Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#iCable #CableNews #HongKongMedia
Sources: 3 Heads of Engineering Team at Cable News Fired by News Director
According to sources cited by Apple Daily, three engineering team heads got a termination letter from their news director on August 21, 2020 effective immediately.
They have worked at Cable News for around 20 years. They were the first batch of employees when Cable News was just established. They were responsible for maintaining network connections, live broadcast signals, assisting news interviewing, editorials and other back-end works. They have a good relationship with journalists. It's reported that some journalists couldn’t stop crying when they knew the company let go of them.
Cable News had underwent a major staffing change during early August, with Anderson Chan Hing-cheong and Oscar Lee taking the position of news director.
Source: Apple Daily #Aug21
#LayOff
Sources: 3 Heads of Engineering Team at Cable News Fired by News Director
According to sources cited by Apple Daily, three engineering team heads got a termination letter from their news director on August 21, 2020 effective immediately.
They have worked at Cable News for around 20 years. They were the first batch of employees when Cable News was just established. They were responsible for maintaining network connections, live broadcast signals, assisting news interviewing, editorials and other back-end works. They have a good relationship with journalists. It's reported that some journalists couldn’t stop crying when they knew the company let go of them.
Cable News had underwent a major staffing change during early August, with Anderson Chan Hing-cheong and Oscar Lee taking the position of news director.
Source: Apple Daily #Aug21
#LayOff
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Professionalism #Solidarity
5 Heads of i-Cable News and Entire China News Team Resign En Masse Against Laying Off of Journalists
On Dec 1, 2020, i-Cable News laid off 40 employees with immediate effect, angering staff at the TV news station.
According to the source, the head of i-Cable China News Szeto Yuen was the first to protest by resigning, followed by the rest of the journalists on the team. In total, one journalist was fired, and the other ten on the team, including Szeto, quit in protest. Some members from other teams also resigned to protest against the company's decision.
A senior journalist told Stand News that they felt it was better to take action together and alert the public that i-Cable News had deteriorated, instead being slowly and quietly weakened. He added that it was not worth staying anymore, since the management has intervened in the reporting again and again.
After recent salary cuts, a few junior journalists were only earning around 13,000 HKD a month. Operations at i-Cable News has nearly ground to a halt on Dec 1, 2020.
An upper-mid-level manager said that the top management had not consulted any department heads about this round of firing. The video editors and graphic designers who were fired were widely praised for their abilities by their colleagues. Many of the fired staff played important roles in middle and senior management.
i-Cable China News had investigated corrupt practices in China many times, and followed up the situation of activists; the team was long regarded to be in high reputation.
They were among the few public broadcasters in Hong Kong with a dedicated team for China news; its 11 members, including the team leader, are responsible for the daily China news reporting and the night-time “China Report”. They also have journalists regularly stationed in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Their most visible reporting in recent years were the 2012 interview of pro-democracy activist Li Wangyang, who served the longest sentence among those from the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
After broadcasting the interview, Li died in Daxiang Hospital, where he was found dead and leaning against the window, with a rope wrapped around his neck, though his legs were touching the ground. The Chinese authorities initially reported that he committed suicide, but they later changed the conclusion to “accidental death”. This incident caused strong repercussions in Hong Kong, with over ten thousand Hongkongers marching in protest, believing that Li "had been suicided".
In 2017, journalist Lam Kin-Shing covered the memorial at sea for Liu Xiaobo by a group of dissenters, the event was broadcast on Facebook live. Afterwards, Liu’s friends were arrested by China police, and the driver hired by i-Cable China News was detained for three days. Lam was transferred back to Hong Kong and barred from reporting in China again; he resigned soon after.
At the early stage of the Wuhan Pneumonia outbreak last year, China News team sent journalists to Wuhan for investigation. They were among the very few Hong Kong media who sent journalists to Wuhan for on-site reporting.
Moreover, the iCable China News team's reporting had won many awards, including Human Right Press Award and awards in the School of Journalism and Communication in CUHK. Their award-winning programs included “Damage of Nuclear weapons tests”, “The land acquisitions incident of Wukan village”, “ Li Wangyang”, “Even China police are protesting”, “Decoding the future of 30 years later”, “Tiananmen massacre 30th year anniversary”, “Poison milk powder: 10 years later”.
Source: Stand News #Dec1
=====
Related News:
All Department Heads from iCable News Quit After the Company Sacks 40 Staff in News Team
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/27039
#WuhanPneumonia #LiWangYang #ChinaNewsTeam #iCable #MassResignation #SzetoYuen #Respect #Integrity #Journalism
5 Heads of i-Cable News and Entire China News Team Resign En Masse Against Laying Off of Journalists
On Dec 1, 2020, i-Cable News laid off 40 employees with immediate effect, angering staff at the TV news station.
According to the source, the head of i-Cable China News Szeto Yuen was the first to protest by resigning, followed by the rest of the journalists on the team. In total, one journalist was fired, and the other ten on the team, including Szeto, quit in protest. Some members from other teams also resigned to protest against the company's decision.
A senior journalist told Stand News that they felt it was better to take action together and alert the public that i-Cable News had deteriorated, instead being slowly and quietly weakened. He added that it was not worth staying anymore, since the management has intervened in the reporting again and again.
After recent salary cuts, a few junior journalists were only earning around 13,000 HKD a month. Operations at i-Cable News has nearly ground to a halt on Dec 1, 2020.
