RTHK Seeks To Withdraw All Entries From Awards

RTHK management say they are withdrawing all of the station's current entries for various awards, as a review of the public broadcaster's operations gathers pace under a new chief editor.

The station regularly receives international recognition for its journalism, with some of the most recent awards for shows focusing on the anti-government protests that rocked the territory in 2019 and 2020.

But episodes of some of these award-winning programmes have been abruptly pulled from the broadcast schedule since the government appointed career bureaucrat Patrick Li as director of broadcasting.

Management explained this week that the programmes dropped at the last minute contained "one-sided views" and "inaccuracies". It added that a management panel is now checking on "controversial" programmes during production.

On Wednesday, RTHK said it is also now looking at how entries for competitions are selected.

"RTHK is reviewing its operations, including the mechanism for nominating programmes for local, mainland and international awards. In this regard, RTHK has decided not to nominate programmes for the selection of awards during the transition period and will withdraw the entries submitted," a spokeswoman said.

The Human Rights Press Awards, meanwhile, said Li had asked it to withdraw RTHK's current entries "in totality", but it was unable to comply with his request.

"Because the judging process for the Human Rights Press Awards is already underway, and because entries can only be withdrawn by the individual who submitted them, HRPA has not withdrawn RTHK's entries," a post on social media said.

A previous award winner at RTHK described Li's move as "outrageous", saying the station's journalists are proud of their work.