Kong people, the public broadcaster has forsaken professionalism, impartiality and integrity, allowing itself to degenerate into a propaganda tool that serves only partisan interests rather than the common good of Hong Kong society. They have a strong case for putting public money to better use.