Communications Authority's appeal bid rejected in RTHK "Headliner" case

The Communications Authority has lost its bid to take its appeal to the city’s top court after RTHK’s now-suspended TV program “Headliner” was cleared of warnings from the authority. 

One episode of the satirical TV program was accused of insulting the police, leading to warnings issued by the authority in May 2020.

The RTHK Programme Staff Union and the Hong Kong Journalists Association in response filed a judicial review against the authority's decision in 2021, resulting in all warnings being overruled.

The Communications Authority previously applied to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal, but its application was rejected by the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

In a written judgment, three judges -- Jeremy Poon Shiu-chor, Susan Kwan Shuk-hing, and Thomas Au Hing-cheung -- unanimously dismissed the authority’s application and ordered it to pay legal costs of HK$180,000.

The judges said that the authorities had failed to correctly distinguish between the content of the program as fact or personal opinion.

(Stacy Shi)