by Simpson Cheung and Laura Zhou, SCMP, September 05, 2012
An ATV news commentary attracted a record high of more than 10,000 complaints for claiming opponents of national education were manipulated by "destructive" politicians who had the backing of London and Washington in the Legislative Council election.
On Monday's episode of ATV Focus, the narrator said local student-activist group Scholarism was only a pawn controlled by the "destructive" camp to boost poll support this weekend.
These teens are very poor at playing politics. They are in fact merely willful young ruffians," said the narrator, whom the show did not identify. The programme carried a disclaimer saying it reflected only the host's view.
Last night, the show continued its attack on Scholarism.
The Monday clip was widely circulated online, with many web users urging people to complain to the broadcasting regulator. The communication authority said it had received more than 10,000 complaints that accused the programme of broadcasting untrue and biased content.
The authority's code of practice says free-to-air television licensees shall ensure their programes are accurate and impartial. Shows that air personal views should allow a sufficiently broad range of opinions to be expressed.
Ronald Chiu Ying-chun, chairman of the News Executive Association, said ATV had breached the code of practice on impartiality and he demanded an explanation.
Yesterday, and ATV reporter was booed as she covered the protest against national education outside the Admiralty government offices. Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung said he was disappointed with the programme for broadcasting falsehoods.
It is understood that the programme is under the charge of Louie King-bun, a former senior editor of leftist newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which ran a front-page report with a tone similar to that of ATV Focus yesterday.
An ATV spokesman said freedom of expression and of the press should not be infringed, and hoped everyone's views could be respected.
Glossary
- accuse 指控
- biased 偏頗
- boost 提高
- code of practice 專業操守恆
- commentary 評論
- complaint 投訴
- convenor 召集人
- disclaimer 免責聲明
- infringe 違反
- leftist 左派
- manipulate 操縱
- narrator 旁述
- News Executive Association 香港新聞行政人員協會
- pan-democrats 泛民主派
- Ta Kung Pao 大公報
- ruffian 流民, 惡棍
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