Former HK Police spokesman John Tse has become head of the Information Services Dept – the producer of the mouth-frothing ‘despicable’, ‘smear’, ‘slander’ press releases that so often brighten up our day. He was previously in the CE’s office, where according to HKFP he was…
…[formulating] public relations and media strategies.
The government says Tse is the most talented and suitable PR whizz they could find. Which is possibly true. But, generally speaking, the personality type of a policeman does not usually overlap with that of a media/communication strategist. Cops tend to value obedience and rules, while eschewing abstract or creative thinking. For example: to most of us, 2019 was a massive society-wide protest movement against bad and unrepresentative government; to a cop, all those people were infringing paragraph x of the Public Highways (Willful Obstruction) Ordinance and had to be arrested, end of story.
Ideally, a PR guru will tell his boss/client things they don’t want to hear. “You are unpopular because you are unelected and unresponsive to the people’s needs, and unless you fix that, no media strategy will help.” In reality, it is easier to deliver messages that make the higher-ups feel good, even though public opinion – the audience that is supposed to matter – remains unconvinced or even hostile.
That’s why it often makes sense to hire an outsider, and preferably one who leans subversive. The Iranian regime – far more authoritarian than Hong Kong’s – understood this when they engaged Explosive Media to churn out anti-Trump Lego videos.
But….
…the Hong Kong Unelected Executive is not interested in PR to communicate and engage with the people of Hong Kong…
…only the People in the CCP
– which defines who they appoint to be Head of the Information Services Dept
I sure hope unis worldwide (and maybe even the U.S.) are teaching the Iranian communication methods in PR, media and journalism classes during this war/not war.
John Tse Chun-chung, who has served as the government’s information coordinator since 2024………
So effectively more money (almost $300,000pm) and more clout for doing the same job.
As the Green Envelopes are popped into our mail boxes we can only hope that they spent the minimum on yet another fake recruitment exercise.
He is probably one of the possible contenders for a future CE nomination. At least he is erudite and presentable, more than can be said for some other possible candidates.
Given that the two most powerful (for a given value of power) men in the HK administration are flatfoots, it’s inevitable that they want one of their own as the PR guru.
Good grief, they got the lead off the four o’clock fairytales to be in charge of their messaging? But absolutely nobody believed anything he said, including himself.
Could they not have found anyone more credible?
Elizabeth Holmes and Robert Hendy-Freegard are still doing bird, so they’re out til at least the next five year plan.
But was Jayson Blair too busy with his podcast!?!
I think Belle Gibson is pretty strapped for cash at the moment, maybe they should have called her.
And Epimenides the Cretan hasn’t been up to much lately, either.
Still, I’m sure Tse just swallowed up the competition in the government’s “open-cum-in-service recruitment exercise” for it’s new mouthpiece, and will continue to impress the CE with his spunk since he put down the helmet and truncheon and transitioned from his career as a dick to being head of the government organs. The tip of the spear, as it were, although obviously the CE and Beijing will be firmly holding the shaft, as we all know how “hands on” they are.
Talk about a Police state! Thanks for The Specials — now ‘I know’ you are 100% British!
The point obviously isn’t to do PR. It is to put a CCP man directly in charge of all government communications because they don’t trust anyone else. It’s about internal discipline, not external persuasion.