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| Today, two Hong Kong journalists have been convicted of a crime for articles they published. |
| Although sentencing is adjourned until 26 September 2024 and the defendants have been granted court bail until that date, there still remains a risk that Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam might serve prison sentences for their roles in reporting, editing and publishing interviews, features and opinion pieces. Of the 17 articles the court considered, many had been taken down and only five remained active at the time of their arrest, but today the Wan Chai District Court ruled that 11 had “seditious intentions”. |
| Chung Pui-kuen was the ex-chief editor and Patrick Lam the acting chief editor of non-profit digital news outlet Stand News, which closed down in December 2021 after it was raided by over 200 national security police officers. |
This verdict will send shockwaves through Hong Kong newsrooms, as well as international news organisations with bureaus in the city, as they seek to understand whether their day-to-day operations could be in violation of Hong Kong law. This case has long been regarded by many as a litmus test for press freedom in the city. The FCC will further assess the details of this verdict and its implications for our operations. Doubtlessly, news organisations throughout Hong Kong will be doing exactly the same. |
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FCC Statement on Bloomberg journalist Haze Fan’s work visa denial
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| The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is concerned by reports that Bloomberg journalist Haze Fan has been refused a visa to work at the organisation’s Hong Kong bureau. |
| Fan, a Chinese national, is a qualified and experienced journalist who has also worked for Reuters, CBS News and CNBC in her 15-year career. According to multiple reports, Fan was detained by Chinese authorities in late 2020 and arrested in July 2021 on suspicion of committing crimes endangering national security. She was released in early 2022 without charge. |
| The FCC has reached out to the Immigration Department to ask that they improve transparency in respect of any denial of work visas in this and in other similar cases. Whilst we request an urgent review of this decision, a proper explanation for any future denial of work visas or entry into Hong Kong by journalists is a necessary improvement to the system, and would positively impact the public and international perception of Hong Kong as a business centre. |
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FCC Statement on HKJA chairperson Selina Cheng’s termination by The Wall Street Journal
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| The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is deeply concerned by the news of Hong Kong Journalists Association chairperson Selina Cheng’s dismissal as an employee of The Wall Street Journal. |
| Ms Cheng said that senior editors at the paper asked her to withdraw from the HKJA’s recent election once they learned she was running to be the chairperson of the journalists’ union. When she refused, she said she was told that being HKJA’s chairperson would be incompatible with her job. Less than a month later, she was fired. |
| The FCC has reached out to The Wall Street Journal for comment and to ask why Ms Cheng’s employment was terminated. |
| Press freedom is enshrined in Article 27 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the same article that guarantees Hongkongers the right to form and join trade unions. Representing the rights of journalists, which includes defending freedom of the press, should not be controversial. The FCC fully supports The Wall Street Journal’s ongoing efforts to secure the freedom of its reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been unjustly imprisoned in Russia for more than a year. If the editors of the Journal advocate for reporters’ rights to do their jobs without fear and intimidation in Russia, they should do the same in Hong Kong. |
| We urge The Wall Street Journal and all news organisations to respect reporters’ rights to join press clubs and to advocate for press freedom without the fear of punitive action from their own newsrooms. |
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FCC Statement on World Press Freedom Day
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| This World Press Freedom Day, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong reinforces its commitment to pushing to maintain freedom of the press in Hong Kong and around the globe. |
| As journalists and media organisations in Hong Kong face rising pressure and uncertainty due to the recent passing of the Safeguarding National Security Act, May 3 acts as a reminder for government officials to respect their stated commitment to press freedom. It is also a day for media professionals to reflect on issues of press freedom and professional ethics. |
| Today we celebrate the media’s role in providing a platform to tell stories which keep our society informed and engaged about issues which affect us all. We advocate for journalists’ right to continue to carry out their work unhindered, free of harassment and danger. |
| We show solidarity with Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for over a year, and the hundreds of journalists imprisoned or killed as a consequence of doing their jobs covering conflicts in Myanmar, Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere. |
| The Israel-Gaza war, in particular, calls attention to the need for governments to do more to safeguard journalists’ ability to inform the public. We mourn the 97 journalists and media workers killed in the course of covering that war, and express our deep concern for the 45 others reported injured, missing or arrested.1 |
| The FCC will continue to monitor the press freedom situation in Hong Kong, make statements and question government policy with an aim to ensure that journalists can carry out their work without fear or favour. |
“Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forgo” – Mahatma Gandhi |
1Committee to Protect Journalists, 29 April 2024 https://cpj.org/2024/04/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict |
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FCC Statement on border entry denial of Reporters Without Borders representative
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| The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is concerned that a representative of global press freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been denied entry to Hong Kong by the city’s immigration officials. |
| Aleksandra Bielakowska travelled to Hong Kong twice in 2023 without incident, both times in her professional capacity as an Advocacy Officer at RSF, but was denied entry on this trip. Her colleague Cédric Alviani, who was travelling with Ms Bielakowska on April 10, was granted entry to Hong Kong. |
| The FCC has reached out to the Immigration Department to ask why Ms Bielakowska was denied entry. |
| While we appreciate that the Immigration Department does not normally comment on individual cases, we respectfully request an explanation in order to improve the transparency of the system, and so that the public may better understand the reasons behind the decision. |
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FCC Submission on the Consultation Document of Article 23 of the Basic Law
On February 28, The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong sent the following submission to the Security Bureau on the Consultation Document of Article 23 of the Basic Law.
