RTHK wins gold and bronze at consumer rights journalism awards
RTHK won two awards at the 26th Consumer Rights Journalism Awards, including gold for a report on unregistered radiographers and bronze for an investigation into misleading nutrition labels. The awards, organised by the Consumer Council, featured 365 entries and focused on protecting elderly consume
RTHK has won two awards at the 26th Consumer Rights Journalism Awards organised by the Consumer Council. The broadcaster received the gold and bronze prizes in the broadcast reporting category.
The gold award was presented to reporter Ka-ping Lam and producer Wai-yi Chung for their report titled 'Suspected unregistered radiographers performing ultrasound breast examinations: Department of Health says it is illegal'. The investigation revealed that some health check centres had hired individuals calling themselves 'ultrasound technicians' to perform breast scans on women, but RTHK found that these personnel were not registered radiographers or doctors. The ultrasound reports of affected patients were rejected by specialist doctors, and one breast cancer patient had her treatment delayed by several weeks. The Department of Health subsequently followed up on the cases reported by RTHK.
The bronze award went to reporter Chai-ching Lo and producer Wai-yi Chung for their report 'RTHK spot check finds 70 per cent of food nutrition labels suspected of violating guidelines: Food Safety Centre investigating, may bring prosecutions'. The investigation found that many pre-packaged food products in the market had nutrition labels that appeared not to comply with regulatory guidelines. Some labels had font sizes too small to be clearly visible, while others claimed 'no added sugar' but contained high actual sugar levels, suspected of breaching Food Safety Centre guidelines. RTHK referred 14 food products suspected of non-compliance to the Food Safety Centre, which confirmed that eight of them had labels that did not meet the guidelines. The centre said it would prosecute if sufficient evidence was gathered.
A total of 365 entries were submitted to this year's Consumer Rights Journalism Awards. The ceremony was officiated by Wendy Lee, Permanent Secretary for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. Lee said this year's theme was protecting consumer rights in the silver age, adding that media reports help the elderly and their carers obtain practical information. She revealed that the government is promoting a 'silver quality assurance' scheme and that a certification programme for products for the elderly is being gradually implemented to help consumers make informed choices.
