#WhiteTerror #Journalism
#RTHK Requires Intern to Declare Allegiance; Students Decline Offer

Source: Stand News #June26

Read more
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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30477

#WhiteTerror #Journalism
#RTHK Requires Interns to Declare Allegiance; Students Opt to Give up the Offer

Part 1:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30461

Part 2:

Third-year journalism student, Ms Chan, was originally assigned to be an intern at the Journalism Department of the public boradcaster RTHK in Hong Kong in mid-June, 2021.

Chan said she has been listening to RTHK since small, and it was her dream to become a reporter since ten years. Nevertheless, Chan felt distressed about whether she shall sign the declaration of allegiance as required by the station.

Chan believes that undertaking an internship at RTHK is a precious experience. If she gives up the opportunity, her graduation may be delayed.

She thought, "even if I postpone my intern to next year, I am not sure if I can find a news outlet with a conscience to work in."

Neverthelesd, Chan decided to give up her internship at RTHK. "It is not worth signing a risky document just for an internship. I reject the offer. Let's see if there is still space for journalists [to survive] next year. Otherwise, I would rather tske another course." She said, "It is not necessary to become a reporter just because I wanted to. As a result, it would not be a big deal if I don't have an internship with RTHK."

#RTHK #Internship #DeclarationofAlliegiance

Source: Stand News #June26
https://bit.ly/3qBkjpx

Former Political Satire Host Leaves Hong Kong for #Taiwan: "Sorry for Not Being Able to Say Goodbye"

Source: Stand News #Jul11

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30487

Former Political Satire Host Leaves Hong Kong for #Taiwan: "Sorry for Not Being Able to Say Goodbye"

On July 11, 2021, Tsang Chi-ho, a radio and TV host who was suddenly sacked by the public broadcaster #RTHK in June 2021, announced on Facebook that he has left Hong Kong for Taiwan. Tsang apologized for not being able to tell and say goodbye to his friends in advance.

Tsang wrote, "I woke up and realised that a 'Hong Kong' that is not Hong Kong anymore." He said he missed his friends a lot.

"In each of our heart, there lie many people, happenings and thousands of words. The path thereafter we will continue to walk," Tsang wrote in his post.

Many netizens left words of encouragement to Tsang: "Safety comes first," "As long as you and your family are well," and "Thank you for what you have done for Hong Kong" among others.

Taiwanese netizens also told Tsang "Welcome to Taiwan".

[Editor's note: #TsangChiHo is one of the hosts of the famous political satire #Headliner produced by RTHK. Under political pressure, the long-running popular program has been suspended. The public broadcaster RTHK termimated Tsang's contract with immediate effect in June 2021, despite the popularity of another radio show he was hosting.]

Source: Stand News #Jul11
https://bit.ly/2UCGq30

#PoliticalSuppression #Exile #Migration

#FreeSpeech #WhiteTerror
RTHK Bans Wordings that Suggest Taiwanese Sovereignty

#RTHK chief Patrick Li issued an internal notice today (July 20) to lay out new wording guidelines for the station's programs when describing #Taiwan, effective immediately.

The notice pointed out that RTHK's mission, as set out by its charter, includes increasing citizens' knowledge of "One Country, Two Systems". Therefore, the station's programs must strictly adhere to this principle with its word choices regarding Taiwan.

Specifically, names and prefixes such as "Republic of Taiwan", "National", "Executive Yuan" must not be used; Taiwan must never be referred as an independent sovereign state. The noticed also listed examples such as using "Taiwan regional leader" instead of "Taiwan president", and "Taiwan authorities" instead of "Taiwanese government".

Source: Stand News #Jul20

https://bit.ly/3kEXSP2

#NewSpeak #OneCountryTwoSystems

#PoliceState #Censorship
HK Communications Authority Censors #RTHK News Report, Claiming "#Taiwan is not a country"

Source: Stand News; #Aug19

#PoliceState #Censorship
HK Communications Authority Censors #RTHK News Report, Claiming "#Taiwan is not a country"

On August 19, 2021, the Hong Kong Communications Authority reviewed and substantiated a complaint against the public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). The complaint criticizes the use of the term "nationwide" in a news story about Taiwan.

The story in question was about a by-election held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2020. The Chinese-language news report said "people can cast their votes at over 1,800 polling stations nationwide."

