May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, and the situation of press freedom in Hong Kong has deteriorated sharply since Beijing introduced the National Security Law in Hong Kong last year. According to the latest “Press Freedom Index” released by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the ratings of Hong Kong journalists have hit an eight-year low.
We have overcome our fears to come here and say no to this kind of stalking, this kind of underhanded practice by the Chinese Communist Party,” she said. I think we, the people of Hong Kong, should not live in fear and let this kind of plainclothes, let this kind of mutual cultural revolution reporting, let this kind of stalking, this kind of secret service tactics, become the norm in Hong Kong, this is a very scary thing.”
Liang Zhen said that in her early years in China, people did not trust each other and did not feel safe; until she arrived in Hong Kong, she felt very safe. However, she lamented that Hong Kong is no longer safe, describing that “there are secret agents everywhere and they are all stalking”. She said that Ta Kung Pao is not a media organization, but a “spy agency of the Chinese Communist Party”.
On the 26th of last month, Leung Chun went to a “yellow store” (a store supporting the protest) for an interview and was followed by a middle-aged man wearing a hat and headphones. Liang Zhen used her cell phone to record a video and asked if he was a reporter from Ta Kung Pao, but the man quickly fled.
And just two days ago, that is, on the 24th of last month, a man knocked on the door of Liang Zhen’s house, claiming that a foreign friend surnamed Cheng had asked him to deliver something, and said that the thing is very large, placed downstairs. Liang Zhen responded that she did not know the foreign friend and asked him about it, but the man stammered and left.
Press freedom index in Hong Kong worst in 8 years
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion Research (HKIPOR) released the “Press Freedom Index” survey conducted from February to March this year, in which 1,032 members of the public and 382 journalists were interviewed.
On a scale of 0-100, the press freedom index has slightly rebounded by 0.7 marks to 42.6 marks compared to two years ago, due to the decrease in the number of clashes between the police and the public caused by the anti-SEC campaign, and the significant increase in the rating of “physical threats to journalists during interviews”. However, the rating of journalists was the worst in the past 8 years, with only 32.1 marks, a sharp drop of 4.1 marks from last time. About 90% of them think that the overall situation of press freedom in Hong Kong has regressed compared to a year ago, and the suppression mainly comes from the Hong Kong government.
Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairman Yeung Kin-hing said that Hong Kong’s press freedom has deteriorated sharply in the past year, describing it as “the worst ever in Hong Kong”. After the enactment of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, the SAR government has continued to suppress the media “on all fronts”, and an overwhelming majority of people in the survey believe that the enactment of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, the police breaking into news organizations to conduct arbitrary searches, amending the definition of “media representative” in the Police General Orders on its own, and various departments tightening the search books. Among them, the former editorial director of RTHK’s “Clang Collection” program, Choi Yuk Ling Cha, was charged with “false statement” for the license plate checklist, the media “most hurt”.
Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairman: Hong Kong media ecology gradually to China “convergence”
Yang Jianxing said that the media reporting risk is getting higher and higher, from the previous face of front-line police violence, to “many can not report”, and officials continue to “fake news”, “fake journalists” in the name of The media has been attacked wantonly in the name of “fake news” and “fake journalists”, and even in various ways to make the media “silent”, so that the ecology of the Hong Kong media gradually “converge” with China, worrying that in the future the Hong Kong media can only become a “propaganda machine”.
Yang Jianxing said: “Government officials think that some media reports are not to his liking, they will say that these are ‘inaccurate, fake news’, and then will advocate legislation; in such an environment, it is difficult for the media to have a healthy development. This is not only a political burden, but also a political high-stakes game. So naturally, Hong Kong will have less media, space is increasingly difficult, the risk is increasingly high.”
The survey also reflects the intensification of the problem of media “self-censorship”. Among the journalists interviewed, 40% said that their superiors have asked them not to report or to report less on the discussion of “Hong Kong’s independence”, and nearly 70% thought that the Central Government officials have emphasized “one country before two systems” in their words and deeds in recent years, and felt uneasy when reporting voices that differ from this position.
Yang Jianxing agrees that the reality of the environment has increased the psychological burden of the media, and the “weaponization of national security law”, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong personally to set up a system to “rectify” the media, have made the Hong Kong media self-censorship. At the same time, interviewees also feel enormous pressure, more and more people are worried about the national security law and refused to be interviewed, especially difficult to interview the democrats.
On World Press Freedom Day, U.S. Secretary of State John Blinken says China is one of the countries that imprisons the most journalists and urges governments to ensure media safety and protect journalists from violence, threats and detention.
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