JOYCE NG, STUART LAU AND GARY CHEUNG
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 05 November, 2015, 12:53am
UPDATED : Thursday, 05 November, 2015, 12:53am
The Hong Kong Journalists Association hold a protest at the University of Hong Kong on Monday to demand the university withdraw its injunction against Commercial Radio and other media from reporting on leaked audio recordings of its council's confidential meetings. Photo: Dickson Lee
Commercial Radio has decided not to object to the gag order sought by the University of Hong Kong to ban media publication of information about its council meetings, the South China Morning Posthas learned.
The station's withdrawal could mean the injunction on it - and also on other media organisations - could "last forever", lawyers said, if no other party joined the litigation and if the court did not change its order.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told thePost that the radio station, which earlier vowed to protect press freedom, told HKU in writing yesterday that it would not attend the court hearing set for tomorrow.
"The management think they should not spend time and resources contesting the order," one of the sources said. "Having aired two leaked audio clips of the council meetings, the station considers it has served the purpose of informing the public."
A Commercial Radio spokesman would only say: "The case is being handled by lawyers and we have nothing to add."
The Journalists Association would decide today whether to join the lawsuit as an interested party, chairwoman Sham Yee-lan said.
"The scope of the court order is too broad," Sham said. "The court has the duty to clarify what it means and how it will strike a balance between protecting the HKU council's confidentiality and public interest in HKU matters."
Last Friday, HKU obtained an interim injunction to ban the radio station and "persons unknown" from publishing information about its business, including papers and audio recordings of its meetings.
One of the sources said counsel representing Commercial Radio and HKU would attend a hearing at the High Court this morning possibly to tell the judge that the two parties had reached a settlement and to clarify the scope of the injunction.
The former law dean of the University of Hong Kong Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun attended a radio programme at the Commercial Radio in September. Photo: Sam Tsang
The radio station aired two audio clips from a council discussion during a closed-door meeting in September. After that meeting, council chairman Dr Leong Che-hung said the council had voted down the appointment of pro-democracy scholar Professor Johannes Chan Man-mun to a senior managerial post, but he declined to explain why.
Barrister Ronny Tong Ka-wah SC said he was "disappointed" at the radio station's decision. If no party was joining the case, the injunction would "last forever" and "it will be very bad for press freedom", he said.
The media would still be able to report council records already in the public domain, but they could be accused of contempt of court if they reported confidential information provided by council members on an off-the-record basis, Tong added.
HKU principal law lecturer Eric Cheung Tat-ming said the court should treat the Journalists Association the same as the radio station if it decided to join the case, because other media would face similar consequences if the order continued to be in effect.
“No one would know how political considerations – like licence renewal – came into play [in the radio station’s decision],” Cheung said.
Meanwhile, eight professors have submitted bids to contest three staff vacancies on the HKU council.
Additional reporting by Ng Kang-chung
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1875796/radio-station-wont-contest-hong-kong-university
