Hong Kong press freedom sinks to record low – journalist survey

Protesters hold placards as they gather in the center of Kingston upon Thames in south west London on January 9, 2022 to demonstrate against the ‘dramatic deterioration of press freedom’ in Hong Kong. The human chain protest is held to back journalists, media and the people in Hong Kong, who have suffered from political persecution following the imposition of a national security law in the city. Agence France-Presse

HONG KONG — Hong Kong journalists rated the city’s press freedom lower than ever in an annual survey released on Tuesday, citing fears of sweeping national security laws.

Published every year since 2013 by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI), the Press Freedom Index ranks the city’s media environment on a zero to 100 scale — 100 being a perfect score.

It is based on a poll of over 250 working journalists and around 1,000 members of the public.

READ: Hong Kong leader says she cannot accept claims press freedom faces ‘extinction’

The rating this year among journalists dropped to a record low of 25, down 0.7 points from last year and 17 points from the survey’s launch.

More than 90 percent of the surveyed journalists said the city’s press freedom was “significantly” impacted by a new security law enacted in March which punishes crimes like espionage and foreign interference.

Colloquially known as Article 23, it was the second such law enacted for the financial hub, following one imposed By Beijing in 2020 after Hong Kong saw massive, and at times violent, pro-democracy protests.

READ: Hong Kong issues new national security law bill with tougher jail terms

Ninety-four percent of journalists also cited the prosecution of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-shuttered Chinese news tabloid Apple Daily, under the first law as being “highly damaging” to press freedom.

Other concerns included the disappearance of South China Morning Post reporter Minnie Chan in Beijing.

HKJA had previously released a statement saying it was “very concerned” about Chan, an award-winning journalist, who has been unreachable since attending a security forum in Beijing last year.

For the public, the overall rating was 42.2 — largely stable after the last major drop from 45 in 2018 to 41.9 in 2019.

“This discrepancy may be explained by the relatively less heated discussion around Article 23 compared to the 2020 National Security Law,” HKJA said in a statement.

However, journalists are “more cognizant of potentially running afoul of the new crimes created by Article 23 when reporting”.

The index’s publication came weeks after HKJA’s newly elected chairperson Selina Cheng was fired by the Wall Street Journal after she took up the new role.

The Journal’s parent company Dow Jones declined to comment on Cheng’s case but said at the time that it “continues to be a fierce and vocal advocate for press freedom”.