2008 Chapter Updates
Chapter 1 Overview and Freedom of Expression
21 November 2008 “Tibet activist seeks court review of police action,” The Standard (Pro-Tibet activist Christina Chan Hau-man is seeking a judicial review of her removal by Hong Kong police from the Beijing Olympic Games torch relay in May. The HKU student and friends were taken away after they displayed a Tibetan flag during the relay, drawing anger from spectators. She said police violated her rights to freedom of speech and assembly.)
30 September 2008 ” ‘Long Hair’ free to fight again…” The Standard ( Summary: Legislator “Long Hair” Leung Kwok- hung was sentenced to 60 hours of community service by the Eastern Magistracy for staging an unlawful protest on June 3 last year outside the home of then housing minister Michael Suen, now secretary for education. )
10 September 2008 “Hartmann promoted to appeals court,” The Standard (Justice Michael Hartmann of the Court of First Instance was promoted to the Court of Appeal. While on CFI, Hartmann had issued a number of decisions that favored press and individual freedoms, including ruling against the ICAC’s 2004 newsroom raids and striking down a covert surveillance law and an anti-sodomy law.)
26 September 2008 “High Court reserves ruling on government challenge,” The Standard (Summary: The High Court has reserved decision on an appeal by the government seeking to overturn a landmark ruling that invalidated a Road Traffic Ordinance requirement for the registered owner of a vehicle to disclose the identity of the driver involved in a violation. The owner, a journalist, argued the ordinance violated the Bill of Rights, by depriving him of his right to remain silent to protect against elf-incrimination.)
July 2008 “Rising Nationalism: Potential threat to Hong Kong’s freedom of expression,” Hong Kong Journalists Association releases its annual report for 2008.
18 January 2008 “G.O.D. escapes legal action on ‘triad’ t-shirts,” The Standard
(Summary: Police drop charges against employees of G.O.D., the clothing store chain, for selling t-shirts with a “14K” design, which allegedly violated anti-triad laws. Owner Douglas Young said police accepted that the design had nothing to do with triads. Police declined to comment.)
Chapter 2: The Legal System
22 December 2008, “Consultation move on class-action lawsuits in wake of minibond saga,” South China Morning Post (Summary: Work is underway to study the possibility of conducting class-action lawsuits in Hong Kong, as interest in the legal procedure increases in the city in the aftermath of alleged mis-selling of Lehman Brothers investment products. Law Reform Commission secretary Stuart Stoker told the SCMP the commission was “in the process of drafting a consultation paper” which was expected to be ready for public study in the first half of 2009.)
23 April 2008 “Judge denies South China Holdings boss an exemption from jury duty, South China Morning Post. (A High Court judge has refused to exempt the chairman of Hong Kong-listed South China Holdings and the Express News from jury service, rejecting as invalid his claim that serving on a jury would inconvenience his business affairs.
28 January 2008 The Law Reform Commission releases consultation paper recommending changes for the selection of jurors, including expanding the age limit to 70, eliminating some exemptions (such as for newspaper editors) and clarifying what constitutes “good character” and “residence” for jury purposes.
Chapter 3 Defamation
23 April 2008 “Court awards defamed businessman HK$1.3 million” RTHK
The Court of First Instance has ordered the Hong Kong-based media company Asia Times Online to pay HK$1.3 million to a prominent Pakistani businessman for defaming him in an online article published in 2006. Justice Reyes said Asia Online had been “grossly negligent” and “irresponsible” in publishing the article, which alleged that the businessman and his companies were involved in money laundering, terrorist financing and drug trafficking with little evidence to back up the allegations.
Abdul Razzak Yaqoob v Asia Online Ltd decision
17 April 2008 “Magazine sued over fake nude photo,” South China Morning Post
Summary: Entertainer Niki Chow has filed a writ in High Court against the publisher and editor-in-chief of Oriental Sunday magazine for publishing a photo she alleges featured someone’s else’s nude body with her head superimposed on it. According to the writ, the photo with the headline, “The aftermath of pornographic photos; a flood of celebrities’ nude photos on the internet” appeared in the March 25 edition of the magazine and on its website. Chow is seeking damages for libel, an unjunction stopping the magazine from running the photo again and a published apology.
