XN000022-1997-02-27 — Page 28

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Plea for public participation to regulate broadcasting

The Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority, Sir Roger Lobo, today (Thursday) paid tribute to members of the Television Viewing Groups and Advisory Panels for their hard work in making Hong Kong's broadcasting industry "vibrant, progressive and responsive".

Speaking at a reception hosted in their honour by the Broadcasting Authority (BA), Sir Roger said their opinion, suggestions and advice on the performance of the broadcasters, as well as the appropriateness of the programme and advertising standards had been most valuable.

"You have done a wonderful job, sacrificing your time to complete questionnaires and attending the district and regional meetings. Your contributions are deeply appreciated," he said.

In his welcoming speech, Sir Roger also reviewed the work of BA in the past

year

which included the mid-term review of the sound broadcast licence of Metro Broadcast, the launching of a home page on the internet to enhance communication with members of the community, and the opening up of meetings of the Codes of Practice Committee to the public.

Echoing Sir Roger's views, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA), Mr Eddy Chan, stressed the need for public participation to ensure effective regulation of broadcasting.

He noted that in 1996, the public had lodged as many as 2,500 complaints against television and radio broadcasts with BA, an increase of 49 per cent compared with the previous year. This indicates that more and more people are now aware of BA's Complaints Hotline and are using it as a channel for monitoring of broadcasting services.

He undertook to keep the complaint procedures under constant review so as to provide a fair, reasonable and satisfactory response to every complainant and broadcaster.