The Authority in Hong Kong said Taiwan is "not a country" and the by-election was only held in Kaohsiung.

RTHK later corrected its report online and stated that "it is a fact that Taiwan is not a country and hence the use of the term nationwide in the remark is inaccurate."

The Authority asked the station to "observe more closely" the Radio Programme Code.

Source: Stand News; #Aug19

https://bit.ly/3D3rsEZ

'City Forum’ going off air after broadcasting for 41 years; "Uncles of Victoria Park" may become history

#RTHK #CityForum #SpeakersCorner #FreedomOfSpeech

Source: Stand News; #Sept4

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'City Forum’ going off air after broadcasting for 41 years; "Uncles of Victoria Park" may become history

Sources say that the RTHK programme "City Forum" has been discontinued. The programme is currently on its annual summer break; while it would resume in the second week of September in previous years, RTHK will not be bringing it back this year.

Responding to inquiries, RTHK says that its programming and personnel arrangements are internal matters, and declines to comment. Citing its charter, RTHK emphasizes that it has editorial independence.

City Forum was launched on 13th April, 1980, and had been well received by the public duing its 41-year run. It was usually hosted in Victoria Park, and allows time for attending citizens to take the mic to voice their opinions. Some attendees spoke particularly intensely and had caught the attention of the local press, who affectionately referred to them as "uncles of Victoria Park" and "brothers of Victoria Park".

According to the RTHK website, the programme aims to encourage freedom of speech, reflect public opinion, and provide an open space for citizens to voice their ideas. Topics discussed at the forum covers a wide range of topics in Hong Kong, including livelihood issues, culture, education, finance, the legal system, and many more. The website says that it aims to continue bringing together public opinions "like many streams forming a great river."

#RTHK #CityForum #SpeakersCorner #FreedomOfSpeech

Source: Stand News; #Sept4
https://thestandnews.page.link/m7YzXZBTayXgw9tA7

#WhiteTerror
Hong Kong Radio host #HughChiverton disappears from airwaves, #RTHK refuses to comment

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Sept21

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#WhiteTerror
Hong Kong Radio host #HughChiverton disappears from airwaves, #RTHK refuses to comment

//RTHK has refused to comment on the whereabouts of its English-language radio presenter Hugh Chiverton after he disappeared from the airwaves without explanation over two weeks ago.

He last hosted the Backchat morning show on RTHK 3 on September 3. However, the episode remains missing from the online archive.

The topic of the programme was “#CivilSociety” and included former City University academic Joseph Cheng, Dr Lim Tai-wei of the National University of Singapore and Dr Eugene Chan – president of the Association of Hong Kong Professionals and a former RTHK board chairman.

According to a source familiar with the matter, Chiverton “was told he received an instruction that he could no longer host the programme anymore” following the civil society episode.

Chiverton’s disappearance from #Backchat is the latest controversy since a new Director of Broadcasting with no previous media experience took the helm in March. Since then, RTHK has also scrubbed its online archives, purged its Twitter account, launched a chat show hosted by Lam, and issued directives to staff to use Beijing-approved wording.

Lam has also announced a partnership between the broadcaster and Chinese state media CCTV to air more mainland-produced shows to instil a sense of patriotism among Hong Kong viewers...//

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Sept21

Read full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/09/21/radio-3-host-hugh-chiverton-disappears-from-airwaves-rthk-refuses-to-comment

#Censorship #Disappearance

The 10th CUHK News Awards Ceremony was held on Nov 14. However, 2 award-winning news' institutions have closed or changed their tone...

#AppleDaily #HKconnection #NewsAward #RTHK #StandNews #GoHKgraphics

#Regime
HK public broadcaster removes social media pages of 12 popular programmes

Since one year ago, the Hong Kong public broadcaster #RTHK, with the change of management, has been removing programmes that the authorities deem "sensitive" from its website and restricting quality programmes from enrolling competitions.

On November 27, 2021,the broadcaster sneaked in a notice at the bottom of its website, saying that the station will halt the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages of 12 shows from December 3, 2021 onwards.

The notice, however, didn't give any reasons to the halt.