8 March 2008 “Tycoon’s daughter sues over nude photo article,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: The daughter of toy magnate Francis Choi Chi-ming has sued a weekly magazine for libel over an article concerning the celebrity nude photo scandal. Crystal Choi Ka-yee, a chairwoman of Town Health International Holdings, a listed company in the city, filed a writ against the Express News Weekly in the High Court on March 7, seeking damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, for libel in connection with an article that was also featured on the cover.
The writ also seeks to prevent the magazine from further publishing the article, or any similar statements and demands that the magazine remove the article from all archives and websites and publish a retraction, correction and apology.
It stated that Choi and Edison Chen, the actor-singer at the centre of the nude photos scandal, in which hundreds of pictures were uploaded onto the internet, did not have any connection.
“The article’s allegation against Ms Choi and our company is totally unfounded and untrue, and is libellous to our company and Ms Choi. It also caused damage to the reputation of our company and Ms Choi,” the statement said.
It added that Town Health and Choi reserved the right to take legal action against any person or media outlet that reproduced the article or repeated its claims.
14 February 2008 “Appeals court wants clear defamation test,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: The Court of Appeal reinstated a defamation case brought by a man who felt his reputation had been impugned by two letters sent out by the owners of the building in which he kept a shop. The case had been dismissed by a lower court last May after it ruled that the parts of the letters complained of by the man, Wong Wing-ho, could not be said in their plain and ordinary meaning to contain anything defamatory. But the Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that the judge had adopted the wrong test. “The test is not whether it is plain and obvious that the words are not defamatory, but rather whether it is plain and obvious that the words are incapable of bearing a defamatory meaning,” Mr Justice Cheung said. The dispute centred on Mr Wong’s alleged non-payment of water bills and his allegedly illegal use of a parking space at the Century Industrial Centre on Au Pui Wan Street in Fo Tan in the New Territories.
Chapter 4: Court Reporting/Contempt of Court
26 March 2008 “Media ban on pics of accused killer,” The Standard
Chapter 5: Access to Information
11 June 2008 “Chief apologizes over salary secrecy,” The Standard
7 June 2008 “Complaint filed over secrecy on salaries: Post asks Ombudsman to look into political appointees pay saga,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: The Ombudsman has been asked to consider whether the government’s refusal to disclose the salary of individual undersecretaries and political assistants is a breach of the Code on Access to Information. The South China Morning Post lodged a complaint to the Ombudsman after the government declined a formal request under access to information procedures to provide the data.)
1 June 2008 “CE refuses to reveal pay of individual aides,” RTHK
9 April 2008 Legislative Council member Audrey Eu posed a question on Code on Access to Information to Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam, asking how many requests for information under the code were made in 2007 and the outcome of complaints to the Ombudsman’s Office relating to government failure to respond to the requests. His reply.
9 April 2008 “$245 million consultancy bill raises eyebrows; Many studies overlapped, legislators learn,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: SCMP reports that the HK government has commissioned more than HK$245 million in hundreds of consultancy studies, more than two-thirds of which are not released to the public. SCMP analyzed government replies to legislators’ questions and found that 37 departments and bureaus paid for 280 consultancy studies in 2007-08 and 2008-09)
21 February 2008 “Hub meetings ‘closed’ ” South China Morning Post
(Summary: Meetings of the proposed authority to oversee the West Kowloon Cultural District will be closed, despite calls for them to be open to the public, Home Affairs Bureau chief Tsang Tak-sing told the Legislative Council at the first reading of the bill to establish the authority. Tsang said the government objected to open meetings because discussion might involve sensitive business information and other confidential material.)
Chapter 6: Privacy
4 December 2008 “Officials face tighter data protection rules,” South China Morning Post (Summary: Government departments must now report data leak incidents to the privacy commissioner, while affected individuals will be properly informed, under revised internal regulations. The new regulations were disclosed to the Legislative Council’s information technology and broadcasting panel.)
Legco background brief on information security re: personal data leakage by government departments.
Government paper submitted to Legco Panel on Information Technology and Broadcasting.
11 September 2008 “$35m action plan to plug leaks of patients’ records,” The Standard
25 August 2008 Privacy law to be reviewed The Hong Kong government announced it would review the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance during the fourth Legislative Council term
10 May 2008 Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo urged a revision of the current privacy law.
7 May 2008 “First as privacy chief uses powers in patient scandal,” The Standard
Summary: The Privacy Commission for Personal Data is using its statutory powers for the first time to investigate the Hospital Authority and Department of Health following the loss of yet another USB memory stick containing patients’ data. So far, up to 10 memory sticks containing patients’ information have been lost or stolen.
