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The following is issued on behalf of the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting:
Following is the remarks by the Chairman of the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting, Mr Raymond Wong, at the press conference today (March 14): (English only)
On behalf of the Committee on Review of Public Service Broadcasting, I welcome all of you and thank you for joining us today.
In January, the Committee made a public commitment that it would conduct the review in a professional, impartial, open and transparent manner. We also pledged to remain independent. Whilst the review has started for just less than two months, in the interest of transparency, we would like to report briefly on progress, and announce the launch of the Committee's website tomorrow (March 15).
To date, the Committee has held three formal meetings and conducted a full-day retreat. We have defined the focus areas, agreed on the work plan, and are examining substantive issues within our remit.
Industry and public consultation is one of our critical tasks. So, what have we done do far?
(1) First, we have met with RTHK management and RTHK Programme Staff Union, commercial broadcasting licensees and the Citizen's Radio. During all these meetings, the interactions and exchanges between the Committee and various groups have been open and constructive. We will complete the first round of these meetings this week.
(2) Second, later this week we will have a roundtable discussion with academic experts from local tertiary institutions that offer communication, journalism, media and related courses.
(3) Third, we have sent letters to nearly 400 organizations and individuals to offer meetings or invite written submissions. These include the Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting of the Legislative Council, media, cultural, education, sports, professional, social services and religious sectors, human rights concern groups, political groups and think tanks.
To broaden our community outreach, I am pleased to announce that the Committee's website, at www.psb﷿review.org.hk, will start operation from 9 am tomorrow. The website will have an electronic mailbox for the public to submit their views to the Committee. It will provide basic information on PSB and delivery models around the world, as well as useful links to related organizations. It will also feature a Forum for open exchange of views amongst members of the public. I encourage everyone to share your views with the Committee through this electronic platform, or send your views to the Committee﷿s Secretariat by post or fax.
In subsequent stages of the review, we will invite overseas PSB experts to a conference in Hong Kong to share their rich PSB experience, and promote professional exchange and public understanding. We will also conduct town-hall type meetings to canvass public views. Details of these activities will be announced later. Only when all the consultations with all concerned parties, overseas experts, town-hall meetings and canvassing are completed would we begin to formulate our recommendations.
Before I conclude, I want to emphasize that each and every member of Committee regards free speech and free press as part of Hong Kong people's fundamental and constitutional rights. They are not the subject of, but rather the basic premises for the review. To us, the ultimate purpose of the review is to clarify and strengthen the role of PSB so as to meet community needs. To do so, we must properly address a number of issues.
(1) What are the purposes and values of a public broadcaster?
(2) How to differentiate a public broadcaster from commercial ones?
(3) Where should the resources for PSB come from?
(4) What are the guiding principles for PSB programming?
(5) Who should monitor the operation of a public broadcaster, and how?
(6) How to assess the performance of a public broadcaster?
(7) How should a public broadcaster be accountable to the public?
(8) How to involve the public in monitoring the delivery of PSB?
We sincerely hope that these issues will be thoroughly discussed and debated in the community. And we look forward to receiving your views.
Thank you!
Ends/Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Issued at HKT 16:02
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