The programmes affected are:

- This Morning;
- The Pulse;
- LegCo Review;
- Hong Kong Connection;
- This Week;
- Think About Thinking;
- Headliner;
- Hong Kong Stories – A Time to Mend;
- Rich Mate Poor Mate Series 2 and 3;
- Sign Language; and
- Knowledge Zone.

Most of these shows are no longer in production, including the axed popular political satire show Headliner.

While some of these social media pages have been dormant for periods ranging from around two months to more than two years, others have been popular among netizens and followed by many.

The Facebook page of Hong Kong Connection had 360,000 likes and followed by 440,000.

The Facebook page of Headliner had 420,000 likes and followed by 480,000.

The Facebook page of This Week had 340,000 likes and followed by 430,000;

The Facebook page of Think about Thinking had 87,000 likes and followed by 100,000.

Image: Stand News
Source: Citizen News; #Dec2
https://bit.ly/2ZMdTLg

#MemoryWar #Silence #Censorship #Headliner #HongKongConnection

#NeverForget #AntiELAB
2.5 years after #721YuenLong Mob Attack: Who Owns the Truth Now in 2022 Hong Kong?

Source: RTHK; Stand News

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31957

#NeverForget #AntiELAB
2.5 years after #721YuenLong Mob Attack: Who Owns the Truth Now in 2022 Hong Kong?

January 21, 2022 is the 2.5-year mark of the 7.21 Yuen Long Mob Attack. On July 21, 2019, pro-democracy protesters, train passengers and pedestrians were indiscriminately attacked by white-clad gangsters in Yuen Long. While the Hong Kong police had allegedly turned a blind eye, the question once posed by #RTHK's news program #HongKongConnection resurfaced: in 2022-Hong Kong, who owns the truth?

Watch RTHK's "7.21 Who Owns the Truth?" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/4rImPpE3p2U

The news documentary was produced by former RTHK journalist #BaoChoy on the first anniversary of the attack in 2020 and had won accolades including the Press Freedom Award.

Choy examined various video evidence, tracing the attackers to various pro-China groups. She also interviewed one of the victims, who was able to identify his attackers from the surveillance camera footage provided. The victim lamented that he had to identify the suspects before the journalists, since the police did not invite him to take part in any investigation. The victim wonders if the police wanted to investigate at all.

The journalist, moreover, traced the association of some of the attackers to various village representatives in Yuen Long, partly by checking car license plates against the government's vehicle registration database. However, the authorities then arrested and fined Choy for making "false statements" when accessing the public-available database. It was the first time such a charge was laid against journalists using the vehicle database.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (#HKJA) criticized the move, stating that checking public records had been a common investigative tool in Hong Kong.

In May 2021, RTHK began to take down videos over one year old from their online platforms. This documentary is now no longer available on their official website, as are the programs chronicling the 2019 Anti-ELAB movement.

Meanwhile, the police and state media had made concerted effort to rewrite the Yuen Long attack into a clash between "invading" protesters and those defending Yuen Long. However, another investigative report by Stand News discovered that the alleged call to protest in Yuen Long was likely fabricated, and was ultimately dismissed by discussion forums.

Watch "Tracing the Source - Investigative Report by Stand News" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/Gch5ikVyI80

After the implementation of the #NationalSecurityLaw, pro-democracy news outlets, like #AppleDaily and #StandNews, have been pressured into shutting down. Their libraries of articles and videos, including interviews and video footage of 7.21 and many other events during the movement, had gone offline. Though netizens scrambled to back up the data, the records made by these news outlets in Hong Kong cannot be easily accessed by the public, and some may possibly be lost forever.

Two and a half years after the attack, Hongkongers today find very little room to publicly remember the events that transpired. Gatherings that merely hinted at support of the movement are suppressed by police wielding both the anti-gathering rules introduced at the start of the pandemic, as well as the #NationalSecurityLaw.

Meanwhile, the deep rift between the police force and the general public as a result of the 7.21 attack had not been healed, as the Force and its supporters cling to their version of events, which are regularly cited by pro-government and pro-China media.

For now, it is up to individual Hongkongers to investigate, record, document and remember the events they have seen, heard, and experienced during the pro-democracy movements.

