THE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF RADIO TELEVISION HONG KONG REVIEW REPORT
Commerce and Economic Development Bureau February 2021
香 港 特 別 行 政 區 政 府
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1. The Review ....................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2. Overview of RTHK.......................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 3. Mechanisms for Editorial Management and Complaints Handling .......... 9
CHAPTER 4. Performance Measurement and Evaluation ............................................... 22
CHAPTER 5. Management of RTHK’s Workforce ........................................................... 42
CHAPTER 6. Financial Management .................................................................................. 66
CHAPTER 7. Stores and Procurement ............................................................................... 74
CHAPTER 8. Information Technology Management ........................................................ 80
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................ 86 ABBREVIATIONS
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CHAPTER 1. THE REVIEW
Background
1.1
Under the Charter of Radio Television Hong Kong (the Charter) promulgated by the Government in August 2010 (
Appendix 1.1
), Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is a public service broadcaster (PSB) while maintaining its status as a government department under the policy purview and housekeeping oversight of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB). The Charter sets out RTHK’s public purposes and mission as the PSB in Hong Kong. It also prescribes RTHK’s relationship with CEDB and the Board of Advisors, as well as the role of the Communications Authority
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(CA) in content regulation for RTHK’s programming. 1.2
Apart from being the Editor-in-chief of RTHK, the Director of Broadcasting carries the responsibilities of both a Head of Department and the Controlling Officer for Head 160
RTHK. These responsibilities are reflected in the Charter, which requires the Director of Broadcasting to ensure the provision and establishment of a cost-effective organisation for the efficient delivery of RTHK’s public purposes and mission, improve in-house systems and structures to maximise value and effectiveness of available resources, and ensure compliance with all applicable government rules and regulations. 1.3
In March 2018, the Audit Commission conducted a value for money audit on RTHK’s operations. The Audit Commission’s findings and recommendations, which related to RTHK’s low television (TV) ratings and public awareness, programme performance evaluation, procurement of survey services and engagement of contract staff/service providers, were set out in Chapter 5 of the Director of Audit’s Report No. 71 (Audit Report No. 71) submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in October 2018. RTHK accepted all the recommendations in the Audit Report. It has been taking follow-up action under CEDB’s steer and reporting the implementation progress to the Public Accounts Committee of the LegCo in accordance with the established mechanism. 1.4
In May 2020, CEDB submitted a paper entitled “The Governance and Management of Radio Television Hong Kong” to the LegCo Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting for discussion. The paper mentioned that while RTHK had completed the follow-up action on a variety of recommendations in the Audit Report, a number of actions concerning the review on the commissioning arrangements for TV programmes, the procurement of the Television Programme Appreciation Index Survey and the Radio Audience Survey, and the evaluation of TV programmes were still underway. 1.5
The paper also mentioned that the programme contents of RTHK had led to public concerns and discussions, including public complaints to the CA against some RTHK programmes for their biased stance and inaccurate/partial contents. The CA decided to give a serious warning to RTHK on 20 April 2020 regarding the TV programme “Pentaprism” broadcast on 20 November 2019, and asked RTHK to observe closely the relevant provisions of the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standards. Furthermore, another
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The Communications Authority was established on 1 April 2012 to take over the powers and functions of the Broadcasting Authority. Accordingly, all references to the “Broadcasting Authority” in the Charter, if mentioned in this report, are changed to the “Communications Authority”.