An upper-mid-level manager said that the top management had not consulted any department heads about this round of firing. The video editors and graphic designers who were fired were widely praised for their abilities by their colleagues. Many of the fired staff played important roles in middle and senior management.
i-Cable China News had investigated corrupt practices in China many times, and followed up the situation of activists; the team was long regarded to be in high reputation.
They were among the few public broadcasters in Hong Kong with a dedicated team for China news; its 11 members, including the team leader, are responsible for the daily China news reporting and the night-time “China Report”. They also have journalists regularly stationed in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Their most visible reporting in recent years were the 2012 interview of pro-democracy activist Li Wangyang, who served the longest sentence among those from the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
After broadcasting the interview, Li died in Daxiang Hospital, where he was found dead and leaning against the window, with a rope wrapped around his neck, though his legs were touching the ground. The Chinese authorities initially reported that he committed suicide, but they later changed the conclusion to “accidental death”. This incident caused strong repercussions in Hong Kong, with over ten thousand Hongkongers marching in protest, believing that Li "had been suicided".
In 2017, journalist Lam Kin-Shing covered the memorial at sea for Liu Xiaobo by a group of dissenters, the event was broadcast on Facebook live. Afterwards, Liu’s friends were arrested by China police, and the driver hired by i-Cable China News was detained for three days. Lam was transferred back to Hong Kong and barred from reporting in China again; he resigned soon after.
At the early stage of the Wuhan Pneumonia outbreak last year, China News team sent journalists to Wuhan for investigation. They were among the very few Hong Kong media who sent journalists to Wuhan for on-site reporting.
Moreover, the iCable China News team's reporting had won many awards, including Human Right Press Award and awards in the School of Journalism and Communication in CUHK. Their award-winning programs included “Damage of Nuclear weapons tests”, “The land acquisitions incident of Wukan village”, “ Li Wangyang”, “Even China police are protesting”, “Decoding the future of 30 years later”, “Tiananmen massacre 30th year anniversary”, “Poison milk powder: 10 years later”.
Source: Stand News #Dec1
=====
Related News:
All Department Heads from iCable News Quit After the Company Sacks 40 Staff in News Team
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/27039
#WuhanPneumonia #LiWangYang #ChinaNewsTeam #iCable #MassResignation #SzetoYuen #Respect #Integrity #Journalism
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
#Collusion #PoliticalAssignment
Video Leaked: Carrie Lam Praises i-Cable News Director for Being "Cooperative"
On Dec 1, 2020, the paid TV station i-Cable sacked around 40 staff members in the news department, including the entire team of "News Lancet", a reputed investigative news program in Hong Kong.
The sacking has triggered the resignation of the News Team en masse and discontent among journalists and audience. Many questioned whether the News Director, Oscar Lee Tsun and other senior managers, who were recently parachuted to head the news team, are carrying out political assignment.
On the next day, a video footage leaked out, wherein the news director Oscar Li had an interview with Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
In the video, Lam mocked Lee for being too “mild” in his interview questions. In embarrassment, Lee stammered, “...harder questions will come in the next session.”
Lam, however, was not contended as she continued to taunt Lee, “No wonder my press secretary said (Cable TV) is very cooperative, very cooperative, very accommodating, very accommodating.”
After the layoff plan was out on Dec 1, a number of departmenf supervisors and staff members of the News team encircled the office of the senior managers including Lee, Hui Hong-Fai, Tse Yin-na and Chan Hing-cheong.
The staff request an explanation on the TV station's criteria set out to fire them Meanwhile, 16 journalists from News Department issued a joint statement and resigned en masse in solidarity.
In the statement, they criticized management for failing to provide a clear account on reasons for sacking certain staff. They also pointed out that such decision has completely disregarded the journalists’ contribution over the years.
Source: Stand News #Dec2
#PressFreedom #WhiteTerror #Oppression #CarrieLam #OscarLi #Leak #iCable
Video Leaked: Carrie Lam Praises i-Cable News Director for Being "Cooperative"
On Dec 1, 2020, the paid TV station i-Cable sacked around 40 staff members in the news department, including the entire team of "News Lancet", a reputed investigative news program in Hong Kong.
The sacking has triggered the resignation of the News Team en masse and discontent among journalists and audience. Many questioned whether the News Director, Oscar Lee Tsun and other senior managers, who were recently parachuted to head the news team, are carrying out political assignment.
On the next day, a video footage leaked out, wherein the news director Oscar Li had an interview with Chief Executive Carrie Lam.
In the video, Lam mocked Lee for being too “mild” in his interview questions. In embarrassment, Lee stammered, “...harder questions will come in the next session.”
Lam, however, was not contended as she continued to taunt Lee, “No wonder my press secretary said (Cable TV) is very cooperative, very cooperative, very accommodating, very accommodating.”
After the layoff plan was out on Dec 1, a number of departmenf supervisors and staff members of the News team encircled the office of the senior managers including Lee, Hui Hong-Fai, Tse Yin-na and Chan Hing-cheong.
The staff request an explanation on the TV station's criteria set out to fire them Meanwhile, 16 journalists from News Department issued a joint statement and resigned en masse in solidarity.
In the statement, they criticized management for failing to provide a clear account on reasons for sacking certain staff. They also pointed out that such decision has completely disregarded the journalists’ contribution over the years.
Source: Stand News #Dec2
#PressFreedom #WhiteTerror #Oppression #CarrieLam #OscarLi #Leak #iCable