7 87 16:11 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
In the Control of Publications Consolidation
Ordinance, which was amended and retitled this afternoon,
the "false news" offence under section 6 imposed strict
liability on the "malicious publication in
publication in any local
newspaper of false news which would be likely to alarm
public opinion or disturb public order" and for
.
the
purposes of that section, "malice would have been presumed
in default of evidence showing that, prior to publication,
the accused took reasonable measures to verify the truth
of the news". This would have meant that a person charged
under this section would have been required to prove that
he had token reasonable measures to ascertain the
truthfulness of his story and that he had no malicious
intent. The Public Order (Amendment) Bill published on 19
December 1986 proposed the transfer of the "false news"
offence to the new section 27 of the Public Order
Ordinance in exactly the some' terms except on the level of
fines.
During discussions with the Legislative Council
Ad Hoc Group, the point was made to the administration
that "malice" should not be a necessary ingredient in the
offence, because the Government's concern was in the oct
of having false news published and not its intent. The suggestion was also made in the Ad Hoc Group that since
the primary objective of the proposed mendment is to
maintain public order. i.e. not to disturb it. It would
not be equitable to penalize only local newspapers.
At
P.5