What's new

Welcome

If you already have an account, please login, but if you don't have one yet, you are more than welcome to freely join the community of lawyers around the world..

Register Log in
  • We don't have any responsibilities about the news being sent in this site. Legal News are automatically being collected from sources and submitted in this forum by feed readers. Source of each news is set in the news and a link to its source is always added.
    (Any News older than 21 days from its post time will be deleted automatically!)

Jurist Hong Kong appeals court refuses to hear submission against RTHK satirical show

Status
Not open for further replies.
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #1

Dadparvar

Staff member
Nov 11, 2016
9,058
0
6
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal (CA) dismissed on Thursday the government’s application for leave to appeal to the top court in a case concerning a satire show that criticized the police’s anti-epidemic efforts during the COVID-19.

In the application, the Communication Authority submitted three questions for the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) to consider. First, the application asked the CFA to clarify the proper approach to assess a broadcaster’s compliance with the duty of verification, provided by the Generic Code of Practice on Television Programme Standard. The questions invites the court to determine the extent of duty when the case concerns a satirical program that combines factual content and personal opinion. In rejecting to hear submissions on this question, the court upheld a previous finding that the government failed to adopt the statutory approach in determining whether the broadcaster has failed to fulfil its duty. The question is therefore academic and does not warrant a leave to appeal.

Another question raised by the government invite the court to consider the balance between the constitutional right to free expression and the government’s duty to ensure the impartiality of public broadcasting. The court refused to entertain it, finding that the answer to it is fact-specific and lacks great general or public importance.

Lastly, the government sought to challenge the definition of “social status” in the Code. Previously in September, the majority in the CA reasoned that the satirical show in question criticized the police’s anti-epidemic efforts, without insulting the police based on their “social status.” The government attempted to argue that the court should interpret “social status” widely, instead of limiting it to personal characteristics. The court similarly refused to hear submissions on this question for its lack of great general or public importance.

In September 2024, the CA quashed a lower court’s finding against Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) for breaching the Code by producing a satirical show that criticized Hong Kong police anti-epidemic efforts during the COVID-19. The leave to appeal seeks to overturn this appellate court judgment.

In Hong Kong, appealing a CA judgment requires a leave to appeal granted by the CA. Alternatively, the applicant may apply to the CFA for a leave under the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance. In other words, the government may apply again if it is not satisfied with the CA’s refusal to grant a leave to appeal.

The post Hong Kong appeals court refuses to hear submission against RTHK satirical show appeared first on JURIST - News.

Continue reading...

Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top