Feature Story: The doomsday of the news department as witnessed by five i-Cable journalists

A large crowd gathered outside Cable TV Tower at Hoi Shing Road, Tsuen Wan, a rare scene. All pointing their cameras at the bright red Cable TV logo, a line of photo journalists would charge forward and press the shutters whenever there was any hint of activity inside.

Among the photos, there is one showing news reader Kenix Lau Tsz-Fung leaving with a suitcase which carried her outfits on cast. Sports journalist Chan Hon-Wai held a basketball to his chest. Veteran journalist Alex Sin Ching-Fung carried a carton with a sticker “3 HK” which became a talking point of the netizens. 

I-Cable cameraman Ah Kwun today was instead a subject in the photos. He was shooting in the Legco building in the morning and received an unexpected employment termination notice with immediate effect. While the camera was rolling, he had to rush back to the office to pack up. In the afternoon, he walked out of the news department with a much lighter backpack, holding up a selfie stick. Exiting via the “time tunnel” (the corridor leading to the news department), he was accompanied by a team of news journalists. They walked him to the main gate, waving goodbye. 

By night, some of the local desk journalists decided to resign too. A number of assignment editors, together with 11 journalists walked into the management office to submit their resignation. At this point, only eight staff remained in the local news desk. 

Staff of i-Cable News probably have never imagined that their workplace is now a news focus. An Apple Daily news journalist said with a bitter tone, “no news about any fellow news media could possibly be good news”. 

This is another day a news media becomes a news subject.

What had i-Cable gone through on that day? Stand News interviewed five i-Cable News staff. Among them, one is in the layoff list, carrying a carton and holding back tears when walking out. One joined other China desk colleagues and resigned. One made a tough decision to stay and is now one of the few left in the Hong Kong news desk. Some sighed and some were angry at where i-Cable news department has got to. They criticized the outsiders newly appointed to the news department such as Hui Fong-Fai, Oscar Lee Tsun and other senior executives. In their view, they are not even capable of “being an intern”.  

* * *

A journalist of over a decade: Holding the carton I indeed wanted to cry

“Surrendering the three journalist passes – Government HQ pass, Legco pass and i-Cable News pass – was most disheartening,” said Ah Lok (pseudonym), one among the laid-offs.

The moment he handed over the passes he realized that he is “no longer a journalist”. 

This day could have been another Tuesday as usual, with the Executive Council meeting in the morning and workload in the i-Cable news room was not heavy. It was a calm morning until senior management Edna Tse Yin-Na announced the layoff plan in the routine editorial meeting attended by all news team leaders. They asked for the dismissal list which Tse said she did not know.

After the meeting, the news hit all in the news department. Some started to drop their works and showed concerns for each other. “They said 40 (will be laid off)”, “all news teams are affected”. … Sitting at his own desk, Ah Lok stared at the clock in the news room, watching the minute hand moving towards 11am when the list would be announced. “That 40 minutes was painfully long.” Each and everyone in the news department was wondering if he/she would be in the list. Ah Lok was unsure if he could hang on till 11:30am to shoot his assignment as planned.

“No one knows the basis of the decision: appraisal? absent from work? faults at work? As the crtieria are unknown, everyone was nervous.”

Before the list was disclosed, he went outside for some “fresh air” and saw journalists of other media with camera equipment assembled outside Cable TV Tower. Back in the news room, colleagues gathered for group photos starting with the Hong Kong news team. “Count me in!”, “Altogether!” shouted some. In the end, there was a group photo with all: the news teams, production crew, editors, news readers, journalists, News Lancet team. One said jocularly, “wow, this looks like a hit list photo, targets to be crossed out one after one.”

At last there came 11am, human resources staff arrived at the news department, heading directly to the conference room. Colleagues started to receive calls (with 133 code, caller ID undisclosed). Ah Lok soon received one too.  

His 11:30am assignment was off.

Ah Lok walked into the conference room where all layoff procedures were processed. Whom he saw sitting there surprised him. “The top artistic director, the top film editor, the top staff. You would never imagine them sitting in the same room. They are all very capable. By just a few words, a glance or a gesture, they will know what you want. Then we all work as a team to produce a good piece of news.”

“Why are they the chosen ones?”

