RTHK veteran Forever Sze Wing-yuen: I'm under 'political pressure'
Employee says he sensed the broadcasting director was assigning him political missions - and his colleagues are also feeling the strain
RTHK was plunged deeper into controversy yesterday as the employee at the centre of the storm broke his silence, saying he "had the feeling" he was being assigned political missions.
Reports had claimed the acting assistant director of TV and corporate business, Forever Sze Wing-yuen, would not be promoted to the job on a permanent basis because he had clashed with the station's broadcasting director, Roy Tang Yun-kwong.
Tang was also accused of interfering in the public broadcaster's editorial independence.
Yesterday, Sze was interviewed by rival Commercial Radio's phone-in show, . He said he was facing "the biggest pressure ever" since he joined RTHK over 30 years ago. "My colleagues are telling me they are feeling the pressure, the political pressure … and diversity [in production] is weakening," he said. "This is a very serious matter for a public broadcaster."
My colleagues are telling me they are feeling the pressure, the political pressure … and diversity [in production] is weakening
But Sze would not go into detail when asked about the political missions he claimed he was assigned by Tang, who was parachuted in to head the broadcaster as an administrative officer in 2011. "I have never done anything that goes against my professional conduct," Sze said. "[Political missions] are more like a feeling. It is not so straightforward. But I can say I myself have such a feeling, and some of my colleagues have similar feelings."
