95 '87 15:34 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
:
11.
The community is entitled to protection against irresponsible scaremongering caused by the publication of false news. Hong Kong is a small but densely populated place where confidence is fragile and any disturbance of public order could have dire effects. The false news provision does not prevent the press from publishing news which it believes to be true. It only requires the press
to be more circumspect in verifying the truth of what it intends to publish. A responsible press should not feel inhibited as it is guided by professional ethics always to take reasonable steps to verify the truth of what it publishes.
Administrative Services and
Information Branch
Government Secretariat 4 May 1987
P.7