29 April 2008 ”Privacy data threat,” South China Morning Post
Summary: Hong Kong’s main law against the abuse of people’s personal data may not apply to the local offices of the central government, the administration has told a panel of the Legislative Council. When pressed for the reason why 12 ordinances had yet to be amended to expressly bind offices of the central authorities, almost 11 years after the loopholes were discovered, acting permanent secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Arthur Ho Kin-wah told Legco’s panel for administration of justice and legal services the administration was studying whether those laws should apply and if so how.
Panel chair Margaret Ng said: “Are you now telling citizens that the personal data (privacy) ordinance may not in fact apply to central people’s government offices and that in fact they can violate people’s privacy at will? Yes or no?”
Ho replied that “there is no simple yes or no answer.” The government said in March that four ordinances would be amended to expressly bind the three central government offices. However, a legislative vacuum still exists over 12 other ordinances.
23 April 2008 “Widow renews fight to blame ATV for killing,” The Standard
Summary: The widow of a slain herbalist made a new attempt to hold Asia Television (ATV) accountable for her husband’s death in 2000 by a business rival. Lawyers for the widow told the Court of Appeal that ATV broke a promise to protect her husband’s identity when he appeared on a TV program in 1999 discussing the rival’s medical practice. In March 2007, the Court of First Instance dismissed her claims, saying the main reason for her husband’s death was the rival’s “delusional disorder.”
The March 2007 decision by the Court of First Instance
10 March 2008 “Chen sex scandal spawns copycat,” The Standard
19 February 2008 Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo responds to the online circulation of nude photos and called for a new offence making it a crime to obtain, disclose or sell personal data without consent.
Chapter 7: Official Secrets and Sedition
21 December 2008 “Lawmakers barred from entering Macau on trip to oppose national security bill,” South China Morning Post. (Summary: Nine pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong who intended to join a protest against national security legislation in Macau were barred from entering the city.)
22 October 2008 “Lee says Article 23 not high on priority,” RTHK (Government makes statement in light of Macau introducing Article 23 legislation.)
22 October 2008 “Hong Kong has no plans to legislate Article 23,” statement by HKSAR government
Chapter 8: Other restrictions on Newsgathering and Reporting
6 December 2008 “Rival obtained information from our reporters, daily alleges in writ,” South China Morning Post (Summary: The Oriental Daily News is suing Apple Daily and its reporters for allegedly inducing ODN’s reporters to disclose information about stories. ODN is also seeking to restrain its rival from inducing journalists to reveal information in the future. The High Court writ alleges that on four occasions Apple Daily reporters induced ODN reporters to reveal details they had obtained at the scene of breaking news.)
Chapter 9: Reporting on the Mainland
16 December 2008 “China said to be blocking websites,” International Herald Tribune
2 December 2008 “China investigates attacks on foreign journalists,” International Herald Tribune
14 November 2008 “Foreign Correspondents Club of China welcomes agreement on independent regulator for financial information providers”
4 November 2008 “Reporter sues Chinese government,” RTHK (Summary: A mainland journalist has filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government for closing her newspaper for three months after she wrote an article criticizing one of China’s largest banks.)
4 November 2008 “Mainland to issue human rights document,” RTHK (Summary: China says it will issue a national plan to protect human rights, which will be the first document of its kind for the country. Beijing has faced regular criticism from human rights groups for media censorship and jailing writers and dissidents.)
19 October 2008 “China eases limits on foreign journalists,” MSNBC
18 October 2008 “China eases retrictions for foreign media,” Xinhua
18 October 2008 Hong Kong Journalists Association statement on “Relaxation of Rules Governing Journalists’ News Coverage”
17 October 2008 Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on News Coverage by Permanent Offices of Foreign Media Organizations and Foreign Journalists: State Council Decree 597 (Replaces 1990 Regulations Concerning Foreign Journalists and Permanent Offices Of Foreign News Agencies)
12 September 2008 “Would-be Protesters Find the Olympics Failed to Expand Free Speech in Beijing,” The New York Times
10 September 2008 “China’s relaxed reporting rules set to expire,” Associated Press.
21 August 2008 Internal police documents reveal strategy with foreign journalists, Reporters Without Borders
25 July 2008 Hong Kong Journalists Association protests the assault on Hong Kong journalists in Beijing over coverage of Olympic ticketing.
