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Retiring from the Consumer Council are Professor Peter W Cheung, Mr Dennis Lam Haw-shun, Mr Johnny Mok Shiu-luen, Mr Ng Tat-lun, Mrs So Cheung Yee-hing and Mr Anthony Yuen Tak-tim.

"We are grateful to these retired members for the devotion of their precious time and effort to a highly regarded public service. Their contribution to the work of the Consumer Council has been most useful in promoting consumer interests," the spokesman said.

End/Wednesday, January 4, 1995

English Language Broadcasting

The Recreation and Culture Branch submitted two information papers to the LegCo Information Policy Panel (the Panel) today on "English Language Broadcasting".

Interest in this topic was sparked off by RTHK's recent decision to broadcast Legislative Council sittings on its English service on a selective basis only.

Panel members were informed that this was not an attempt to downplay the importance of English language broadcasting.

It was purely a programming decision, based on the consideration that since LegCo proceedings were increasingly conducted in Cantonese, English broadcasts comprised mostly simultaneous interpretation which the public generally did not find interesting.

Members were told that RTHK had since stepped up its news service on LegCo sitting days by providing up- to-the minute reports on its hourly news so that listeners were kept informed of events in LegCo as they unfolded throughout the day.

On the separate question of English language obligations imposed on the two local free-to-air television stations, the Panel was advised that this was not an issue originally included in the 1994 Broadcasting Policy Review recently conducted by the Branch.

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