In a noisy echo of Chris Patten's clash with Rupert Murdoch, a furious debate over media freedom erupted in the last governor's former domain after an attack in Beijing on Hong Kong's Government-funded broadcaster as the voice of British colonialism.Calls for a shake-up at Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), which models itself on the BBC, and a purge of negative reporting prompted an outcry in the former British colony and revealed signs of a rift in the post-colonial Government over tolerance of criticism.The attack was launched at a meeting in the Chinese capital by Xu Simin, an 86-year-old Hong Kong publisher and member of a Chinese advisory body. He denounced RTHK as ``a remnant of British rule'' bent on opposing Hong Kong's post-colonial government ``on the pretext of editorial independence''.Tung Chee-hwa, who replaced Patten as Hong Kong's leader last July, also voiced unhappiness with the public broadcaster. He said his Government's policies should be ``presented positively'', and promised tolook into the matter further.The remarks set alarm bells ringing about the future of press freedom, seen as a litmus test of China's commitment to let Hong Kong run its own affairs in keeping with the ``one country two systems'' formula.``Is this the start of a new ethos of press reporting about the Government, the start of a new policy, like in China or Singapore, of so-called news management?'' asked Martin Lee, leader of Hong Kong's Democratic Party. ``I think it is extremely worrying.''The answer to Lee's question, which encapsulates the uncertainty at the heart of Hong Kong's transition from British to Chinese rule, seems to have already divided the post-colonial leadership. While Tung seemed to endorse demands for more obedient broadcasting, his deputy, chief secretary Anson Chan, described Xu's comments as ``extremely regrettable''.Speaking in Hong Kong, Chan, who also served under Patten and is viewed with suspicion by many veteran pro-China figures, said: ``The place for criticism and fordebate is here in Hong Kong, not in the mainland. I'm sure that this is the view of people here.''Joining a chorus of criticism of Xu, the Chinese-language Hong Kong Economic Journal ran a headline parodying Beijing Radio's call signal: ``Good morning, this is Hong Kong People's Radio.'' Hong Kong's pro-China camp has long lobbied for a house-cleaning at RTHK, which until the 1960s served as an unambiguous voice of British rule but has since carved out a more independent role.Xu said the Democratic Party leader should not have been allowed to question a new electoral system on air and complained that Tung had failed to take firm control: ``Tung is completely helpless. I have proposed three times that he do something. He only says `slowly, slowly'.''The Government currently has no direct control over the editorial content of public radio and TV, which receive a $200 (HK) million annual budget. Daily radio phone-in programmes regularly mock Tung. A rival phone-in on commercial radio is even morecaustic. Cheung Man-yee, RTHK's current head, said: ``As a public broadcaster, our first objective is to serve the public. If we start to behave like central radio we're just going to lose our audience.''The Guardian News Service
