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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Wai-hing, Emily and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph W P Wong, in the Legislative Council today (March 28):
Question:
In January this year, the Broadcasting Authority (BA) came to the decisions that Radio Television Hong Kong and Television Broadcasts Limited had breached the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards and issued strong advice and advice to them respectively. The justifications for the decisions were that the television documentary "Gay Lovers" produced by the former was not in compliance with the provision on impartiality of the above Code and might have an effect on children, whereas the latter broadcast, in October last year, the movie "An Autumn's Tale" without concealing the coarse expressions and extremely offensive expressions. At its meeting on the 12th of this month, the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of this Council passed a motion stating that the two aforesaid decisions were respectively sexual orientation discrimination and lacking in respect for freedom of creative work, and urging BA to withdraw such decisions. Moreover, some members of the public consider that many members of BA are conservative in their thinking, turn a blind eye to the needs of the disadvantaged and are out of tune with the mainstream values. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:
(a) they know if BA will withdraw the two decisions pursuant to the aforesaid motion; if BA will not withdraw such decisions, of the reasons for that;
(b) they know if BA will review the criteria adopted for assessing the contents of television programmes, with the objective of respecting the freedom of creative work and avoiding discrimination against certain groups of the community, so as not to hinder media organisations from producing programmes which reflect the change in taste of the mass audience and meet the needs of the disadvantaged; if BA will not conduct such a review, of the reasons for that; and
(c) they will change the composition of BA by appointing the representatives from the trade and the disadvantaged community and removing the seats for official members, so as to enhance the professionalism and independence of BA; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Broadcasting Authority (BA) is an independent statutory body established under the Broadcasting Authority Ordinance (BAO) (Cap. 391) with the responsibility of, among others, securing proper standards of broadcasting with regard to programme content. We have sought input from the Secretariat of the BA on parts (a) and (b) of the question which relate to the BA. Our reply is set out below -
(a) On March 23, 2007, the BA replied to the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of the Legislative Council, which asked for the BA's response to the motion it passed at its meeting on March 12, 2007. In the reply, the BA stated that it had handled the two broadcasting content complaint cases in question in accordance with the law and the established procedures. It had carefully considered the programmes against the relevant provisions in the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards issued by the BA, the representations of the broadcasters concerned and all other relevant factors before arriving at its decisions. The BA had already performed its functions and duties in exercising its power. According to the legal advice that the Secretariat of the BA has obtained, the BA having made a decision in exercise of a statutory power, has performed its functions and is wholly without power as a matter of law to rescind its decision. The Administration respects the BA's decision in these two cases.
(b) In discharging its responsibility under the law to secure proper standards of television broadcasting, the BA is fully committed to safeguarding the existing freedom enjoyed by Hong Kong residents, including freedom of speech.
There is no pre-censorship of broadcast contents. The Codes of Practice on programme standards serve as guidelines on content standards for the broadcasting industry. They were published after extensive consultation with the public. The BA reviews the Codes of Practice from time to time in consultation with the broadcasters and the public. Indeed, the BA has a well-established mechanism to undertake consultation including, since 2005, conducting annual public opinion surveys to gauge public attitudes on broadcasting standards to ensure that the prevailing community standards could be fully reflected.
Concerning the use of undesirable language in broadcast materials, which has been a major concern by the viewing public, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), the executive arm of the BA, has compiled and updated from time to time a Glossary of Undesirable Expressions after extensive consultation with the broadcasting industry. The last review was conducted in 2004 and the glossary is due for another review this year. The BA and TELA are considering involving the public in this review.
(c) At present, the BA comprises nine non-official members, including the Chairman, and three public officers, all appointed by the Chief Executive pursuant to the BAO for terms of two years. The non-official members come from different professional fields including media, social work, education, legal, financial and business sectors. The official members are there to render their contribution from their own expert areas which are essential for deliberation of matters on the BA, i.e., communications and public opinion. Complaints cases to the BA would first be referred to the BA Complaints Committee (BACC) pursuant to section 11(1) of the BAO. The BACC comprises seven BA non-official members and five co-opted non-official members coming from a broad cross section of the community. The wide spectrum of background and expertise reflected in the composition of the BA and BACC ensures that the BA has a high degree of representativeness and professionalism in discharging its statutory functions and duties in content regulation independently.
The present system has been working effectively and we have no plan to change the existing arrangements. When vacancies on the BA arise in future, the Chief Executive will continue to exercise his power under the law to appoint persons from appropriate background to maintain the expertise and representativeness of the BA.
Ends/Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Issued at HKT 12:38
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