2009 Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority forum
2009 Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority forum was a public forum held on the night of July 14, 2009 by the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority. The forum gave the citizens a chance to provide feedback and comments about the two free Hong Kong TV station TVB and ATV. A large number of questions and complaints were directed at the station representatives. Starting from issues of self-censorship, the forum soon escalated to chaos including heated comments toward TVB general manager Stephen Chan Chi Wan.[1]
Background
Both ATV and TVB's current broadcast license went into effect on 1 December 2003.[1] Traditionally TVB news used the slogan (無綫新聞，事事關心), which means "TVB News, care about events".[2] In June 2009 people became dissatisfied with how the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests were being reported locally. Thus the phrase (無綫新聞，事事旦旦) became a new protest spinoff phrase.[2] On June 5, a day after the Tiananmen square 20th anniversary, all the TV stations were analyzed for their handling of the Tiananmen broadcast.[2] TVB, which has the largest viewership and largely regarded as a monopoly, broadcast only 8 minutes of the event well after a number of lesser important programs.[2] Some of the programs that came before Tiananmen news included students abusing drugs in Tin Shui Wai, and lesser important news regarding Legco and the Hong Kong subway.[2] This led TVB to be labeled as CCTVB by the critics, which is a knockoff of the People's Republic of China's censored state-run station CCTV.[2]
Forum
On July 14, 2009 the forum had about 350 participants.[1] The forum originally began with the complaints of self-censorship being practiced by both stations along with other broadcast freedom issues. The questions later spiraled to issues of monopoly, controlling of celebrities etc. Each citizen had 3 minutes to ask questions.[3]
Some top questions directed toward Stephen Chan:
- Does TVB ask actors and actresses to participate on some shows in exchange for awards.
- Why was Twins Gillian Chung's special TVB pay-vision response interview broadcast first, as opposed to the Tiananmen incident which was broadcast third.
- Is the phrase "Puk gai" (僕街) considered a real profanity? Why is it ok when TV series actors use it, but beeped out when politicians use it on news programs.
- Other earlier complaints include the downplaying of Jackie Chan's Chinese people need to be controlled comment.[2]
References
- HK.yahoo.com. "HK.yahoo.com." 電視牌檢討公聽 市民怒罵陳志雲. Retrieved on 2009-07-15.
- HK.yahoo.com. "HK.yahoo.com Archived 2009-06-12 at the Wayback Machine." 市民諷無綫新聞事旦. Retrieved on 2009-07-15.
- Minpao.com. "Mingpao.com Vancouver." 電視牌檢討公聽市民怒罵陳志雲. Retrieved on 2009-07-15.