Hong Kong forces broadcasters to air 30 minutes of patriotic programming per week

At least 30 minutes of mandatory patriotic content will have to be run by Hong Kong’s TV and radio broadcasters each week, according to a new directive by the city’s authorities.

Free-to-air TV and radio operators – or those that use public airwaves – must broadcast content about national education and identity as well as about the controversial national security law for half an hour, according to recommendations made by Hong Kong’s Communications Authority.

The operators include Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), ViuTV and HOY TV and radio stations Commercial Radio and Metro Broadcast.

The rules are part of a midterm review of the 12-year licence held by the three free-to-air TV operators and two radio stations.

The Communications Authority’s recommendations were accepted by the Chief Executive in Council on Tuesday.

“On top of the existing required broadcast hours of current affairs programmes under the category ‘current affairs,’ licensees shall also broadcast no less than 30 minutes of programmes on national education, national identity and National Security Law (NSL) per week,” they said.

TV stations have been asked to double weekly broadcast hours of programming for young people. Radio stations were told to reduce the total number of broadcast hours in English on their English radio channels to 55 per cent, down from the current minimum of 80 per cent.

“Allow a weekly, instead of a daily quota for children’s programmes, and reduce the total broadcast hours of children’s programmes by 50 per cent to 14 hours per week for each licensee,” the recommendations said.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper quoted lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen, the sole non-establishment member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, as saying that an extra 30 minutes of national identity was a moderate amount.

“It is about five more minutes a day on average,” he said. “But the question is whether it can get the results the government wants to see. Hard-sell tactics cannot work nowadays. Sometimes it can backfire.”

But Baptist University media studies expert Bruce Lui Ping-kuen warned that “sometimes, you cannot teach people to be patriotic or identify with their country”.

“Back in 2008 when there was the Beijing Olympics, Hong Kong people identified very much with the country and Chinese astronauts were seen as heroes when they visited Hong Kong,” he told SCMP.

“What happened in recent years made people develop other sentiments towards the authorities. It is more important to address the source of the problems instead of asking the media to help the authorities do more propaganda, which can also harm the credibility of media organisations too,” he said.