Statement on the interference of news coverage of Hong Kong reporters
22 July 2008 “Banned reporter finally allowed into Beijing,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: Norman Choy, an Apple Daily reporter barred in early July from entering the mainland was permitted to arrive in Beijing to cover the Olympic games, the first accredited reporter from his newspaper, which advocates pro-democracy positions, to be allowed onto the mainland.)
July 2008 Reporters’ Guide to Covering the Beijing Olympics, Human Rights Watch
7 July 2008 ”China — Olympics Media Freedom Commitments Violated,” Human Rights Watch.
The Chinese government continues to block and threaten foreign journalists despite repeated promises to lift media freedom restrictions ahead of the Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.
July 2008 International Federation of Journalists launches website to help journalists cover the Olympics
4 July 2008 Hong Kong Journalists Association protests the PRC government’s denial of entry to Norman Choy, a Hong Kong reporter for Apple Daily newspaper.
28 June 2008 “Access to information still stymied by officials,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: Many submissions made under the People’s Republic of china’s Disclosure of Government Information regulation, which took effect on May 1, have been denied or ignored by government officials. Denials have included requests for a seismograph that could provide relief workers with critical information on the May 12 Sichuan quake and revenue from the Airport Expressway in Beijing. Several Beijing-based professors have been among those requesting information, including Cheng Jie, an associate law professor at Tsinghua University, who asked for the earthquake information, and Shen Kui, a Peking University law professor, who wrote to the Beijing Municipal Construction Committee and the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission for information on the toal investment in the Airport Expressway in Beijing and the total amount of revenue collected since 1993, when it opened to traffic. In a landmark case, five retired workers in Hunan province sued their county government in May for denying them access to information on an official investigation into the alleged illegal privatisation of a state-owned water plant.)
5 June 2008 “Falling Short: Olympic Promises Go Unfulfilled as China Falters on Press Freedom,” updated, Committee to Protect Journalists.
27 May 2008, “Quake brings rare freedom for journalists in China,” Associated Press
12 May 2008, ”Legal action against CNN dropped,” South China Morning Post
Summary: A New York law firm hired by two Chinese to sue CNN for US$1.3 billion in compensation over controversial remarks made by its commentator Jack Cafferty has withdrawn the lawsuit.
7 May 2008 “Workers sue govt for denial of information,” China Daily
3 May 2008 “China introduces information law,” RTHK
New legislation has come into force on the mainland, giving citizens a legal right to official information for the first time.
April 2008 The Foreign Correspondents Club of China releases its “Reporters Guide to Covering China” which includes sections on know your rights, what to do if detained, protecting sources, and a guide to the safely using the internet.
24 April 2008 “CNN now sued for $1.3 billion– $1 per person in China,” Reuters
24 April 2008 “Lawyers on the offensive against CNN,” The Standard
7 April 2008 “Foreign Media in China Harassed on Tibet,” Associated Press
2 April 2008 “China told not to restrict Internet during Games,” RTHK
30 March 2008, “Classified memo reveals government strategy for ‘managing’ foreign journalists, Reporters Without Borders
24 March 2008 “Two more foreign journalists expelled from Tibet; Internet users threatened with sanctions,” Reporters Without Borders
19 March 2008 “Foreign media clampdown spreads in China,” Committee to Protect Journalists
17 March 2008: Hong Kong Journalists Association: “Unacceptable ban on reporters covering unrest in Lhasa”
17 March 2008 ”Crackdown in Tibet away from the eye of the media in new violation of Olympics pledge,” Reporters Without Borders
(Summary: Reporters Without Borders reports that since March 12, authorities have refused to grant foreign correspondents permits to enter Tibet and at least 25 journalists, including 15 from Hong Kong, have reportedly been expelled from Tibet or Tibetan areas.)