Meanwhile, those spared from the axe together with various team leaders gathered in the room next to the conference room confronting the four senior executives including Hui Fong-Fai and Oscar Lee Tsun, demanding the basis for termination. A team leader stamped his fist on the table, “I have prepared to resign and the resignation letter already signed! You owe us an explanation!” The time tunnel was jam packed with staff. From the conference room, Ah Lok heard the raging noises outside. “I knew they were pressing for the reasons and criteria and I was close to tears. I-Cable is not a company with cold-hearted people. You are fired and “just go, bye bye”. This is not the case. Colleagues see what’s happening and will not let you go just like this. They will get to the bottom of things. I am very touched and grateful to my colleagues.”

Ah Lok is proud being an i-Cable journalist. “When I first joined, there were many news gurus in the team including of course William Fung Tak-Hung who knows news reporting inside out. Regardless of ranks and teams, colleagues, drivers, engineers are all capable and all have passion.” The seamless cooperation among the colleagues produced news stories of a “i-Cable signature”. He elaborated what “i-Cable signature” is. “If you have watched i-Cable News, you will know. Other news media report a piece of news from more or less the same angle. I-Cable explores different perspectives; we would not just cut and paste.”

In his eyes, when it comes to “news program production”, the management seems “to have lost its passion” in recent years. In particular after the earlier firing of three senior engineers, the news department has few words with the management. “We all know they have not acted transparently. In the past, if they want to lay off anyone, they would first discuss with the team leader and let the team leader make a decision. Now there is no discussion with the team leader and HR department becomes the decision maker. Being one of the laid-offs, this is hard to take in. There are so many things unanswered.”

Ah Lok left the company soon after he was laid off and packed only a small carton. He rushed to leave for a reason. 

“I was holding my tears and was struggling. At one point, I thought I should stay for as long as I could before security staff ask me out. However, too many colleagues came forth to console me which brought me close to tears. Therefore I had to leave. The struggle was if I leave, I will never be allowed to come back. Finally, I told myself to just leave and walk away.”

A new staff at News Lancet: It is a deliberate and calculated plan to get rid of the top program

Yau Ting-Leung, a journalist from the News Lancet segment, was unsettled at his desk at around 11am. “No one knows if he/she will be fired.” He found a few missed calls on his mobile and realized he had set a filter to screen out calls without caller IDs.

His phone then rang and he was fired.

He returned to his desk, holding the letter and more fellow colleagues were called to the conference room.

Some colleagues cried when they heard certain names being called. “They could not believe these colleagues were fired.” A dark cloud cast over the news department. “The morale hits rock bottom.”

Yau Ting-Leung graduated this year and was an i-Cable intern during his study. After graduation, he became a News Lancet journalist. This lasts only half a year. He sees investigative reporting very important even when he was a student, and News Lancet is a good platform for investigative journalism. “I am grateful to have been given this space and freedom. When choosing a news topic, we consider news-worthiness and whether the public needs to know, but not whether there is a red line and whether the subject is untouchable. This is invaluable.”

Despite a meager monthly salary of HK$13,500, he treasures his half-a-year time here for being with News Lancet which is a special place to him.

However the program seems to be an annoyance in the eyes of those in charge. When four senior executives including Oscar Lee Tsun were suddenly appointed to lead the news department during mid year, Yau felt News Lancet was being ignored. “On his first day, Hui Fong-Fai in particular greeted each and everyone in the news department except the News Lancet team,” said Yau. “I knew at that time, News Lancet could be his target.”

In fact manpower at News Lancet has been shrinking in recent years, with the number of journalists dropping from its peak of eight to three. “Whenever a colleague resigns, the headcount will be frozen.” Yau said News Lancet is on its way to a natural death even without this layoff. “There were only three of us which affected our news story production.” He and his colleagues would never have thought that the entire team is now fired. “The fact that they cut the entire News Lancet team and would not wait until its natural death only tells the reason is not resources constraints. This is calculated.”

“News Lancet focused on sensitive topics and kept an eye on government departments. In the eyes of many, it is a top program. Killing this program means that senior executives are indifferent to i-Cable News. What they care is not the quality of news reporting, nor what the public wishes to see.”

What makes Yau feel worse is that the senior executives do not value the efforts colleagues put into reporting. Team leaders were not consulted before the layoff. Will they broadcast the finished “stories” by those forced to leave? What will they do to those unfinished? As it turns out, these are not important. “They have not considered if these reports are important to i-Cable. Nor have they considered if these topics are news-worthy.”

