Hong Kong's Further Shrinking Press Freedoms

The BBC World Service will not be carried by RTHK anymore

 

Last week the UK revoked the broadcasting license of China Global Television Network (CGTN), after it said the state-owned broadcaster was run by the Chinese Communist Party and therefore violated British laws.

That led to Bejiing banning the BBC World Service "within Chinese territory" for what it called "serious content violations" following an explosive report on sexual assault of Uyghur women in "vocational training centres" that many critics say are internment camps.

The BBC report says Uyghur women were raped

Just hours after that announcement, Radio Television Hong Kong followed suit with an announcement this morning, which led to an outcry that press freedom is further deteriorating in the city.

RTHK stopped broadcasting BBC's World Service and News Weekly as of 11pm tonight, though other TV networks like TVB, Now TV and Cable TV said they would continue offering programs by the UK-based broadcaster.

Previously RTHK aired BBC World Service daily from 11pm to 7am, and the Cantonese-language radio show BBC News Weekly every Sunday at 7am. It was not clear what the programing would be replaced with.

The head of the University of Hong Kong's journalism and media studies centre, Keith Richburg, says it's "surprising" that RTHK has pulled the plug on its live relay of BBC World Service.

Richburg questions RTHK's decision on BBC

"Hong Kong is supposedly still autonomous, first of all, And so a decision like this seems to have been something that would have been ordered either by the Hong Kong government for RTHK or coming from the top from China and relayed to RTHK," he said.

"We really kind of need to get to the background of how that decision was made and made so quickly as well. People would be very very curious to know what the decision-making process was behind that."

Meanwhile, the RTHK Programme Staff Union called on the broadcaster and the relevant government bureau to explain the decision.

In a statement, the union says under One Country, Two Systems, it has never heard of other examples when Hong Kong has to follow instructions by the mainland's broadcasting regulator.

It noted that RTHK has been relaying BBC World Service for more than four decades, and it's a pity that the arrangement has come to an end.

RTHK's move follows Beijing's decision

Finally in a written statement, RTHK cited Beijing's decision as the reason for its move, while a spokeswoman said the decision was made within the broadcaster's management.

"The decision was made among RTHK management, and concerned heads of sections were informed this morning," said Echo Wai Pui-man, head of corporate communications and standards at RTHK.

So it seems the decision was political in following Beijing's lead. Will this affect how other foreign media outlets operate in Hong Kong? 

Richburg now knows where the city stands... behind Beijing.