Leong Kam Chun: narrow the gap between TDM and TVB

9th October,

LI JING WEN Report

TDM has focused on reporting local news, meeting the needs of Macau's residents and boosting their viewership against Hong Kong's media dominance in the city, said João Leong Kam Chun, chairman of the executive committee of Telediffusion of Macao Co., Ltd. (TDM), at a talk at Hong Kong Shue Yan University on Tuesday.

Leong said TDM had never done any TV ratings surveys before a big revamp. The reason was because competitor TVB had a hold on the audience. Most television programs also did not have a high quality as a result of the narrow Macau market.

At present, TDM has been working hard to develop in order to retain talented journalists. Since taking office，Leong offered twenty-five percent of the staff a promotion，to the surprise of subordinates. He said that all work should be institutionalized so as to make colleagues stick together and support each other without feeling too much pressure. With a focus on teamwork, the reform achieved practical results.

This September，TDM VIDA changed its name to the official TDM INFO，not only providing news but also having a number of financial information breaks. Leong said that there is not enough news in Macau because it is such a small place. Therefore，they supplement news with other information. Only with higher quality of production and broadcasting of news can they reduce miscellaneous information breaks, and then step-by-step change into a news channel, Leong said.

Leong also praised some news programs such as News Magazine, and pointed out that, by contrast, TDM gived conservative news report due to the fact that Macau is a little place with a population of only about half a million -- everybody knows everybody very well.

Leong believed that local news through local media will be a success. In fact, TDM has sent journalists overseas, such as the 2012 London Olympics, where two reporters broadcasted their news live from London. TDM has narrow the gap with Hong Kong's media by different ways, Leong said.