The media’s lethality should not be underestimated when Hong Kong senior officials are caught (Figure)

　　　　(Source: Hong Kong Ming Pao)

　　　　(Source: Hong Kong Ming Pao)

　　　　BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) In early July this year, Zhu Peiqing, the married director of Hong Kong Broadcasting, and Yan Nv were swimming arm in arm in the downtown area of Causeway Bay. When their interest was strong, they ran into a large number of media covering Zhong Zhentao’s concert. Because he drank too much, he saw the media rushing to take pictures, and he was at a loss for a moment. He subconsciously covered himself with his female companion and hurriedly avoided it. He even hid his face from the camera with his hand, which made him look embarrassed. Later, he rushed into a karaoke bar and restaurant to take shelter. Hong Kong’s Bauhinia magazine published an article saying that as a result, this news sensationalized the whole city and became the headlines of many newspapers in Hong Kong. Under the pressure of public opinion, Zhu Peiqing finally had to die in disgrace.

　　　　The most noteworthy thing about this pleasure-seeking incident is the monitoring power of the media; The media removed this senior official within four days. In the process, Zhu Peiqing’s hard-earned image was destroyed without any pressure from the government, parliamentarians, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Immigration Department or the investigation committee, and Zhu Peiqing lost his career.

　The media pulled down Zhu Peiqing in a moment.

　　　　According to media reports, at about 10 o’clock that night, when more than 10 entertainment reporters were interviewing Zhong Zhentao’s mini concert in a bar in Causeway Bay, someone suddenly found a figure who looked like Zhu Peiqing stepping out of a special elevator in a high-end private club, and a glamorous girl even held his hand. The two of them were talking and laughing. After careful study, they decided that the person in front of them was Zhu Peiqing. At first, they were still hesitant to interview, because senior officials had nothing to do with entertainment news, but suddenly someone said, "Go!" Everyone swarmed. If this group of entertainment reporters change their minds and think that this belongs to the private life of senior officials, then Zhu Peiqing can escape.

　　　　In fact, the scene of Zhu Peiqing walking arm in arm with a gorgeous girl was too late for a group of entertainment reporters to take pictures. The photos published in the newspaper were only the moment when he escaped from the camera. On the night of the incident, Zhu Peiqing issued a statement through the communication director of RTHK, saying that Zhu Peiqing attended a private event in the evening and apologized for his "improper performance" on behalf of Zhu Peiqing.

　　　　The day after the incident, the media handled it differently. Many newspapers reported on the front page, and some newspapers even made a full-page report supplemented by other relevant data. The headlines were "Zhu Peiqing’s gorgeous makeup girl avoids reporters" and "Zhu Peiqing’s gorgeous female peers avoid the media in a panic", etc. I believe this is because these media think that high-ranking officials are different from people in the entertainment industry or business. Because the news was extremely provocative and entertaining, many newspapers followed it up in an all-round way in the next few days, pursued Zhu Peiqing, began to expose the inside story, traced the life story of the gorgeous girl and all kinds of details of the day, and visited Zhu Peiqing’s wife, which was tantamount to sprinkling a handful of salt on Zhu Peiqing’s wound. Although Zhu Peiqing hasn’t snorted for days, the media still have the ability to describe the plot vividly.

　Chasing down Zhu’s historical exposure of "hooking up"

　　　　For example, a Hong Kong magazine paid Yan Nv, the heroine in the incident, more than HK$ 10,000 for an exclusive interview with her, and Yan Nv personally told Zhu Peiqing’s "record of seeking pleasure" that night. Yan girl recalled that Zhu Peiqing, who was slightly drunk, held her in her arms that night. The two chatted in Mandarin mixed with Cantonese. His mouth kept praising her beauty and pressed her chest, and invited her to dance naked on the table. After a round of crazy dance, Zhu Peiqing finally couldn’t help it. He asked the "mother" for a price and asked to take Yan girl out and prepare to go to her nearby home. The consumption of Zhu Peiqing alone is as high as 10 thousand yuan.

　　　　Then there was a local weekly magazine with "Zhu Peiqing’s Ten Years of Fun" as the cover story, which revealed that Zhu Peiqing was the insider of the carnival veteran from the night show "Mom Born". The article points out that Zhu Peiqing, who is known as "cautious Zhu", is famous for his watch. No, in the eyes of friends, he is a modest gentleman, but in fact he is an eager man. The mother said that Zhu Peiqing was a regular customer of the high-end nightclub. Before the return, he had visited KARA, the predecessor of the high-end nightclub, and had been having fun for at least ten years. She also said that Zhu Peiqing is familiar with the boyfriend of Yan Girl’s "mother-born". From time to time, he visits together or brings four or five friends to the scene. Every time, he asks the young lady to accompany him. Generally, he only drinks and sings old songs, but when he plays, they love to spend thousands of dollars to ask the young lady to dance naked on the table.

　　　　In addition, some local newspapers spared no expense to send personnel to Sichuan, the hometown of Yan girl in the incident, to make a follow-up report, in order to uncover the mystery of Yan girl’s life experience, and made a great article on how she changed from a pure peasant girl to a hostess, and even visited her grandmother who raised her in those days, and wrote in a sensational way: "My grandmother still looks forward to seeing her granddaughter day and night" and "When she looked at the hostess with heavy makeup in the newspaper, she didn’t recognize Byakki Smoker, but she still did. Then the reporter visited Yan girl’s uncle. When he learned that his niece had fallen into the dust, he only said indifferently that he would not envy her, and her wealth had nothing to do with him. Some media even produced Zhu Peiqing’s Step-down Album, and newspapers in Macau, Taiwan Province, Singapore and Malaysia also widely reported the news.