6 March 2008, “Freed reporter gets to cover congress,” The South China Morning Post
(Summary: Zhao Yan, the mainland researcher for The New York Times released from prison last September, has been granted press accreditation to cover the annual National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference meetings in March. Zhao was arrested in 2004 and originally charged with leaking state secrets after a NYT article revealed that former president Jiang Zemin was about to resign from a military post, but that charge was dropped and he was sentenced to three years for fraud. )
4 March 2008 “Complaint to WTO over mainland media rules,” RTHK
5 February 2008 “Jailed reporter has been released in China,” The International Herald Tribune (Ching Cheong, the Hong Kong-based reporter for The Strait Times of Singapore, was released from a mainland prison after serving two years of his five-year sentence for alleged spying.)
Chapter 10: Copyright
10 April 2008 “Streaming video could become crime; merely watching shows on Web should be made illegal: Paper” South China Morning Post
(Summary: Unauthorised viewing of copyrighted works on the internet using a process called streaming — even for noncommercial purposes – would become a criminal offence in proposals released in a Legislative Council paper April 9. Streaming refers to technology that places data such as sporting events, films and TV shows on the internet where it is continuously “streamed” and can be viewed at any time. Unlike downloading, users are generally not able to obtain a complete copy after streaming. This proposal are among several after months of debate in a government consultation that ended in April 2007, in which more than 600 submissions were received.
Government’s April 9 proposals
Legislative Council briefing paper
Chapter 11: Print and Online Regulation and Self Regulation
12 December 2008, “Freedom fears after officials ‘hijack’ net names panel,” The Standard (Lawmakers have accused the government of stifling freedom of speech by attempting to hijack the city’s domain name compnay by loading the statutory body with appointees.)
30 September 2008 “Police tighten chat-room rumour surveillance after run on bank,” South China Morning Post. (Summary: Police have increased their surveillance of rumours spread on popular online forums as part of stepped up efforts against malicious spreading of false financial messages.” The commercial crime bureau’s technology division has regularly conducted “cyber patrols” but it decided to keep a closer look on messages in chat rooms after rumours disseminated through text messages and online forums cuased a run on the Bank of East Asia. At least 12 people have been arrested for spreading rumors.)
16 May 2008 “Jail for prostitute website operator,” South China Morning Post
Summary: The operator of a popular online prostitute directory was jailed for 18 months after being convicted of conspiring to live off the earnings of prostitution. The site’s designer and other staff were sentenced to perform 180 hours of community service and fined HK$20,000. It was the first conviction of staff involved in advertising sex workers on the Internet.
–Obscenity
18 December 2008 “Editor avoids jail over pic,” The Standard (Summary: A former editor of Eastweek magazine has been given a suspended jail sentence for publishing a semi-nude photo of kidnapped local film star Carina Lau. Mong Hon-ming pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to one count of publishing an obscene article.)
30 November 2008 “Cyd Ho warns of threat to free speech,” RTHK (Lawmaker Cyd Ho warns that mechanisms proposed for regulating the internet — requiring ISPs to provide filtering software and to disclose the identity of net browsers — in the current consultation on the review of the Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance are a threat to free speech.)
25 November 2008 “Next fined for printing photos of Gillian Chung,” South China Morning Post (Chinese-language print media company Next Media was fined HK$175,000 for publishing seven indecent articles in four years. The articles carried in Next Magazine, Apple Daily and the now defunct Easy Finder in 2003, 2005 and 2006 — including photos of Canto-pop star Gillian Chung changing her clothes — were all ruled indecent by the Obscene Articles Tribunal. Next Media pleaded guilty in Eastern Court to seven counts of publishing indecent articles without a cover, packaging or warning notice. The three publications have had 93 similar convictions, the court was told, with average fines of HK$11,000 to HK$19,000. The pictures in Easy Finder of Chung changing her clothes backstage at a concert in Malaysia in 2006 caused such an outcry that the entertainment weekly closed down. It has reappeared with a new name, Face.)
18 November 2008 “Govt says ISPs oppose proposed law,” RTHK (The government has revealed that most Internet Service Providers oppose a proposed law that will compel them to provide filtering software for obscene or indecent material. Officials are now conducting a public consultation on wehther to righten the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. The Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Greg So, said if that’s the view of most people, then the government will certainly listen to it.)
7 November 2008 “Proposal to censor Web may be dropped,” South China Morning Post (Summary: Undersecretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung suggested that the government might back off from a proposal to compel ISPs to provide filtering software to strengthen protection for children from online pornography.)
