Friday, October 24, 2014   




Reporters voice anger at TVB

Kenneth Lau and Jasmine Siu

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Thirty-nine TVB reporters and anchors, including three chief reporters and news editors, yesterday petitioned senior management to express regret that references to police officers allegedly kicking and punching a protester had been deleted from earlier broadcasts of the incident.

The protester was later identified as Civic Party member Ken Tsang Kin-chiu.

The petition was signed by 27 local reporters, including one from TVB Pearl, Rani Samtani, and 12 anchors, including Venus Chow Ka-yee and Carol Ko Fong-ting.

The petition said the voice-over description before the 7am broadcast was impartial and objective.

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It said: "A protester was handcuffed with plastic ties, lifted up by six police officers and taken to a dark corner in Tamar Park.

"Then they dropped him on the floor and started punching and kicking him. Within that period, two officers left and the others kept kicking the protester.

"Finally police officers took him away and the whole process lasted for four minutes."

But in the 7am broadcast, the part "then they dropped him on the floor and started punching and kicking him. Within that period, two officers left and the rest kept kicking the protester" was deleted.

In the noon broadcast, a sentence was added: "Within the period of time police officers were suspected of using force on him."

The petition said the phrase "punching and kicking him" had been discussed between colleagues who felt it was not inaccurate.

It added: "The deleted voice-over did not include the reporter's personal stance or emotions and was objective reporting based on facts."

TVB released a statement at around 9.30pm. It said it respects and supports professional editorial independence.

It said that since the video indicated the alleged use of excessive force by police officers, and might consequently be related to legal disputes, the news department's director decided to use more objective words to prevent affecting a trial or perverting the course of justice in the future.

The statement said the amendment was only done with the voice-over while the video clips remained unchanged.


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