Yeung Leung-Kit, also a News Lancet journalists, started his work in 2013. The layoff also caught him by surprise as no one mentioned it earlier and no one communicated with the staff. After all he has spent 10 years at i-Cable and of course finds it hard to let go. He said he will leave it to the audience to judge what it will be when News Lancet is gone.

Yau and Yeung left Cable TV Tower at more or less the same time. Yau said he had just a few things to pack up because of his short working time. Watching other colleagues packing up, his heart sank. 

“It’s like witnessing the fall of a news department. A quality news department is now shattered, just like that.”

A new staff at News Lancet: It is a deliberate and calculated plan to get rid of the top program

Yau Ting-Leung, a journalist from the News Lancet segment, was unsettled at his desk at around 11am. “No one knows if he/she will be fired.” He found a few missed calls on his mobile and realized he had set a filter to screen out calls without caller IDs.

His phone then rang and he was fired.

He returned to his desk, holding the letter and more fellow colleagues were called to the conference room. Some colleagues cried when they heard certain names being called. “They could not believe these colleagues were fired.” A dark cloud cast over the news department. “The morale hits rock bottom.”

Yau Ting-Leung graduated this year and was an i-Cable intern during his study. After graduation, he became a News Lancet journalist. This lasts only half a year. He sees investigative reporting very important even when he was a student, and News Lancet is a good platform for investigative journalism. “I am grateful to have been given this space and freedom. When choosing a news topic, we consider news-worthiness and whether the public needs to know, but not whether there is a red line and whether the subject is untouchable. This is invaluable.”

Despite a meager monthly salary of HK$13,500, he treasures his half-a-year time here for being with News Lancet which is a special place to him.

However the program seems to be an annoyance in the eyes of those in charge. When four senior executives including Oscar Lee Tsun were suddenly appointed to lead the news department during mid year, Yau felt News Lancet was being ignored. “On his first day, Hui Fong-Fai in particular greeted each and everyone in the news department except the News Lancet team,” said Yau. “I knew at that time, News Lancet could be his target.”

In fact manpower at News Lancet has been shrinking in recent years, with the number of journalists dropping from its peak of eight to three. “Whenever a colleague resigns, the headcount will be frozen.” Yau said News Lancet is on its way to a natural death even without this layoff. “There were only three of us which affected our news story production.” He and his colleagues would never have thought that the entire team is now fired. “The fact that they cut the entire News Lancet team and would not wait until its natural death only tells the reason is not resources constraints. This is calculated.”

“News Lancet focused on sensitive topics and kept an eye on government departments. In the eyes of many, it is a top program. Killing this program means that senior executives are indifferent to i-Cable News. What they care is not the quality of news reporting, nor what the public wishes to see.”

What makes Yau feel worse is that the senior executives do not value the efforts colleagues put into reporting. Team leaders were not consulted before the layoff. Will they broadcast the finished “stories” by those forced to leave? What will they do to those unfinished? As it turns out, these are not important. “They have not considered if these reports are important to i-Cable. Nor have they considered if these topics are news-worthy.”

Yeung Leung-Kit, also a News Lancet journalists, started his work in 2013. The layoff also caught him by surprise as no one mentioned it earlier and no one communicated with the staff. After all he has spent 10 years at i-Cable and of course finds it hard to let go. He said he will leave it to the audience to judge what it will be when News Lancet is gone.

Yau and Yeung left Cable TV Tower at more or less the same time. Yau said he had just a few things to pack up because of his short working time. Watching other colleagues packing up, his heart sank. 

“It’s like witnessing the fall of a news department. A quality news department is now shattered, just like that.”

A China Desk journalist: We have the best boss and colleagues here 

Whoever interested in China news must have heard of i-Cable China Desk. I-Cable China Desk has its unique style of reporting, from 2018 Sichuan Earthquake to the Wuhan virus outbreak in early 2020. The China Desk’s determination to stay in Wuhan during the outbreak earned the team much respect.

Comments on other i-Cable programs are rather mediocre. Many netizens indicated the news channel is the main reason for their subscription. Many subscribe because of News Lancet and i-Cable China Desk. 

1 December 2020 was the day the coffins for News Lancet and i-Cable China Desk were nailed. “I, for sure, can confirm this is the case,” said Journalist Kelly (pseudonym) with a wry smile who has worked for the China Desk for eight years. “I-Cable China Desk will vanish from now on.”

Compared to her previous jobs, work at the China Desk has been most enjoyable. She has the best boss and is given the greatest degree of freedom. As such she asked herself, “if it is bound to rot, is it worthwhile to stay?”

