RTHK given 'serious warning' over police comments

The Communications Authority says it was reasonable to expect RTHK to be meticulous in ensuring that the host’s opinions were based upon accurate facts. File photo: RTHK

The Communications Authority (CA) said on Monday that it had decided to give RTHK a "serious warning" after upholding complaints made about a guest's comments regarding the way the police confronted protesters at two universities last year.



The authority said RTHK had made multiple breaches of the TV programme code of practice, including that it shouldn't air material that is factually incorrect or likely to incite hatred.



The CA said almost 350 people had complained about an episode of the opinion show "Pentaprism" on November 20, 2019, where a guest host had talked about recent clashes at the Polytechnic and Chinese universities.



It said the main allegations were that the show had been irresponsible by exaggerating the force used by the police while ignoring the violence of protesters, and that the guest presenter's remarks were "baseless, misleading, biased and partial, and defamed and incited hatred against the government/police", as well as endorsing violence.



"The police stormed and raided the campuses, laying bloody siege to CUHK and PolyU ... and madly fired over 2,000 rounds of tear gas in CUHK," was one of the guest host's comments.



"There was even footage showing that the police entered the campus not for making arrests, but for shooting citizens and students madly at close range as live targets. Such retaliatory killing of civilians," was another remark.



The CA noted that the five-minute programme offers various guest hosts a chance to express their own opinions on current affairs, and two days later another guest had commented on the university confrontations, saying police did not "storm" the universities, and that their actions and tactics were relatively humane and peaceful.



However, a statement said: "The CA took the view that the complaints in respect of accuracy, incitement of hatred, fairness and factual content of personal view programmes were substantiated and decided that RTHK should be seriously warned to observe more closely the relevant provisions in the TV Programme Code."



The CA said it wasn't made clear enough that the host's comments were based on things seen in the media or read online, and footage used in the programme did not show police shooting protesters at close range, as the host claimed had happened.



"RTHK appeared to have uncritically accepted the information of other media reports, articles or opinions from unverified, secondary sources posted on the internet at face value without conducting any fact checking on its own, in dereliction of its duties as a broadcaster," the CA said.



"Given the exceptionally serious criticisms and accusations levelled against the police by the host, it was reasonable to expect RTHK to be vigilant and meticulous in ensuring that the host’s opinions were based upon accurate facts."



It added that while the host’s remarks could be regarded as hate speech and were capable of adversely affecting the reputation of the police, there is no evidence that the comments promoted or endorsed illegal acts.



RTHK had removed the episode in question from its web archive to "avoid possible misunderstanding of the audience".



It told the CA that although the scripts for "Pentaprism" are prepared by the hosts, the production team makes an effort to revise them to ensure programme quality and so it is clear that the opinions made do not represent the broadcaster's stance.



In March, Police Commissioner Chris Tang said he was reporting RTHK to the Communications Authority over a satirical show that poked fun at his officers.



Earlier this month, Commerce Secretary Edward Yau, whose bureau oversees RTHK, said that the station had breached the "One China" principle by asking the World Health Organisation in a TV interview if it would reconsider Taiwan's membership in light of the coronavirus pandemic.