3 November 2008 “Proposed law sparks fears of Web censorship,” South China Morning Post (Summary: Concerns have been raised over web censorship after the government consultation paper recommended a law compelling ISPs to provide filtering software as one of the options to strengthen regulation protecting children from accessing indecent material.)
22 October 2008 “Court quashes university sex articles ruling,” The Standard
15 October 2008 “Eastweek fine raised fivefold to HK$100,000,” South China Morning Post (Summary: The former publisher of Eastweek magazine has been ordered to pay HK$100,000 — a fivefold increase on the previous fine — for running a semi-nude picture of a kidnapped actress six years ago. New Media Group, which pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article, was fined HK$20,000 in Eastern Court on Aug. 12 for publishing the photo of actress Carina Lau on the cover of Eastweek in 2002. Magistrate Bina Chainrai increased the fine during a review hearing on her earlier sentence requested by the government.
3 October 2008 The HKSAR government releases the first round of public consultation of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, asking for views before 31 January 2009.
13 August 2008 “Publisher fined HK$20,000 for semi-nude photos,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: The former publisher of Eastweek magazine that printed a semi-nude photo of a kidnapped actress (Carina Lau) in 2002 was fined HK$20,000 in Eastern Court for publishing an obscene article.
25 July 2008 “Edison sex pics publisher spared jail,” The Standard
4 July 2008 “…clerk admits posting Edison sex pics,” The Standard
2 May 2008 “Celebrity sex photos re-classified as indecent” RTHK
30 April 2008, “Appeal over starlet’s wet T-shirt thrown out,” South China Morning Post
SUMMARY: Court of First Instance Judge Peter Line dismissed an appeal by the government against a magistrate’s April 2007 acquittal of Easy Finder magazine of charges under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance, brought over a picture of then-14-year-old singer Renee Lee Wan in a wet T-shirt. Judge Line described the clothes “as a matter of taste and fashion sense. When the picture, published in June 2006, was taken, the singer was wearing a half-inch-thick, skin-colored bra under the shirt.
Justice Fine’s CFI ruling, HKSAR v Easy Finder
24 April 2008 “Edison sex pics ruled obscene,” The Standard
2 April 2008 “Obscenity challenge on nude pics,” The Standard
12 March 2008 The Hong Kong government says it is conducting a comprehensive review of the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance and plans to consult the public in the second half of 2008.
21 February 2008 “Mags in the clear over nude pics,” The Standard
20 February 2008 Tabloid magazine issues to be reclassified
The Television & Entertainment Licensing Authority has asked the Obscene Articles Tribunal to review the classification of recent issues of Next Magazine and Oriental Sunday which published nude photos of local entertainers.
The tribunal classified the supplement of Next Magazine Issue 936 and the cover and inside pages of Oriental Sunday Issue 531 as Class-I Articles, which are neither obscene nor indecent.
However, the authority said the classifications should be reviewed at a full public hearing. Given the extensive public concern on the celebrity photo incident, a full hearing will give the public a clearer understanding of the tribunal’s classification standards
19 February 2008 “Govt acts on sex pics,” The Standard
12 February 2008 “Arrests over sex videos fuel Internet debate in Hong Kong,” The International Herald Tribune
1 February 2008, “Review of obscenity ruling on sex articles to go ahead; Tribunal ‘must explain case’ against students’ journal,” South China Morning Post
(Summary: Justice Michael Hartmann of the High Court rejected government attempts to block two judicial reviews of the classification, as indecent, of several articles on sex that appeared in a Chinese University student newspaper and Ming Pao Daily News, which was reporting on the controversy. Hartmann ruled there was a reasonably arguable case that the Obscene Articles Tribunal should have publicly explained which parts of the articles it considered indecent when it issued its interim classification in May 2007. The student articles dealt with a student survey on attitudes toward sex, including beastiality and incest. )
17 January 2008 “Magazine denied obscenity appeal over photos of ‘kidnapped actress,’ ” South China Morning Post
(Summary: The Court of Final Appeal declined to hear the appeal of Three Weekly magazine, which was challenging an obscenity classification it received from the Obscene Articles Tribunal for a Nov. 2, 2003 edition it published featuring semi-nude photos of an apparently kidnapped actress. The ruling means that Three Weekly could face a fine of up to HK$1 million and up to three years in prison. The Court of Appeal ruled on May 31, 2007 that the tribunal had properly classified the photos as obscene.)
