TVB threatens legal action against police watchdog for calling out Miss HK pageant outfits

Local media broadcaster TVB is considering taking legal action against a member of the police watchdog after she questioned why beauty pageants needed to wear bikinis. Helen Yu Lai Ching-ping, a member of the Independent Police Complaints Council and a former senior government official, was commenting on the levels of sex and violence in the media.

The recording of the internal meeting, which was made available online, shows Yu stating: “Even when speaking about the Miss Hong Kong pageant, you can see they are wearing such little clothing.”

“It is okay to wear less clothing, you can do so for swimming, but why should they be wearing bikinis when answering questions in an air-conditioned room with someone like [pageant host] Eric Tsang Chi Wai staring at you? I seriously do not understand, (少布都算喇，答問題使唔使要喺冷氣房入面，對住曾志偉嗰啲(主持)咁樣，瞪大眼望到實，點解要着三點式答問題呢？我真係唔明)” Yu added.

According to its official statement, TVB said it strongly condemns the malicious and false accusations against the senior executives of the company. The statement said that the remarks did not mention any other related beauty pageants held by other TV stations, so the remarks were targeting TVB specifically.

The statement also added that Yu has linked the company’s annual contest with the levels of sex and violence in the society, which is unethical, misleading and irresponsible. “It is also disrespectful and maliciously slandering the ladies who participated in the ‘Miss Hong Kong Pageant’,” the statement read. The station will reserve the right to take legal actions.

As one of the most widely contacted media, TVB said that it holds considerable social responsibilities and is absolutely aware of business regulation issues. The broadcaster strictly abides by the ‘General Code of Practice on Television’, where all programmes are previewed before broadcast, and will be broadcast only when the content has met the guidelines.

Back in July this year, TVB has defended its decision to terminate RTHK programmes after a former district councillor accused the broadcaster of being biased and restricting freedom of expression in Hong Kong. According to the public statement released on 30 August, TVB said that a former district councillor Ho Kai Ming Kalvin published certain false statement regarding the revocation of the mandatory directions for domestic free television programme service licensees to broadcast programmes of Radio Television Hong Kong, asserting that TVB is biased, colluding with the Hong Kong Government to restrict freedom of expression, or otherwise under the influence of the Chinese Government.

TVB then clarified in the statement that the act of terminating RTHK programmes was “purely out of commercial, operational and programming considerations, with the aim to vacate the timeslot to offer the audiences a greater diversity of television programmes”. It also said that RTHK programmes would continue to be aired on RTHK’s own channels, and RTHK does not object to the revocation.

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