Political situation
Written by: Lin Jian
2020-12-06 15:29
Last update date: 2020-12-06 15:30
Last week, Cable Broadband fired about 40 News Department employees on the grounds of "reorganizing resources", but failed to clearly explain the guidelines. Among them, the entire team of "News Needle", which is regarded as one of the cable "ace shows", was laid off. Triggered dozens of other news department employees to protest, including the entire cable China group.
The incident aroused public concerns about the freedom of the press in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong and Taiwan program "City Forum" discussed related incidents today (December 6).
Chen Zhiyun, chief think tank of commercial radio, said that the layoffs will definitely affect Hong Kong citizens’ right to know and Hong Kong’s international image. He also believes that cable processing methods are clumsy and the excuses are unconvincing. If you want to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, you should fire Xu Fanghui and Li first. Zhen, Chen Xingchang and Xie Yanna are four senior executives.
Shi Yongqing, the founder of "am730", believes that the fourth right of journalism has an important influence in today's Hong Kong political environment and will surely become the target of major forces.
Chen Zhiyun: The exclusive investigative report belongs to the media student’s signature business perspective and it is impossible to cut
Present at the show included Hu Lihan, former interview director of the China Cable Group, Chen Zhiyun, chief think tank of commercial radio, Shi Yongqing, founder of "am730", and Liu Lanchang, former senior vice president of ATV News and Public Affairs.
Chen Zhiyun believes that young people who are interested in working in the news industry generally have certain ambitions. Because of the long working hours and low wages in this industry, this incident may make young people who aspiring to enter the industry disappointed.
He also pointed out that the role of investigation and reporting is very important from consumer rights to political incidents. The layoffs of the cable will inevitably affect the public's right to know and the international image of Hong Kong.
Chen Zhiyun mentioned that a media’s exclusive feature report has always been its golden lacquer signboard, because everyone has the news of the day, but only the "self-dead" can reflect its own commercial value and attract readers to pay to watch it. From a perspective, it is impossible to fire the entire group of "News Sting", so the only explanation is political reasons.
Regarding Xu Fanghui, deputy general manager of Cable News and Public Affairs, claimed to "integrate resources" and let colleagues from Hong Kong hear to do the investigation of "Needle", Chen Zhiyun believed that this statement was "very straightforward garbage."
He pointed out that investigative journalism is a very specialized skill that requires a lot of time and resources. Daily reporters from Hong Kong news cannot take care of it: "It's like Yung Kee roasted goose. It is like a chef who cooks roasted goose for no reason. Make dim sum to whole roast geese." He pointed out that Xu Fanghui could even use this excuse, "I don't know if TVB's explanation can be asked for years to come."
Chen Zhiyun even believes that the four top executives, Xu Fanghui, Li Zhen, Chen Xingchang, and Xie Yanna, have done poorly in this layoff. If you really want to reduce expenditure, you should start with these four.
▼Cable News Department layoffs shake the whole Hong Kong press▼
+5
+5
+5
Shi Yongqing: The media is the priority target
Shi Yongqing mentioned that in the current media ecology in Hong Kong, the work of media professionals depends on the attitude of the boss.
He also pointed out that the political environment has a major impact on the media ecology. When the establishment is consolidated, Hong Kong will have a certain degree of freedom of the press, because no matter how it is reported, it will not "jump out of the Five Finger Mountain" and will not affect governance. However, there are two political forces in Hong Kong. The struggle for division is fierce, and the media is the "weapon" to be contended for, just as the radio is one of the priority targets in a war.
He also pointed out that as a boss, he has always warned his employees that their political stances should not be too one-sided, and that he should show readers the real situation in Hong Kong, because in the real world, both liberalism and collectivism exist.
Regarding the cable management’s decision to "surge" the news department, he estimated that part of the reason may be that "the old man felt" that the selection of talents was biased. From a business perspective, the boss saw that the employee's report was contrary to his own ideals. May have thoughts of suppression.
Shi Yongqing also pointed out that one of the failures of the Hong Kong democrats is that they have poor relations with the business community and "hate business and hate wealth." It is difficult to find big money owners to support their own media machines.
The cable laid off 40 employees of the Information Department, triggering a protest by dozens of other employees of the Information Department, including more than 10 members of the Hong Kong News Group.
(Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Former Owner Hu Lihan: The media ecology has become balanced and the handling cannot satisfy the boss
Hu Lihan said that in recent years, the media ecology in Hong Kong has changed. In the past, employees only needed to balance the handling of news reports. However, in recent years, they have been required to be pro-China and pro-organizational content accounting for 80% to 90%, and critical content accounting for 12%. , Or even sing praises purely for the powerful, if this situation continues, the mainstream media will gradually marginalize themselves.
He disagrees with Shi Yongqing’s statement that the cable news is "biased". Take the China group, one of the cable news "taizhu", as an example. In the past, there have actually been many reports in line with the official theme, but occasionally one or two reports have an impact on the establishment. A sharper criticism will be infinitely magnified.
Hu Lihan mentioned the decision of the employees to resign, referring to the so-called "holding the ground and staying till the last moment", which does not apply in this case.
He cited the experience of some colleagues in the industry as saying that if some high-level behaviors cross the bottom line of editors and editors, and frontline employees do not take collective action, then news organizations will die silently, and their credibility will slowly wear away.
Resolute protest action can instead get the effect of direct cutting, telling the world that the credibility of this news organization is no longer there, so that the senior management can no longer use the name of this group of employees to bluff.
Liu Lanchang pointed out that the media industry in Hong Kong has been increasingly marginalized in the face of competition from the media and the development of online information. He said that it may be too late for the cable layoffs this time.
He said that he still has confidence in the freedom of the press in Hong Kong.
Cable layoffs | More than 30 people from the Ministry of Information have resigned in response to the earthquake
CABLE layoffs｜Management: No layoffs and pay cuts within two years, re-examination of salary arrangements
Cable layoffs | Full exposure of Li Zhen being mocked by Lin Zheng and asking why Mild
Cable layoffs | Yang Jianxing: Interview with Lam Zheng or self-censorship, Lu Bingquan: The end of an era
01News
Cable Shi Yongqing Chen Zhiyun