'RTHK Is Worried But Will Stick To Its Principles'

The Director of Broadcasting, Leung Ka-wing, said on Tuesday that RTHK is "afraid" and "worried" but will not alter its editorial principles or stop investigative reporting over the arrest of one of the station's TV producers.

Leung was speaking hours after police took away Bao Choy, a freelance investigative journalist at the public broadcaster who had worked on programmes on the July 21 Yuen Long mob attack last year.

Choy helped reveal how police officers were patrolling the area well before the vicious gang rampage at the town's MTR station, and how they witnessed but failed to intervene as gangs of men gathered in the streets with weapons. The brutal and indiscriminate attack, which the police didn't respond to, put dozens of MTR passengers and other passersby in hospital.

Leung said RTHK had been unable to contact Choy and so he had yet to learn any details about her arrest earlier in the afternoon, or whether it really was related to the Hong Kong Connection documentaries on Yuen Long.

But he said he is worried, just as everyone else is, that the arrest will have a chilling effect on journalists.

“We are afraid. We are worried... we better say we are worried, whether we can continue the way we produce accurate news as before,” Leung said.

He was asked by reporters from the station whether RTHK would put on hold any ongoing investigative reporting.

“Why should we stop?” he asked.

“I would ask you why would there be a need to stop? I cannot casually ask people to stop (working on something). There’s always a reason when it comes to a pause in work, isn’t there? If your boss asks you not to touch a certain issue, you would ask about the reason behind this,” he said.

Leung also pledged that RTHK would continue to follow its editorial principles.

“We always stick to our principles, it’s very clear in the charter as well as the producer guidelines,” he said.

He added that if the arrest was indeed related to Choy’s reporting or research, not only RTHK, but the entire journalism sector had to look at the matter seriously.