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  • 2019-09-17 (xsd:date)
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  • Hong Kong broadcaster says this man is their employee -- not a ‘rioter’ (en)
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  • A video has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which claim it shows a rioter in Hong Kong who disguised himself as a journalist in a bid to avoid police at a pro-democracy demonstration. The claim is false; Hong Kong broadcaster Now News issued a statement saying the man is one of their staffers; the local media channel which captured the original footage also issued the same clarification about the clip. The 24-second video was published in a Facebook post here by Facebook page with more than 28,000 followers on September 7, 2019. It has been viewed more than 4,100 times. The post's traditional Chinese language caption translates to English as: rioter = reporter. Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post: A text overlay in the bottom-right of the video translates to English as: A rioter turns to a group of ‘reporters’ and puts on a press vest upon seeing police. The text on the top left-hand corner of the video translates to English as: September 6, 2019, Yau Ma Tei. i-Cable News footage. i-Cable is a Hong Kong broadcaster. Loud bangs and people yelling leave! in Cantonese can be heard in the audio. From about the 13 seconds mark, a female voice is heard saying in Cantonese, got it, got it. Yes, no problem, while the alleged rioter can be seen circled in red. The video was filmed here in Hong Kong’s Yau Ma Tei district. AFP reported here on September 7, 2019, that police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at democracy protesters in Mong Kok district, which borders Yau Ma Tei, on September 6. The same video has been viewed thousands of times on Facebook here , here and here , and on YouTube here and here , alongside an identical claim. The video has also been viewed thousands of times here and here on Twitter with a similar claim, which additionally suggests that the i-Cable reporter shooting the footage turned their camera away from the scene after receiving an order over a phone or walkie-talkie. The claim is false; Hong Kong broadcaster Now News issued a statement clarifying that the man is in fact one of their staffers, who took off the press vest briefly to take a break. Now News issued this statement on its website on September 9, 2019, which translates to English as: The man wearing a Now News reflective vest as seen in i-Cable’s broadcast in the early hours of September 7 is an engineering staffer at our TV station. At the time of recording, he took off the vest to take a break, during which he left the scene for a few minutes to buy a bottle of water nearby. He then returned to work and put his vest back on. He absolutely did not carry out any illegal activities. This statement is issued to set the record straight. iCable also issued a clarification about the footage. A keyword search on Facebook found this longer, higher quality version of the video in the misleading posts published on the official i-Cable News Facebook account on September 7, 2019. The same man, whose face is clearly visible in the video below, has also been circled in red. The post's traditional Chinese language caption translates to English as: [Clarification] Rumours on social media state that i-Cable captured a ‘rioter putting on a press vest’ during our live broadcast in the early hours, and accuse us for swiftly turning the camera away in an attempt to hide facts from the public. i-Cable hereby issues the following clarification: 1. The man in the footage is confirmed to be an engineering staffer at Now News. The video shows him taking off his press vest before leaving the scene, then returning a few minutes later and putting the vest back on with the assistance from other reporters. 2. Our camera was adjusted to prepare for the next round of broadcast for the news channel. The reporter heard in the video was responding to the studio’s request to prepare for live broadcast. i-Cable hereby declares we never deliberately hide facts. It is deeply regrettable that some people distribute fake news without any verification and attack our professionalism without any basis. Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the i-Cable video (R): The i-Cable statement was also reposted on Facebook by the Hong Kong Journalists Association here on the same day. (en)
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