CHEUNG Man-yee is the first ethnic Chinese to become Director of Broadcasting. With the exception of a brief period of secondment to the Information Services Department, she worked at RTHK between 1972 and 1999, from when she first joined the broadcaster until her reassignment as Principal Hong Kong Economic and Trade Representative in Japan.

During her time at RTHK, CHEUNG was committed to promoting the principles and model of public broadcasting, so as to free RTHK from commercial and governmental pressures and enable it to become a media organisation which purely served the public. All of RTHK’s productions – be it the drama series of the 1970s such as Below the Lion Rock which reflected real social conditions, programmes of the 1980s like City Forum and LegCo Review which encouraged citizens to express their opinions and increased Legco’s transparency respectively, or the controversial Headliner of the 1990s – were created with this vision in mind.

In the 1980s, CHEUNG played a key role in driving the corporatisation of RTHK, hoping that it could develop as a public broadcaster both structurally and financially. Symposiums were held over this period to explore the purpose of public broadcasting and feasible directions in its implementation. Although the efforts were ultimately in vain, she believes that the spirit of public broadcasting is still alive today. At the same time, she also views the 1980s, an era that saw the prosperity and spirit of mutual support in the media industry, as well as the tolerance and confidence of Hong Kong society, as golden years that are still worth reminiscing.

Executive Producer & Director: NG Wai In
Assistant Producers: CHAN Tsz Shan, YIM Pui Ying, Dora CHAN