Heat mounts in police-RTHK fight

More than 200 complaints have been made against a television program, Headliner, for allegedly smearing the police's efforts to fight Covid-19.

The Office of the Communications Authority is probing the incident after receiving a series of complaints over the past three days, according to the commerce and economic development bureau.

"As RTHK's editor-in-chief, the director of broadcasting is responsible for making the final editorial decisions in RTHK and is accountable for editorial decisions taken by RTHK program producers," a bureau spokesman wrote in a reply to the media yesterday. He said the office will give an account to the public afterwards.

This follows a letter of complaint from the police public relations branch to the Director of Broadcasting Leung Ka-wing, chief editor of Radio Television Hong Kong, on Saturday expressing its "utmost regret" that a Headliner episode aired on Friday had mocked police efforts and implied they were stockpiling a surplus of protective gear.

An RTHK spokesman said Monday that the station "understands the hard work of the police" during the epidemic but added Headliner offered a satirical perspective based on "different voices in the society."

The RTHK Programme Staff Union on Monday urged the police to face public criticism and respect the station's editorial independence.