Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper on Monday apologised for an erroneous front-page report, in which it wrongly quoted scandal-plagued Executive Councillor Franklin Lam Fan-keung saying he discriminated against new immigrants.
In its apology, the Chinese-language newspaper admitted that its reporters had made the mistake by failing to catch the word “not” in Lam’s sentence, part of a speech he gave at private seminar last Thursday.
The Apple Daily report, published on Sunday, quoted Lam as saying in Cantonese at the seminar: “I do discriminate against new immigrants”.
Lam denied having made the discriminatory remarks and expressed regret at the report.
At a press conference held on Sunday afternoon on a housing survey conducted by a youth group, he replayed a tape recording covering the segment of his speech to show what he had actually said.
The recording showed a voice of Lam saying: “I do not discriminate against new immigrants at all. After they arrive in Hong Kong, legally they have become Hong Kong people, Hong Kong first-class citizens.”
