Telling the Human Story: Why legacy newsrooms still matter in this age

“There’s still a role for more traditional newsrooms. To me, the human stories were really the stories there,” said Mark Tung, the Managing Editor of TVB Hong Kong.

In November 2026, at approximately 2:50 p.m. (HKT) in the district of Tai Po, Hong Kong, the first report of the Wang Fuk Court fire was recorded. The fire blazed for 43 hours, with the confirmed death toll reaching 168 people – making it the deadliest residential building fire in Hong Kong since the 1940s. TVB Hong Kong was among the many first responders, providing firsthand, real-time updates to the world on the harrowing incident.

Speaking during the 2026 Asiavision Coordinators’ Meeting, Mark said TVB was there to tell stories of neighbors helping one another. “By neighbors, I mean Hong Kongers from all corners bringing food, clothing, blankets, toys – whatever they had – so much so that the government had to stop them because there was nowhere to store the excess,” he added.

TVB Hong Kong Managing Editor Mark Tung was presenting during 2026 Asiavision Coordinators’ Meeting.

Beyond local residents, ten domestic helpers – including nine from Indonesia and one from the Philippines – died in the blaze. Mark acknowledged that these helpers went beyond heroism by staying with their elderly employers instead of leaving them to die alone, noting that they ultimately paid the highest price.

Mark also highlighted that 400 pets were rescued from Wang Fuk Court. He noted, “Some people commented at the beginning and asked why firefighters were rescuing pets. I mean, if you run into a cat or a rabbit, do you just leave them in the fire? Of course you don’t. They’re family, as quite a few people said. We did several stories to highlight the rescues, the families, and their love for their pets.”

Uncovering the systemic failures behind the fire

The Wang Fuk Court tragedy has brought to light long-standing issues in Hong Kong, including overdue building maintenance, safety hazards, bid rigging in maintenance work, and aging infrastructure. “We also looked critically into where everything went wrong and had to point to the fact that bid rigging for maintenance jobs led to incredibly expensive projects which, as you saw, were done in a shoddy way,” Mark explained.

He stated that TVB also examined the role of the government-supported independent committee chaired by a High Court judge, as they “want to be as eagle-eyed as any media can be in following up on areas that can be improved to ensure a tragedy of this scale never happens again.”

Legacy newsrooms still matter

Mark pointed out that TVB remains committed to traditional television. “We are kind of a legacy company. We have always done well, with about 95% of viewers in Hong Kong. But we’re also saddled with a traditional image,” he elaborated.

“I hope TVB can continue to provide all sorts of stories from Hong Kong, and I hope you can still make use of them for years to come. We’ll remain good partners so that we can take advantage of the good stories from your end and the good stories from our end,” Mark said in his concluding remarks.