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The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:
The Broadcast Codes of Practice Committee of the Communications Authority will hold a meeting on March 4 (Tuesday). The meeting will discuss the proposed amendments to the Codes of Practice for television and radio for regulating editorial programmes and personal view programmes (PVPs). Major proposals include:
(a) editorial programmes, being programmes which contain a broadcasting licensee's views or perspective on matters of public policy or controversial issues of public importance in Hong Kong, should be regarded as one type of PVP. It follows that the existing ground rules on PVPs, namely accuracy, fairness, suitable opportunity for response and a sufficiently broad range of views should apply to editorial programmes;
(b) views of the "person providing the service" would be regarded as the views of the licensees. The "person providing the service" is proposed to be defined as the licensee and the persons exercising control of the licensee such as directors, principal officers and major voting controllers of a licensee;
(c) for a programme containing the views of the person providing the service, a suitable announcement should be made at the start of the programme to identify clearly that the views expressed therein are or include those of the person providing the service; and
(d) a suitable opportunity for response to a PVP should be provided on the same platform and target a like audience within an appropriate period.
The meeting will be conducted in Cantonese. It will take place at 11.30am at the Conference Room of the Office of the Communications Authority, 20/F, Wu Chung House, 213 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting as observers. As seats are limited, they are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Interested parties should make prior reservation. For enquiries or seat reservations, please call 2961 6456.
The Communications Authority has conducted a public consultation from December 17, 2013 to February 17, 2014 to gauge public views on the above proposals. A summary of responses from members of the public is available at www.coms-auth.hk/filemanager/en/content_711/cp20140226_views_e.pdf.
Ends/Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:04
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