Lawmaker Sulu Sou’s aspiration to issue a vote of salutation by the Legislative Assembly (AL) for the work and role of the press in Macau was voted against by 24 out of the 29 lawmakers yesterday.
The proposal was in relation to the situation at the public broadcaster Teledifusão de Macau (TDM), which led to a series of terminated contracts of several journalists, claiming that the new editorial rules were against press freedom.
Sou only managed to gather three votes in favor of his proposal.
Explaining his decision to vote against the proposal, lawmaker Davis Fong accused Sou of trying to take advantage of the TDM case to promote a vote at AL against the decision of the Executive Committee of the company.
“TDM is a private company that has a concession for public service. It’s a company which is completely autonomous. I oppose this proposal,” Fong said.
Other lawmakers, including Lao Chi Ngai, agreed with Fong, stating that the government always showed support for freedom of press in Macau.
Lao also claimed that the problem in TDM is an “internal matter.”
“We cannot claim that there is lack of freedom of press just because one journalist quits claiming it is so,” Lao said.
The same lawmaker also added that the Chief Executive, Ho Iat Seng, has already publicly stated that the government has never interfered with the work of public broadcasters or its journalists.
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