RTHK Newsroom and Video News

Prior to the setting up of a newsroom at RTHK, the news broadcast on RTHK was compiled by the Government Information Services (GIS). At that time, GIS sent the news to the three existing radio stations, while RTHK produced interviews and news programmes based on the content provided. In 1968, the government began preparing for the setting up of an RTHK Public Affairs Television Unit.

In April 1969, RTHK’s Broadcasting House - at 30 Broadcast Drive, Kowloon Tong – became operational. It remains in use today. In 1970, Dr. James Hawthorne was seconded from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to Hong Kong to develop the television service and then to take over the post of Director of Broadcasting in 1972. In 1973, the RTHK newsroom was established and was given editorial independence. Since then, the news it broadcasts is no longer supplied by the GIS.

Currently, the editorial operations of RTHK are guided by the “Charter of Radio Television Hong Kong” and the “RTHK Producers’ Guidelines”.

A Chinese-language flagship radio programme of the newsroom, Hong Kong Today, was launched in 1975. Its content includes news features, special topics, financial information, newspaper and editorial summaries, weather forecasts and more. In 1987, the English version of Hong Kong Today was first broadcast. Since 1982, the newsroom has increased the frequency of its news bulletins to every half an hour.

In recent years, with the advancement of technology, the newsroom has been actively developing online news. Since 1994, the newsroom has been posting the latest text news on its website in both Chinese and English, along with news pictures and audio files. In 2005, it began providing video news on its website, which are shot, edited and compiled by its own staff. In 2015, a dedicated mobile app, RTHK News, was released. RTHK took over the Asia Television (ATV) analogue channel in 2016 and launched a TV edition of Hong Kong Today, which was broadcast on RTHK TV31 and 31A. In the same year, the Public Affairs and Multimedia News unit was established to develop new media, video and TV news.