{"id":230672,"date":"2021-05-03T19:34:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-04T02:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=230672"},"modified":"2021-05-06T18:05:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T01:05:00","slug":"timeline-two-months-of-turmoil-at-hong-kong-public-broadcaster-rthk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2021\/05\/timeline-two-months-of-turmoil-at-hong-kong-public-broadcaster-rthk\/","title":{"rendered":"Timeline: Two Months of Turmoil at Hong Kong Public Broadcaster RTHK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, the embattled Hong Kong public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) announced that it would begin deleting its own programming<\/a> from the internet, including all content over a year old. It is a chilling move by the broadcaster, which has been embroiled in turmoil following a change of management with the appointment of civil servant Patrick Li as its Director of Broadcasting in February. On Monday, the broadcaster also formally fired Nabela Qoser, an outspoken RTHK journalist who gained widespread recognition<\/a> during the 2019-2020 protests for her hard hitting questioning of public officials.<\/p>\n

The alarming announcements over the weekend are just two episodes in a months-long saga at RTHK, which has seen the resignation of a slew of senior producers, the axing by Patrick Li of programming for lacking political “neutrality,” and the addition of a daily talk show hosted by Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Observers fear that RTHK, originally constructed in the image of the BBC as an editorially independent public broadcaster and ranked most trusted media brand in Hong Kong<\/a> in 2019, will gradually be remolded into something more closely resembling mainland China’s CCTV.<\/p>\n

RTHK’s transformation and censorship is a case study in the muzzling of once venerated institutions in post-National Security Law Hong Kong. Following is a timeline of the transformation of RTHK so far.<\/p>\n

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