Source: RTHK; Stand News

Subtitles by Real Hong Kong News

See also:
"Tracing the Source" - 7.21 Yuen Long Attack Investigative Report by Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30599

30 months after, Hongkongers refuse to forget
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31954

#Memory

#Censorship #PressFreedom
Hong Kong Public Broadcaster cuts pro-democracy representation in Advisory Panel overseeing programme quality

A Hong Kong public broadcaster, Radio & Television Hong Kong (#RTHK), announced on May 10 that it is set to streamline its consultation framework.

Under the new framework, the advisory panel on programme standards that comprised several members of pro-democracy parties have ceased operation since April 2022. However, panellists from the pro-establishment camp can be retained.

Although Tik Chi-yuen, a member of the Advisory Panel, told the reporters that he was surprised by the RTHK's action, he defended it and said that it doesn't mean RTHK is not listening to public opinion.

Another member Fung Ying-him, a representative of Our Hong Kong Foundation supporting the new framework, said such an arrangement was "fine", as the Advisory Panel did not have an active role, but only met once a year.

Source: Inmediahk, #May12
https://bit.ly/3sviEny

#TikChiYuen #FungYingHim

#Censorship #Education
Authorities Remove Teaching Materials on Human Rights and Protesting in Hong Kong

The Education Bureau (#EDB) in Hong Kong has been promoting values education in recent years, and it is rating the "National identity" and "law-abiding" as one of the most important values.

It is also found that some learning and teaching resources under the "Human Rights Education" category have been chopped with the latest website update, including group projects to collect press clippings for demonstrations, studying "why protesters have their demands", etc.

As the 33rd anniversary of the June Fourth Incident approaches, the timing of this update becomes sensitive, though the Education Bureau said yesterday that the recent update "has nothing to do with the June Fourth Incident, so there's no need to make unnecessary speculations".

In the Education Bureau's original framework, students are expected to "respect human rights". These wordings were removed in the pilot version of the "Values Education Curriculum Framework" launched last year.

In addition, the recommendation to students to "cherish freedom and respect the freedom of others" through the #RTHK programme "City Forum" was also removed.

A primary school principal, who did not wish to be named, said she felt helpless about the change in the teaching resources. She said that despite the clear new content, some of the removed items should be available for teaching, but becoming a grey area after the #NationalSecurityLaw came into effect. She worried that teaching such materials might touch on sensitive topics and lead to "consequences".

"For example, teachers should have taught the June 4 incident on June 4, but now they feel that they could no longer teach it under the National Security Law. There's a lot of pressure on the schools and the teachers, that we don't know if anyone would complain about what we teach to the authority," she said.

Source: Mingpao #Jun04

#NSL #Education #June4

https://bit.ly/3yiZ0yo

Famed Hong Kong Author Ni Kuang Passed Away at 87; Novel Warned of Doom if Hong Kong Lost Its Freedom

Hong Kong author Ni Kuang passed away at home on July 3, 2022 at 87 years of age. A prolific Chinese-language novelist and screenwriter, he was the author of numerous celebrated science fiction novels, including the long-running Wisely series and Dr. Yuen series.

His death was widely mourned by Hong Kong's netizens as well as fellow writers. Author Sai Shing Sun, who is a friend of Ni and had long considered him to be his godbrother, posted on Facebook: "Big Brother Ni had left this afternoon." Columnist and writer Chip Tsao posted a photo of him and Ni together, and remembered him as "the most clear-minded individual in the Chinese-speaking world these past 70 years".

Ni appeared on an #RTHK talk show three years ago, where he and veteran lawyer Paul Shieh discussed his novel "Chasing the Dragon" (追龍). The story revolved around a great city in the east, and it was prophesied that it would lose its great qualities, and the city would thus perish.

An excerpt from "Chasing the Dragon" reads:

"To destroy a great city, the cause doesn't have to be a natural catastrophe; it could also be a man-made disaster. And it is not necessarily a war; but a few words of a few people, the foolish and ignorant acts of a few people - it is enough make a great city completely die. You don't have to destroy its buildings. You don't have to kill a single inhabitant. You can even make it appear the same as before on the outside. You only need to make its great qualities disappear, and city would then perish and die."

Ni, who fled China after the Communist Party came to power, said on the program that the novel was a political allegory for Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong was liberated, just like Shanghai was liberated, by the Communists. They came to power with their own principles. People talk about 'One Country Two Systems' this and that, and I only laughed at them for being so easily duped. They asked me why; I said I don't even believe that One Country Two Systems exists. What do you mean it's damaged? The question is moot.