Chapter 12: Broadcast Media Regulation
22 December 2008 “ATV license review urged,” RTHK
20 December 2008, “Ofta raids Citizens’ Radio,” South China Morning Post (The Chai Wan premises of unlicensed radio station Citizens’ Radio were raided and one radio transmitter was seized by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, an Ofta spokesman has confirmed.)
12 December 2008 “Government wins radio licensing appeal,” RTHK (Summary: The government won its appeal against the dismissal of charges against Citizens’ Radio activists for unlicensed broadcasting. The Court of Appeal held that a constitutional challange to the licensing regime could not be a defence to a crime, setting aside a magistrate’s decision that ruled the licensing system breached the Basic Law.)
Court ruling here
11 December 2008 “No timetable yet for broadcasting review,” RTHK. (The Government has again refused to give a timetable for when it will initiate a public consultation on the future of public service broadcasting in Hong Kong. The planned consultation has been delayed for almost a year. Rita Lau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, reiterated the need to continue to study the subject.)
11 September 2008 ”Court hears of ‘unusual play’ by radio rebels,” The Standard (The government has reignited its legal battle with Citizens’ Radio by seeking to overturn a Magistrate’s ruling that the Telecommunications Ordinance is unconstitutional.
23 May 2008 “Lawmakers in court over radio broadcast” RTHK
19 May 2008 “Pirate radio transmission probed,” HKSAR Office of the Telecommunications Authority.
8 May 2008 “Judge rejects censure of gay program,” The Standard
Summary: A high court judge held that the Broadcasting Authority’s censure of an RTHK program on homosexuality was “an impermissible restriction on freedom of speech.”
Cho Man Kit v Broadcasting Authority
3 May 2008 “PCCW cleared of breaching cross-media ownership rules,” South China Morning Post
Summary: PCCW chairman Richard Li and his NOW TV business have been cleared of cross-media ownership laws, even though a trust set up by Li took a controlling stake in the Chinese-language Hong Kong Economic Journal.
The Broadcasting Authority ruling
11 March 2008 “Broadcasting case to be heard in Court of Appeal,” South China Morning Post
(A government appeal against January’s declaration that certain provisions of the broadcasting laws were unconstitutional will be sent directly to the Court of Appeal. Justice Michael Hartmann in the Court of First Instance agreed with an application by the government in its appeal against the finding of Magistrate Douglas Yau Tak-hong. Yau had ruled sections of the Telecommunication Ordinance breached freedom of expression provisions of the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights. He dismissed charges against six activists from Citizens’ Radio accused of unlicensed broadcasting. The suspension means that the law stays but is still open to challenge.)
19 February 2008 “Gay story on RTHK lands in High Court, The Standard
(Summary: Joseph Cho Man-kit filed a judicial review in the High Court, seeking to quash a Broadcasting Authority ruling that an RTHK program in which he was featured promoted homosexuality. The BA said the program, “Gay Lovers,” was unbalanced and favored same-sex marriage. Cho alleged that the BA decision discriminates against homosexuals.)
24 January 2008 “Democrats failed to get message over,” The Standard
(Summary: The Legislative Council has rejected a pan-Democratic non-binding motion demanding that the government amend the Telecommunications Ordinance to allow more community radio stations.)
22 January 2008 “Court clears way for return to air by radio rebels,” The Standard
(Summary: Justice Michael Hartmann of the High Court dismissed an application for an extension of an injunction barring Citizens’ Radio from broadcasting, saying there was insufficient evidence to show that the channel had interferred with emergency services or spawned copycat behavior since its debut in 2005.)
10 January 2008 “Citizens’ Radio warned not to break law,” from HKSAR government website (“Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Frederick Ma has appealed to Citizens’ Radio to abide by the law and stop its illegal broadcasts while awaiting the outcome of a Department of Justice appeal…”
9 January 2008 “A fight in the air,” The Standard
(Summary: Parts of a law which gives the chief executive power to control who can conduct radio broadcasts in Hong Kong were ruled unconstitutional by a magistrate in Eastern District who said they curbed freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Basic Law. But whether the ruling represented a victory for activists from Citizens’ Radio in their two-year battle to open up the public airways remained unclear, as the ruling was suspended awaiting a government appeal.)
