New Macau Association (ANM) has called for an assembly at the entrance of public broadcaster TDM this coming Sunday in defense of freedom of the press, the group announced on its social media channels.
In addition to the motion, the group also demands the broadcaster clarify the matter of alleged persecution of press freedom, while requesting TDM to abide by the law to ensure freedom of the press.
However, in an interview with local media All About Macau, Deputy Director-General of the group, Rocky Chan, expressed his worries that the government will obstruct the event using health concerns as the reason.
Last weekend, lawmaker Au Kam San’s protest over the government’s third round of stimulus was called off last-minute by the Health Bureau. The Bureau cited Covid-19 as the justification, though the Macao Government Tourism Office has been promoting the city as “safe” in Mainland China.
The ANM assembly was called in response to nine suspected new guidelines. These included promoting and advancing patriotism, as well as not spreading information against policies made by Mainland China or the Macau Special Administrative Region.
Chan said that if the suspected new guidelines were to be proven real, they would amount to an apparent act of intervening in the freedom of the press. He added that the group saw confusion from within the public broadcaster, judging from the fact that several non-Chinese journalists have recently resigned from their posts in the company.
Although the public broadcaster has issued statements to clarify that the editorial statute had not been altered, Chan found it unconvincing because TDM has the duty to provide a clear picture to the public as it is operated with 100% public funds.
The public broadcaster’s latest statement reiterated that it has been abiding with the Basic Law on the protection of press freedom. AL
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