TNAG-0071-FCO40-107-Disturbances-in-Hong-Kong-propaganda-1969 — Page 77

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HJC/OMR

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80/€

26th February, 1968.

N. S. Yuen,

The Hong Kong Association (Hong Kong Branch),

United Chinese Bank Building,

31-37 Des Voeux Road, C.,

HONG KONG.

Dear Mrs. Yuen,

BBC BROADCASTS

You will have noted from the Minutes of our Meeting of January 31st that we were very critical of a BBC broadcast on the "24 Hours" series on January 9th and that Mr. Keswick undertook to make representations. Fe is unfortunately no longer on the idvisory Board of the B.B.C., having served the statutary period, but through his contacts there was able to arrange a luncheon with four senior officials of the RPC. These were:-

C.J.

Curran

Huch Howse

John Crawley

Arthur Hutchinson

B.R.C., Director of External Broad-

casting

B.B.C., Head of Far Eastern Service

B.R.C., Editor News and Current Affairs

B.R.C., Foreign News Editor

Supporting Mr. Keswick were Jeffrey Hamm,

Brian Barlow and myself.

We told our quests of the Association's concern in connection with the broadcast riven on 9th January in the programme introduced by Mr. Pettifer. The inaccuracies and imputations in that interzicu, together with the lack of balance ir presentation, and the treatment of the inter- view with .E., had consed

II.

considerable degree of

misgiving amongst us and it was on this most recent example of irres onsible reporting that we breed our discussion. It was rointed out that it was not only the integrity of the interviewer in this time of programme that was at stake but, more important, the integrity of the P.B.C. The Associ-tion was concerned with exrorts to the Far East and, particularly, to Hong Kong, and it was, therefore, fundamental to the British image that B.".C. programmes should present the facts and not slent or distort then,

We felt that the standard of reporting in the B.B.C. generally has been slowly deteriorating for the past year or two and it is no secret that the rather angry young intellectuals are mainly responsible. There is, of course, a natural tendency for programmes to be slanted either to the right or to the left, but it is highly desirable that a proper balance should be maintained and this does not appear to be the case any longer. The pendulum has swung rather too far to the left and appears to remain there.

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