Several media associations yesterday demanded transport authorities facilitate the industry in searching vehicle license plate registrations in a protest against the arrest of the producer of an RTHK show.

They held a joint press conference yesterday following the arrest of Hong Kong Connection producer Bao Choy Yuk-ling for allegedly breaching the Road Traffic Ordinance when searching vehicle registrations for the documentary program.

Meanwhile, the US State Department also called on Beijing and Hong Kong to "cease efforts to crush press freedom" over the arrest.

The RTHK Programme Staff Union and Hong Kong Journalists Association were among six groups demanding the Transport and Housing Bureau include media searches of car registrations as acceptable.

In the past, journalists who attempted to initiate such searches could indicate their purpose as "other."

However, since last October, the "other" option has been revised to "traffic and transport-related matters," limiting journalists' access to the database.

The bureau said the revision was to allow searchers to understand that information obtained from the search could only be used for those matters.

But the Companies Registry allows journalists to search for details of companies by indicating that their purpose is to report news events.

The media associations also slammed the high-profile arrest of Choy, saying that it was disproportionate for police to arrest Choy at her home as traffic-related offenses would normally result in a subpoena only.

Gladys Chiu Sin-yan, chairwoman of the RTHK Programme Staff Union, said she had negotiated with RTHK's management and demanded they assist Choy directly.

"The relevant news production [Hong Kong Connection] is also our production, and is not just relevant to Choy," Chiu said. "RTHK is duty-bound to help Choy."

She also said that the public broadcaster's investigative reporting would continue as there is no verdict on Choy's case yet.

The chairman of the Journalists Association, Chris Yeung Kin-hing, said Choy's arrest reflected the legal risks that journalists could be subject to as part of their work.

"Most media companies cannot afford to deal with legal lawsuits," he said. "It is easy to quash the media. Legal lawsuits will exert great pressure on the media in terms of resources, finance and psychology."

Yeung also said he hoped that further suppression of press freedom would not become a norm, or it would be very unhealthy and damaging.

The association had sought legal views over media being excluded from searching car plate registrations but had yet to decide if the association would file a judicial review against such a limitation.

Gladys Chiu and Chris Yeung, center, slammed the arrest of Bao Choy, above. Sing Tao

Rule change urged to help car plate searches