''The Pulse'' is a Hong Kong weekly current affairs television program produced by

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

that airs on

RTHK TV 31 RTHK TV 31 (, formerly RTHK TV 31A for analogue TV) is a 24-hour Chinese-language free-to-air television channel in Hong Kong, owned by RTHK. It is one of RTHK's three channels alongside RTHK TV 32 and RTHK TV 33 on digital terrestrial televisi ...

, which provides in-depth reports and interviews on current issues in Hong Kong,

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and the rest of the world. Created by its first executive producer Gary Pollard, the series broadcast its first episode on January 7, 2005. The programme is hosted by Stephen Vines, a Hong Kong-based writer and journalist. The show originally aired on both

TVB Pearl TVB Pearl is a terrestrial television channel in Hong Kong owned by Television Broadcasts Limited. Established on 19 November 1967, it shares headquarters with TVB's other properties at TVB City at 77 Chun Choi Street in Tseung Kwan O Industr ...

and

, the show ceased its broadcast on TVB in 2017.

Incidents

Bruce Aylward interview

On 28 March 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the Director General of

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO), was interviewed in ''The Pulse'' by Yvonne Tong. In the video interview, Tong asked Aylward about Taiwan's status in the WHO and inquired as to whether it might be readmitted to the WHO after being denied entry by Beijing. However, Aylward claimed not to hear the question, and then terminated the video call. Tong then called once again to pose questions about Taiwan and its handling of COVID-19. Aylward responded by following China's official position that Taiwan is indeed part of China, a politically charged claim. “Well, we’ve already talked about China. And when you look across all the different areas of China, they’ve actually all done quite a good job,” he responded. He then quickly ended the interview. The interview

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensation are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the ter ...

across social media and raised questions about the WHO's deference to China in shutting out Taiwanese representation. As RTHK is a public broadcaster funded by the Hong Kong government, the

secretary for commerce and economic development The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development heads the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The Secretary is responsible for promoting commerce and the economic development of Hong Kong. The position was ...

Edward Yau Edward Yau Tang-wah, GBS, JP (; born 28 April 1960, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong politician. He was the Secretary for the Environment from 2007 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017, he was the Director of the Chief Executive's Office of Hong Kong. He ...

reprimanded the station for breaching its charter which includes "promoting understanding of the

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The constitutional principle was formulated in the early ...

model". Yau and pro-government figures like

Junius Ho Junius Ho Kwan-yiu (; born 4 June 1962) is a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who currently serves as a member in the Hong Kong Legislative Council. a prominent pro Beijing figure in Hong Kong’s political landscape, he formerly served as pre ...

opined that the interview violated the

One China principle The term One China may refer to one of the following: * The One China principle is the position held by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that there is only one sovereign state under the name China, with the PRC serving as the sole legit ...

. RTHK announced it stood by the original interview as aired, dismissed claims that it violated the charter as it did not mention Taiwan as a country, and pushed back against government interference in the station's editorial autonomy. An RTHK advisory panel member labeled the accusations as “nonsense”, adding that she does not "understand why when a reporter is asking something relating to health, she or he has to remember there is ‘

One Country, Two Systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The constitutional principle was formulated in the early ...

’ … in line with the government or China”. A WHO representative sent a e-mail statement to

Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was co-founded in 2015 by Tom Grundy, who believed that the territory's press freedom was in decline, to provide an alternative to the dominant English-languag ...

accusing the show's crew of misrepresentation and deliberate manipulation of footage; but RTHK's Head of Corporate Communications and Standards Amen Ng however rebukes this stating that the broadcaster “strenuously reject any allegations of ‘distortion and misrepresentation.'”

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulse (TV programme), The RTHK original programming