A senior official yesterday dismissed lawmakers' allegations that the government was meddling with Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) operations, saying the people wanted a public broadcaster to produce pluralistic programmes and cater to the needs of minority interest groups.

Acting Permanent Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology Marion Lai said this in response to Legislative Council panel on IT and broadcasting's questions on RTHK's decision to stop live transmission of horseracing.

Lai denied accusations of the Democratic Party lawmakers and its allies that RTHK had bowed to government pressure to stop the programme and that the administration had tried to undermine the broadcaster's editorial independence. Lai said that as a public body funded by the government RTHK had an obligation to produce quality programmes that met the needs of not only the masses, but also the minority interest groups.

"Generally speaking, the government doesn't want public organizations to compete with the commercial sector because there should be a difference in the role of the public and private sectors," she said.

"It is believed the citizens would welcome a pluralistic broadcasting world so that they make more programmes of various styles like art, history and science instead of rushing to produce horseracing programmes," she told lawmakers. And RTHK was expected to produce programmes that were fair, impartial and balanced.

It's only natural for the government and RTHK to liaise with each other to review the station's priorities in the face of budget constraint, she said. All departments and public bodies are doing the same because the government has scaled back spending.

Failing to see any anomaly in the exercise, she said the relationship between RTHK and the government was bound by a "framework agreement" that clearly stated the missions RTHK was expected to achieve.

The government is not trying to hamper RTHK's editorial independence, she said, and it was best for the public to judge whether or not views expressed in some popular programmes reflected its voice.

Answering a question from Tsang Yok-sing, of Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), Director of Broadcasting and RTHK chief Chu Pui-hing said the decision to discontinue the horseracing programme was taken by RTHK itself.

"As far as I am concerned, RTHK has been pursuing editorial independence and we are responsible for that," Chu said. And that not only exists in theory, but also in practice.

Chu said the discussions over the future of the horseracing programme started at the beginning of this year, and it was around April-May that the mainstream opinion to stop the 30-odd-year programme was formed.

RTHK then informed the secretary for commerce, industry and technology and the Hong Kong Jockey Club about its decision that, Chu said, would be finalized only after the ongoing horseracing season ended.

Chu refused to speculate if Chief Executive Donald Tsang, who was the chief secretary for administration when the discussions began, knew about the move. During his election campaign, Tsang had questioned the merit of RTHK continuing with the programme.

A spokesperson for the CE Office told China Daily that Tsang had not been involved in the discussions. She said the secretary for commerce, industry and technology had informed him briefly of RTHK's intention to stop broadcasting horseracing without giving him the details.

The spokesperson said Tsang's remarks during the election campaign was his personal opinion as a CE candidate and that was not in conflict with whether or not he knew about RTHK's decision.

RTHK's decision to terminate the horseracing programme was first revealed by Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang last Saturday. The announcement was quickly dramatized by some, referring to the CE's remarks during his election campaign, as a move by the government to meddle with RTHK's operation.

On Sunday, Chu tried to put to rest the storm and clarified that RTHK had considered scrapping the programme as early as 2002 when the station and similar other departments had to deal with budget cuts over a five-year period. The programme was also reviewed last year.

(HK Edition 07/12/2005 page2)