China Tweaks the Reins, and Hong Kong's Media Bridle (Mark Landler, The New York Times)

HONG KONG -- A dispute over press freedom has erupted here, interrupting Hong Kong's otherwise peaceful return to Chinese rule and temporarily upstaging even the Asian financial crisis.

The fracas began on March 4 when a Hong Kong delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress harshly criticized the city's government-owned broadcaster, Radio Television Hong Kong, and urged the government to clamp down on it. The delegate, Xu Simin, accused the broadcaster of undermining Hong Kong's new leaders and described it as a "remnant of British rule."

Because Xu has close ties to the Chinese government and made his comments at a meeting in Beijing, many journalists and pro-democracy politicians interpreted the criticism as the first step in a crackdown on the news media. Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, added to the fears with only a tepid endorsement of the broadcaster's editorial independence.

"While freedom of speech is important," Tung said, "it is also important for government policies to be positively presented." He was in Beijing to attend the National Peoples Congress.

Tung later reaffirmed that Radio Television Hong Kong would remain independent. But journalists and pro-democracy leaders said his conflicting responses indicated that vigorous news media are no longer welcome here.

"People here see RTHK's losing its independence as a litmus test of whether Hong Kong will have any press freedom at all," said Emily Lau, a former journalist who is one of Hong Kong's most outspoken pro-democracy politicians.

Fears that Hong Kong's news media would be muzzled after the July 1 return to China had receded in recent months, partly because Beijing has kept a determinedly low profile there and partly because Asia's economic crisis has distracted people from politics.

But Ms. Lau said the dispute would thrust the issue back into the spotlight, not least because Radio Television Hong Kong will play a central role in covering Hong Kong's legislative elections in May.

The broadcaster does not own television stations, but it supplies news and public affairs programs to the city's two commercial broadcasters. It also operates seven radio stations, including Hong Kong's only Mandarin-language station, which gives it a commanding presence.

Xu trained most of his fire on a popular radio program, "Talkabout," which regularly criticizes leaders in Hong Kong and Beijing.

Such radio talk shows are a staple in Hong Kong, attracting more than 700,000 listeners each morning. With three programs vying for the audience, they compete to offer the most pungent political commentary.

"We are a problem for Beijing," said Albert Cheng, the host of "Hong Kong Affairs," a morning talk show that competes with "Talkabout." "They think we're out of line, out of control, and they have to do something about it."

Cheng said he, too, had been subjected to intimidation by Hong Kong officials unhappy with his commentary. "If the government gets control of RTHK," he said, "do you think I can stay on the air?"

And without such freedoms, some employees said, they fear losing their audiences.

"The fact is, people don't believe controlled media," said Terry Nealon, the head of English-language news at Radio Television Hong Kong. "If RTHK were controlled by the government, people wouldn't watch it or listen to it."

Rancorous relations with the government are nothing new for the broadcaster, which was started by the British colonial government in 1923 as a local version of BBC. Nealon recalled an incident in which the news department was censored by the British colonial administration, when he was a novice producer in the mid-1970s.

But the stakes are much greater today, given China's determination not to appear to meddle in Hong Kong. For the last week, government officials have scrambled to explain that Tung steadfastly supports the broadcasting service and had simply been caught off guard when asked about the criticism.

Some officials even found a silver lining. They pointed out that the head of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress, Li Ruihuan, indirectly reproached Xu, declaring in a speech on March 7 that delegates should not question Hong Kong's internal affairs.

"It helped clarify the concept of 'one country, two systems,"' said a senior Hong Kong official, referring to the agreement with Britain that guarantees Hong Kong some autonomy as a special administrative region of China.

The brouhaha may also advance the cause of the democratic advocates because it dramatizes the potential threat to press freedom. Ms. Lau and others contend that Hong Kong's newspapers and television stations routinely censor themselves for fear of antagonizing China. But self-censorship is harder to demonstrate than the threat of external pressure.

Martin Lee, Hong Kong's most prominent pro-democracy politician, said the dispute might end up benefiting the news media. "The bigger danger would be if nobody paid attention to Hong Kong," he said, "and its freedoms were slowly eroded away."


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