FCC Statement on Blocking of The Kashmir Walla in India
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| The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Hong Kong is deeply troubled by what amounts to the forced closure of The Kashmir Walla, one of the last remaining independent news outlets in Indian-administered Kashmir. |
| The Kashmir Walla, founded more than a decade ago and known for its human rights reporting, has faced relentless harassment from Indian authorities since early last year, when its founder and editor, Fahad Shah, was arrested along with trainee reporter Sajad Gul under anti-terror laws. Both remain in prison. |
| On Aug. 19, Kashmir Walla staff discovered that access to their website had been blocked in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and that the outlet’s social media accounts were also inaccessible in India. The outlet says it received no warning and has been unable to find any official order regarding these actions. |
| The Kashmir Walla has since had to vacate its office in Srinagar after being served an eviction notice by the landlord. |
| The intimidation, harassment and arrest of journalists in Kashmir is part of a broader crackdown on civil liberties in the disputed, Muslim-majority region that began in August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Kashmir’s autonomy and put it under central government control. The growing pressure faced by journalists in Kashmir and India more broadly is reflected in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, where India fell to 161st out of 180 countries from 150th last year. |
| The FCC urges the government of India, the world’s largest democracy, to explain the actions taken against The Kashmir Walla and respect the right to a free and independent press, which is essential to the functioning of any democratic society. It stands in solidarity with The Kashmir Walla and other independent news outlets in Kashmir, and supports all journalists’ right to do their jobs without fear of harassment or arrest. |
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The FCC has also reached out to the Indian Consulate in Hong Kong for further dialogue.
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Statement on Results of FCC’s Press Freedom Survey
An anonymous survey of the FCC’s Correspondent and Journalist members reveals that many are finding the working conditions in Hong Kong to be increasingly difficult.
This finding, if taken as a true indication of the sentiment amongst other members, is an alarming reflection of the current state of press freedom in the city.
Of 66 respondents who replied, 55 persons (83 percent) said the environment for journalists had changed for the worse in the last 18 months. Whilst only 22.5 percent of the 294 eligible Correspondent and Journalist members chose to complete the survey, the FCC nevertheless regards these findings as significant.
It was found that of 52 respondents who indicated that speaking to sources is part of their job, 46 persons (88 percent) said they found sources in Hong Kong had become less willing to be quoted or to discuss sensitive subjects in the last 18 months, a telling indication of fear levels in the community.
Four respondents to the survey said that they had experienced digital surveillance while reporting in Hong Kong in the last 18 months. One person said they had experienced physical surveillance, and four more people said that they had experienced both digital and physical surveillance. These respondents chose not to provide further details in the survey.
Respondents also reported taking a more cautious approach to content. Sixty-five percent of respondents (43 persons) said that they had practiced self-censorship in the last 18 months, either in the content of their reporting or by avoiding certain subjects. Twenty-seven percent of those (12 persons) said they had self-censored “considerably”.
That is a notable increase from October 2021, when the FCC’s last press freedom survey (in which there were 99 respondents) found that 56 percent of those respondents had self-censored, including 16 percent of them to a considerable degree.
The FCC supports journalists’ fundamental right to conduct their work freely and without fear of intimidation or harassment.
We will continue our proactive engagement with relevant authorities to safeguard press freedom in the city in order to make sure that Hong Kong remains a thriving hub for journalism and business in the region.
Read the full results of the survey, which was conducted in May, in the latest edition of the club’s magazine, The Correspondent.
FCC Statement Condemning the Arrest of Freelance Photojournalist
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong condemns the arrest of freelance photojournalist May James, who was asked to remove her face mask by police while covering a protest in Mongkok on Sunday evening, October 27. At the time, she had identified herself as a journalist, wearing a high-visibility yellow vest, a helmet and backpack marked with the word “press” and produced a press identification card when questioned, according to footage of the arrest.
James was searched, arrested and then detained overnight at a police station in Kowloon. She was released early today. As a freelance photographer, James has photographed the protests for Hong Kong Free Press, AFP and others news organizations. She has shared her experiences documenting the Hong Kong protests in The Correspondent, the FCC’s magazine, as well as on a recent FCC panel with other photographers and video journalists, where she discussed the risks and responsibilities of her job.
Several other reporters were also required by police to remove their face masks in the course of their reporting duties Sunday night, despite government assurances that journalists would be exempt from the face-mask ban while carrying out their professional duties. These masks are used by reporters to protect against tear gas and pepper spray, and by law, anyone who requires the masks for professional use should be exempt from the regulation. Police appeared to use force when removing the masks and interfered with the work of reporters covering the street protests.
On Sunday night, a representative from the FCC was able to reach out to two spokesmen from the Hong Kong Police Force, including the acting superintendent for the Police Public Relations Branch, to ascertain James’s whereabouts. The contacts were a result of the FCC’s recent meeting with police representatives. Opening this channel of communication was a practical outcome from our meeting with the police and helps in the defence of journalists and FCC members.
The FCC again calls for an independent investigation into police violence against journalists and interference with the media’s right to cover the protests under Hong Kong law. The FCC urges that an investigation should be transparent.
We have expressed our concern about such incidents since the start of the protests in June, yet violence against journalists and interference continue. These incidents, including the arrest of the photojournalist last evening, undermine Hong Kong’s reputation as a place where the media can work freely, without harassment or intimidation.
October 28, 2019