"Communists do whatever they want. Communists promised One Country Two Systems; since when were Communists trustworthy? They never followed through a single promise all these years."

If Hong Kong were to lose its freedom, he said on the 2019 show, then Hong Kong's great quality would be destroyed. "[They would] be unreasonable, and restrict people's freedoms ... mainly the freedom of speech. It's the mother of all freedoms. Without freedom of speech, you have no other freedoms."

source: In-MediaHK.net #Jul4
https://bit.ly/3a9pWHA

#NiKuang #HongKongLiterature #FreedomOfSpeech #OneCountryTwoSystems #CCP

A year being in the US before returning, Bao Choy: Do my best to HK with my strength

Bao Choy, the director of TV programme Hong Kong Connection at RTHK, was told that she made false statement on Vehicle Registration in one of the episodes. She was convicted at a magistrate's court last year and was charged HKD6000.

Bao Choy applied for an appeal to the High Court. She indicated after the trial that searching for Vehicle Registration involves public right to know; but followed by her accusation, many news agencies no longer allow their journalist to search in the registration list. She hoped to do her best for the freedom of the press.

Choy received a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University last year and had studied for a year from last August. It is to investigate the independence, the future development and the survival of news agency.

She recently returned to Hong Kong. She answered, "Hong Kong is my home, where I love. I hope to do something for Hong Kong with my reachable power" when she was asked for the reason of returning.

She will wait for the judge to decide her case with peace in mind while she is not suitable to comment. "To do what I can do." The appeal not only is for her individual case but also involves public right to know, to let the court decide whether the registration aligns with Hong Kong legal spirit.

She believes the original judge has an extremely narrow interpretation to the law. The registration record has been very useful and valuable to the public interest for the past decades, including high officials getting vehicles before taking over the seat.

From her knowledge, the majority of the news agencies has stopped their journalists from searching the registration, having a negative impact to the industries. She hopes she can do something for the freedom of press with the case.

Source: Inmedia #Aug29

https://bit.ly/3ByG4vO

#BaoChoy #ChoyYukLing #RTHK #HongKongConnection #FreedomofPress #PublicRighttoKnow #July21WhohastheTruth

Hong Kong’s Top Court Overturns Journalist’s Conviction
Bao Choy Asks: How Can the Damage to Press Freedom in the City Be Rectified?

In an extended 30-month ordeal that encompassed her arrest, a significant legal setback, and persistent appeals that reached the Court of Final Appeal, Bao Choy Yu-ling, the former producer of Hong Kong Radio Television (#RTHK) program "Hong Kong Connection," finally achieved a momentous victory in the highly contentious "license plate search case" on June 5.

During the production of the episode "7.21: Who Owns The Truth?", Choy's team used the government's vehicle registry to look up cars used by the violent mob who indiscriminately attacked train passengers and civilians in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019.  They discovers that some of the cars belonged to village representatives and pro-government leaders in the Yuen Long area. The documentary has since won journalism awards, though the government-owned RTHK had refused to acknowledge them.

Instead, in 2021, the government persecuted Choy's team based on their use of the vehicle registry, until the Court of Final Appeal handed down its decision this week in Choy's favor.

In response to the verdict, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, John Lee Ka-chiu, bitterly asserted on June 6 that the government will improve the procedures and guidelines for license plate searches, underscoring that the court's ruling demonstrates the fairness and impartiality of Hong Kong's judicial system.

In rebuttal, Bao Choy questioned, "I wonder how many 'defendants' have the time and resources to advocate for the supposed fairness and impartiality mentioned by the Chief Executive?"

She conveyed that throughout the course of the case, journalists faced "intimidation" during their license plate searches, leaving the question of how the inflicted damage can be rectified.

Source: The Collective HK; #Jun06
http://bitly.ws/Ho7u

See also:

Hong Kong Connection - 7.21: Who Owns the Truth - video translated by Real Hong Kong News
https://youtu.be/4rImPpE3p2U

“7.21: Who Owns the Truth" wins #PressFreedomAward, but rejected by RTHK; producers accept award on behalf of production team
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29773

Hong Kong Journalist Stands Trial Over Use of Online License Plate Search
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/29285

#BaoChoy #JusticeDelayed #PressFreedom