China
2019.08.27 21:24 GMT+8

Political group calls for fair media coverage of HK situation

Updated 2019.08.27 21:24 GMT+8
Ge Yunfei and Ling Yuhuan

A Hong Kong political group called on Friday for fair media coverage of the current situation in the Chinese special administrative region (SAR).

Tang Tak-shing, the 55-year-old chairman of the small group named Politihk Social Strategic, shot a video with other members of the group to express their opinions on one of their Facebook accounts.

Established in April 2016, the group has several social media accounts on Facebook, voicing views that differ from those of the anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

The group consists of dozens of middle-aged people born and raised in the city, including people in trade, business, financial and insurance sectors.

"We support 'One Country, Two Systems.' We support the HKSAR government and the central government," Tang said in the video.

"In 2014, there was a riot in the Occupy Central Movement. That's the first time that we really think we have to walk out to the streets to organize our own rally against the other side," said Tang.

On Saturday, Tang organized a demonstration in front of the headquarters of Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), accusing the organization of biased reports on the Hong Kong Police. RTHK is a public broadcasting service in Hong Kong that depends entirely on government funding.

"Today we'll show Hong Kong's democratic power to the world. RTHK should give back some radio channels to us," said Tang at the rally. "No more distortion of facts. No more biased reports."

Policemen are seen in a confrontation with violent demonstrators during a protest in Hong Kong, Aug. 25, 2019. /AP Photo

At the demonstration, some Hong Kong residents also expressed their anger at biased reporting of the protests by local media.

"Because they don't cover the whole story. Everything is so fake, same for the Western media," said local resident named Nic. "They don't show the other side. They only show their side. It's just so unfair."

"They always show the clip that shows the police is bad. But when you look at the long video, you can see the truth," said Rob, a friend of Nic, who was also a local resident.

In the past three months, most of the media in Hong Kong have focused their reports on the so-called "police violence," which is fact the limited use of force by the Hong Kong police against violent protesters.

"It's a pity that no media in Hong Kong are presenting and covering our voice. We support the Hong Kong police. We want peace instead of violence," said another local resident named Shupeng Chan. "I hope Hong Kong's young people can calm down and think carefully. Young people, wake up!"

Police said around 1,200 people participated in the peace rally on Saturday. Most of the protesters there are in their 40s or 50s.

While those young anti-government protesters are good at making viral pictures, videos and posters, these people don't have these skills.

"We can only rely on the word of mouth and people's spontaneous actions to spread our information on social media and instant messaging groups," said Tang. "The only money we spent this time was on making dozens of banners, which cost around 1,000 HK dollars."

The lack of funding has always been a problem for Tang and his team. They borrowed a small and messy office from a friend for free. But they have to move out before September because their friend has leased the office out. It will be their fourth time to look for a new workplace this year.

"Some people say we get paid for doing this. If that were true, we wouldn't be have problems like finding an office," said Kwan Sai-wai, a social activist in Tang's political group. "We really don't have much money. But the most important thing is we speak out for truth and justice."

One day after the demonstration, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily made a video mocking this pro-government gathering.

Tang said the media and the people should show respect toward each other. He knows he is facing an uphill battle, but he said he and his colleagues won't give up.

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