Lisbon calls for compliance with Basic Law in TDM’s patriotic editorial line case

The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, has called on his counterparts in the People’s Republic of China to scrupulously respect and apply the rules established by the Macau Basic Law.
The call comes in the light of recent events involving the public broadcaster Teledifusão de Macau (TDM) which according to several reports has recently established new editorial rules where journalists need to refrain from disclosing and broadcasting news that is contrary to China’s policies, urging them to strictly follow the principles of patriotism and love for mainland China and Macau.
In a statement collected by Lusa news agency in Brussels on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Foreign Ministers’ summit, Santos Silva said, “The [Macau] Basic Law is very clear in guaranteeing freedom of the press and, therefore, in the same way, that Portugal scrupulously respects the implementation of the Basic Law in Macau, Portugal [also] hopes that the People’s Republic of China will also scrupulously respect the Basic Law in Macau, namely, in the area of press freedom.”
He added that the same law clearly establishes the transition process of Macau since the handover from the Portuguese to Chinese administration in 1999 and that establishes the continuation of the “way of life” and general rules for a period of 50 years (until 2049).
According to what the Times could ascertain, in consequence of the enforcement of the new guidelines in TDM, a total of six journalists from TDM’s television and radio channels in the Portuguese language have resigned in protest with the new editorial line.
The Times has managed to contact four out of the six people involved in the case who confirmed that they have resigned from the company, but they declined to make any further comments on the matter.
The resignation letters were handed in after a meeting between TDM’s Executive Committee and the journalists from the Portuguese and English channels in which the broadcaster’s administration reaffirmed that the new guidelines were to be followed without exceptions.
The same guidelines were also criticized by several journalism-related professional associations including the Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM), the Macau Journalists Association, which represents reporters from the Chinese-language media, as well as Portugal’s Journalists Trade Union.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive (CE) Ho Iat Seng denied that the new guidelines by TDM have been in any way imposed by the local government, claiming that the government is not imposing any restrictions on press freedom and did not “tighten the control over media outlets.”
Ho also added that TDM, as a public broadcaster, “does love the country and Macau, certainly.”

Macau to be noted on Press Freedom ranking

International organizations have been alerted about the current press freedom situation in Macau, with the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) saying that Macau will be under the group’s ranking separately, Asia’s RSF representative Cédric Alviani told Lusa.
Previously, Macau was considered on the ranking created by the international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information together with the neighboring region of Hong Kong. However, since the recent developments, the RSF decided to rank Macau separately henceforth.
In last year’s ranking, Hong Kong was placed 80th among the 180 countries and regions while mainland China placed 177th, just three places from the bottom.