The only staff at China Desk being laid off today was assistant assignment editor Wong Lai-Ping. However, the whole China Desk decided to "act together". All ten journalists, from team head Szeto Yuen to the most junior reporter, resigned.

According to Kelly, this is not merely an impulsive “support”. She said given the “changes” in recent years that workload keeps increasing while headcounts are dropping, regardless how hard they work to maintain the quality of reporting, she had no idea how long they can persevere. Seeing the “brand” fading away, we would rather “make it quick” as Wong Lai-Ping had told us. 

Kelly pointed out that the four senior executives, who were appointed to i-Cable news department out of the blue in recent months, have been interfering with editing and reporting works. "The four have very little experience of reporting in China, and ask a lot of questions." Despite that Szeto Yuen has been standing firm to uphold editorial independence, Kelly doubted, “under the control of these four, can reporting quality be maintained?”  

She gave an example. A colleague left and the position was not filled. However they were asked to take up a new program and on top of that China Desk is responsible for its own reporting and editorial. “We have to create our own thumbnail for our Facebook page.” To keep up, colleagues have been working overtime. "Even if there is no censorship, can we keep churning out good stories?” The answer is obvious.

I-Cable China Desk is without doubt a well-known brand in the industry. Kelly said China Desk has the best team leader and co-workers. She recalled that three months before the broadcasting time of a feature story, she was yet to finalise the subject matter. Team leader Szeto Yuen trusted her regardless. “Afterwards he would, in an unprecedented way, teach you how you can tell a story. His trust is amazing … you will not have a better team leader.” 

China Desk has its own segment in i-Cable news. Therefore, it has autonomy over the topics and contents. “When there is a good topic, we will consider if it should be an outport. We work together to accommodate all. ... The ‘you jump, I jump’ friendship among the colleagues is invaluable."

Being a member of the China Desk for eight years, Kelly has seen the ‘hay day”. When asked how she feels towards the disbandment of the China Desk, Kelly paused and uttered, “very sad”. She called the driver in Beijing that morning. “He is more experienced than I am. In the industry, he is the fittest and fastest driver. We have shared many life and death moments together.” 

"In the end, it was me whom was consoled.”

She further remarked that deep down they still would like to soldier on. “Szeto Yuen told us if we want him to, he will stay.” After much deliberation, rather than having a protracted death, a unanimous decision was made to vanish into fly ashes not leaving a shingle.

Kelly said frankly, "when a brand fails, it becomes a laughing stock. Being part of it, you will be mocked.” In the afternoon, Wong Lai-Ping, who was fired, told the journalists outside Cable TV Tower, “It is like: today there is a 50% cut and tomorrow all will have to go. We have worked extremely hard hoping the company would keep supporting good reporting. It’s all wishful thinking.” Team leader Szeto Yuen has only one sentence on his personal Facebook page: I would rather be ashes than dust!

As the final curtain falls on i-Cable China Desk, news reporting on China in Hong Kong has also reached a dead end. I-Cable China desk has two journalists based in Beijing, which is twice the manpower of other TV channels. Kelly said, in addition to attending media conferences as usual, we still have to “develop stories”, “find sources”. There are simply insufficient resources. “Perhaps the senior executives think these are not important.”

* * *

An experienced staff: Appointing outsiders to senior positions ruins the news department

Many i-Cable news staff said this layoff came without premonition. However, the sign of downfall of i-Cable News, which has always been treasured by its audience, surfaced as early as August 2020. 

In August, there was a shakeup in the i-Cable news department. Three outsiders, out of the blue – Anderson Chan Hing-Cheong, Oscar Lee Tsun and Hui Fong-Fai, formerly of Asia TV and TVB – were appointed senior positions in i-Cable and Edna Tse Yin-Na was transferred from i-Cable International Finance News to head up the news department. Chan Yeung-Dong (pseudonym), a long service employee who has worked at i-Cable for over ten years, bluntly stated that although Tse is an internal transfer, her previous scope of work in International Finance was basically "cut and paste" and she is unfamiliar with the news department operations. Immediately after the four took office in August, they fired three veterans in the engineering department, which greatly undermined staff morale. A desire to leave started to loom among the staff. 