　　　　Zhu Peiqing, who has been on leave since the incident and has not made a public appearance, was tossed about by the front page of the newspaper for four days, and finally held a press conference. In front of more than 100 reporters, he tearfully announced his decision to retire ten months early, and expressed his intention to leave the office as soon as possible to the government. At the meeting, he refused to respond whether to call prostitutes, only admitted that alcohol had an impact on behavior, and he had explained it to his wife and family and was supported by his family. He also stressed that there was no mistake in the evening’s activities on official business, and there was no problem of interest entertainment. He left for the overall interests of RTHK.

Senior officials step down at any time because of negative news.

　　　　Zhu Peiqing’s experience is reminiscent of Lin Huanguang, former director of the Chief Executive’s Office. On New Year’s Day in 2005, the paparazzi of the Hong Kong magazine Suddenly Week went to Japan to track down the film lovers Liang Chaowei and Carina Lau, but unexpectedly found married Lin Huanguang and his rumored girlfriend Bu Yingqi showing up at the Hyatt Hotel with their luggage. Lin Huanguang, who has been practicing in officialdom for a long time, was exposed by the media after this extramarital affair, and finally resigned, becoming the first senior official to resign because his private life was monitored by the media. However, he returned to the Jianghu after leaving the officialdom for one year, and was appointed as the chief executive officer of Olympic Equestrian Company Limited by the Hong Kong Government, responsible for organizing the equestrian events of the Beijing Olympic Games to be held in Hong Kong next year.

　　　　Recently, Li Guobao, a heavyweight in Hong Kong’s political and economic circles, was also involved in the Dow Jones insider trading case. As a director of Dow Jones, Li Guobao, the chairman of the Bank of East Asia, was suspected of leaking the company’s confidential documents and was involved in this scandal because Liang Jiaan, the daughter of good friend Liang Qixiong, and Wang Jingqin, her husband, took the lead in buying shares in Dow Jones before the news of News Corp’s acquisition of Dow Jones was announced. Earlier, Li Guobao issued a statement confirming that he had received a notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider filing a civil lawsuit against him. However, he stressed that he did not violate any laws personally, and denied all the accusations made by the SEC against him, and he would resolutely defend them.

　　　　Li Guobao’s investigation by the Securities and Futures Commission of the United States caused a great shock to Hong Kong’s political and business circles. Both the Office of the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that they would pay close attention to the development of the situation and consider the next contingency action from a political perspective, while the Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission rarely set up a similar crisis response team to deal with the incident. People in political circles who are familiar with financial affairs point out that it is estimated that this kind of case is not easy to be convicted, but as a party, Li Guobao’s reputation will inevitably be damaged under the extensive coverage of the international and Hong Kong media.

　Paparazzi are always waiting for celebrities to "have an accident"

　　　　In recent years, as Hong Kong people pay more and more attention to political affairs, they are increasingly interested in the gossip news of political celebrities. In addition to the news of people in the entertainment circle, the entertainment section of Hong Kong newspapers will also report the gossip of some wealthy businessmen and even political celebrities who are closely related to the entertainment circle to satisfy readers’ voyeurism. In addition, in recent years, in order to stimulate sales, newspapers have been blindly pursuing incitement, and they have not hesitated to give serious news a package close to entertainment news, making news reports "entertaining". When readers gradually approached the media to write political news by entertainment news, the paparazzi market for politicians came into being, and politicians became the new target of paparazzi.

　　　　These incidents have made the public deeply feel the power of media monitoring in Hong Kong. Although journalists are known as "uncrowned emperors" and have the function of monitoring the society, as journalists, they really have the responsibility to present news events objectively and truthfully to the public. Whether they should be "moral judges" and make a subjective judgment for news is really debatable.

　　　　Take Lin Huanguang as an example. His anecdote was actually exposed in the media long before he traveled with his girlfriend in Japan. However, the incident involved his wife’s response to the incident, and as a senior official, he did not want his personal feelings to be resolved by the media, which made the incident a fuse for his resignation. The incident even developed in an unexpected direction, that is, the public’s sympathy and support for Lin Huanguang.

　　　　At that time, a newspaper conducted an opinion poll. Among the more than 500 people interviewed, 55% thought that Lin Huanguang did not need to resign, 45% thought that the media should not report the private lives of senior officials and public figures, and only 37% agreed to report the news, reflecting that many interviewees blamed his resignation on extensive media reports. Radio programs have also received many calls from the public, arguing that he does not need to resign because of extramarital affairs. On the contrary, he thinks that the media should reflect on it and should not infringe on the privacy of public officials.

　　　　Looking around the world, the personal feelings of the French president, the mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles are all bizarre, but the public will not confuse business with private affairs, and their political popularity has not been affected at all. On the other hand, in Hong Kong, Zhu Peiqing was smashed by the media for pleasure, and the whole thing really developed too fast. Under the fierce pursuit of the media, he chose to end his peach scandal with "early retirement" in just four days, and ended his working career in Hong Kong and Taiwan for more than 30 years. This incident clearly shows that media supervision has become a powerful force in society, and Zhu Peiqing’s political future can be sentenced to death quickly and ruthlessly. Public figures, especially politicians, should take this as a warning and realize that the lethality of the media must not be underestimated! (Lubao)

Editor: Li Xingchi