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Hong Kong’s RTHK under siege: should it be a public broadcaster or government mouthpiece?
- Fully funded by government, RTHK has been slammed for being ‘too liberal, too independent’
- Journalist’s arrest is latest blow to broadcaster, with major review under way
Reading Time:10 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Ng Chi-sum was still in costume as a Qing dynasty empress, the character he regularly assumed to mock Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, when the city’s longest-running satirical show, Headliner, ended a three-decade run on June 19.
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Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) suspended the popular weekly show indefinitely after being rebuked by the Communications Authority in May over an episode the industry regulator said had “denigrated and insulted” the police force.
But to Ng, the veteran TV host, the apparent end of Headliner was just the beginning.
“In this huge storm, Headliner is just a small stone that has been washed away,” he mused. “There are larger waves coming, and every media organisation must get prepared.”
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That was not the last controversy involving the public broadcaster this year.
Earlier this month, RTHK contributor Bao Choy Yuk-ling, 37, was arrested over her work on a programme about the infamous mob attack at Yuen Long MTR station on July 21, 2019, an incident that proved a turning point in last year’s anti-government protests.
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