In general, there are only two occasions a day when Chan Yeung-Dong and colleagues will meet the four. The first is the assignment meeting every morning, where journalists get their work assignments. Usually Oscar Lee will attend. "He never has any opinions or contributions. We have our meeting as if he were not there." The second time is the 10am meeting which Hui Fong-Fai chairs and various team leaders report key news items of the day. Chan is equally unimpressed. In the meeting, Hui never gives any constructive opinions nor will he guide the colleagues on how to advance news reporting. He is no comparison to his predecessor Mr Fung Tak-Hung.

"Fung Tak-Hung offered very sharp news angles, reminded colleagues of what needs to be followed up. He (Hui) only gives opinions of logical tautology, or corrects some pronunciations, all minor details.”

Chan remarked i-Cable News is a place that values work ability. The goal of the colleagues has always been to perfect news reporting. The pay at i-Cable is not high. There is no pay rise when economy is good and when economy is bad, it is among the first few organizations to ask its employees to take no pay leave. He stayed because he likes the work spirits there and its dedication to good news reporting, its ethos and persistence in doing news. After working there for more than ten years, Chan attributes the turning point in the downfall of i-Cable News to the appointment of the four outsiders.

He criticized unreservedly that given their abilities, the four “should not have been employed even as interns”.

The week before, i-Cable News interviewed Chief Executive Carrie Lam regarding the new Policy Address. Oscar Lee was the interviewer and the focus was on feasibility of civil servants taking loyalty oaths, the development of the Greater Bay Area, and other issues. There was not even one difficult question.

Chan said that as a usual practice, if a person of high official rank like the Chief Executive will be interviewed, the news department will be notified a few days ahead and the editorial and reporting teams will brainstorm together on the direction of interview and questions. However for Oscar Lee’s interview with Carrie Lam, everyone was kept in the dark.

“One can judge for themselves how it (the exclusive interview) was conducted,” said Chan. “When there was the chance for you to ask as many questions as you want, you failed to get a single quotable soundbite (for other media). The interview was completed empty handed. … This is a solid example indicative of their capacity.”

Since the four took office, the gradual downfall of i-Cable News has begun. The lack of communication between the senior executives and frontline staff does not help enhancing the quality of news reporting. What Chan has not expected was the secretive plot to fire staff in their first four months of office. They are not even willing to disclose the reasons why certain staff were laid off. No team leaders were consulted beforehand.  

“As it turns out all these long meetings behind close door were about layoff,” said Chan. “laying off is not an issue. Asking team heads to submit names is not an issue either. If you want to minimize resources and still maintain quality new reporting, the more proper way will be to discuss with team leaders to come up with a list. In this way, we all will understand the difficulties the company is facing. … They do not even have the guts to come out and explain. This is why we are so angry and frustrated.” 

One who stays: We risked ourselves in the war zone for the company and end up with this

Some are laid off, some resigned, and some decided to stay.

Initially 40 in the news department were laid off. Then came the resignation of the entire China Desk, resignation of the heads of the editorial team and the financial news team. By the evening, all assignment editors in the Hong Kong news team resigned, including chief assignment editor Lam Wing-Yan (translation), assistant chief assignment editors Tsang Chor-Kwan (translation) and Lam Miu-Yan, assignment editor Lui Tze-Lok, and assistant assignment editor Chan Yuen-Ting (translation). In addition, 11 Hong Kong news journalists resigned collectively. Only about six Hong Kong news journalists remain in office.

Yvonne (pseudonym) told Stand News that the reason for her staying is that she has “a family to feed”. After the layoff, her heart sank and she was wordless. She has worked with many of the laid-offs for long. During the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, they were comrades-in-arms. For instance, she and a photographer teamed up reporting out amidst a rain of bullets. Rubber bullets were flying indiscriminately and they may get one in the eye if unlucky. Or they were tear gassed, “risking their lives” at work. “We risk ourselves for the company and end up with this. Indeed very sad.”

She lamented: "i-CABLE once was a TV channel with track records. … The management decision today tells that they do not value quality at all. They do not care about the loss of talents and what matters to them is only ‘the accounts’ as they say it. Or they may have their own considerations to please “certain people” and thus must lay off these staff. As we have gotten to the current situation, it is difficult to convince us to continue to work our butts off for the company.”

Have i-Cable's repeated shakeups dampened her enthusiasm as a journalist?

"It does more or less dampen my enthusiasm in journalism. His aim is to undermine staff morale to achieve natural attrition. They don’t need quality staff or staff with experience. They just need a blank piece of paper – a recorder, not a reporter."

Source: Standnews #Dec01

#Doomsday #ICable #Journalists #Press
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