Hong Kong media watchdog hit with complaints of ‘indecency’ over TV coverage of ‘Mr and Mrs Ho’
- Programme featuring whirlwind romance between 76-year-old local man and mainland Chinese woman, 43, called unsuitable for children
Hong Kong’s communication watchdog has received 51 complaints about a television current affairs programme that featured a whirlwind romance between an elderly local man and a younger mainland Chinese woman.
The Office of the Communications Authority said on Thursday that as of June 17, it had received 51 complaints from viewers about TVB show Scoop over its coverage of the couple.
“Complaints include feedback on how the programme’s plot was indecent and had poor values and about its content being unsuitable for children [and being] biased and misleading,” the authority said.
The watchdog added it would handle the complaints according to procedure.
The authority has received 134 complaints so far this year regarding Scoop, with the coverage on the Ho couple making up more than a third of the total.
The programme, which airs on TVB’s Jade Channel every weekday evening, is known for reporting on hot topics and disputes in the public sphere based on tip-offs from residents.
The couple, a 76-year-old Hong Kong man, surnamed Ho, and a 43-year-old divorcee from across the border who wed about a month after meeting, attracted the attention of authorities after family bickering over the relationship and their financial affairs hit the headlines.
They first appeared on the show after the marriage of the elderly Ho to the younger woman upset his children.
The programme revealed some of the luxury items Mr Ho gave Mrs Ho as a sign of his love, including a Rolex watch and diamond ring said to be valued at more than HK$200,000 (US$25,612).
The show also quoted Mr Ho saying that a HK$4.5 million joint account held by him and his daughter had been emptied by her when she learned she had a stepmother.
An investigation into the couple’s financial affairs was launched as part of a wider crackdown by the Housing Department on public flat tenants whose assets should make them ineligible for such housing assistance.
Rosanna Law Shuk-pui, the director of housing, said earlier this month it would be “inappropriate” to ignore looking into the high-profile pair’s finances on suspicion of surpassing the assets threshold for a public flat, and possible ownership of property on the mainland.
Law said that Mr Ho was not a registered tenant of the flat and should not be living there.
She added Mrs Ho was the tenant, but had only recently moved into the flat, and thus had not been included in the asset declaration drive which started in April.
