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Transcript/ScriptPress Freedom Hong Kong Media Decline
HEADLINE: Hong Kong Media Outlets Shut Down in Worrying Trend
TEASER: The national security law makes practicing journalism in the Chinese administrative region precarious work
PUBLISHED AT: 01/31/2022, 7:47 pm
BYLINE: LAUREL BOWMAN
CONTRIBUTOR: TOMMY WALKER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, DC, BANGKOK
VIDEOGRAPHER:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, Reifenrath SR
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Skype
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _x_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:30
VID APPROVED BY: Holly Franko
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: FOR VOA Press Freedom. Questions Laurel, Jessica. Review Jessica, Laurel, Tommy Walker ))
((WEB/TV INTRO)) Hong Kong’s media leaders and journalists adjust to the challenging environment as they navigate a national security law instituted by Beijing. VOA’s Laurel Bowman has more.
((NARRATOR))
First to fall, in June 2021, was Apple Daily and its founder, Jimmy Lai. The newspaper that praised Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement was loathed by Beijing’s leadership.
With its executives charged under the national security law, the paper’s assets were frozen. Lai, an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is now in prison.
For many Hong Kongers, the newspaper’s demise sent a chill.
((Radio track: Steven Liu is a Hong Kong resident.))
((Steven Liu, Hong Kong Resident)) ((Male, Cantonese))
“It’s like death, because Hong Kong is supposed to have freedom of press and speech. If the last organization that speaks for Hong Kong disappears, I don’t want to live here anymore.”
((NARRATOR))
Apple Daily was not the last. In late December, national security police raided the pro-democracy news website Stand News. Its assets were frozen, and boxes of evidence, including computers, phones and journalistic materials, were carted away.
Crowds showed up in support of two editors who had been charged with sedition. Their arrests came even after Stand News had said it would cease operations.
The risk of lawsuits is changing how media think, says Ronson Chan, a former Stand News journalist who chairs the Hong Kong Journalists Association. Police spent five hours searching his sparse apartment. Chan spoke to VOA via Skype.
((Ronson Chan, Former Stand News Journalist)) ((Male, English)) ((Skype))
“No one could escape from the law or from the NSL [national security law], so you may be at very high risk if you do something very sensitive or something. I feel quite sad for the future of journalism in Hong Kong.”
((NARRATOR))
A week later, Citizen News threw in the towel.
[[Radio track: Daisy Li was chief editor at Citizen News]]
((Daisy Li, Former Citizen News Chief Editor)) ((Female, Cantonese))
“I am unsure whether a story, a piece of news or a sentence will violate a new regulation under the changing news environment. If I can’t confidently let my reporters continue to do what we are doing, then I should stop. As a leader, I am responsible for journalists after all.”
((NARRATOR))
She added that journalists need to feel safe in their jobs.
((NARRATOR))
Hong Chief Executive Carrie Lam says Western governments critical of the news outlets’ closures don’t understand Hong Kong law. Journalists are respected, but they must practice their trade properly, she says.
[[Radio track: Carrie Lam is Hong Kong’s chief executive]]
((Carrie Lam, Hong Kong Chief Executive)) ((Female, English))
“If you breach the law but package yourself as a practitioner in the press, then we need to see through that, to be able to tell what’s actually happening, and the law enforcement department should take action.”
((NARRATOR))
Press freedom advocates say it’s a precarious time to be a journalist in Hong Kong.
[[Radio track: Keith Richburg, director of the University of Hong Kong’s media studies center, via Skype]]
((Keith Richburg, University of Hong Kong Journalism and Media Studies Center Director)) ((Male, English)) ((Skype))
“I think here in Hong Kong at the moment journalists are distressed, they’re frightened, they are despairing, but they’re trying to get on with their jobs as best they can. It’s a tough time if you know Hong Kong the way it used to be. This place used to be the freest in Asia, in this part of the world, for the press.”
((NARRATOR))
Now, with pro-democracy media closing and laws making journalists wary of covering political news, that freedom appears limited.
Laurel Bowman, VOA News, Washington
NewsML Media TopicsConflict, War and Peace, Crime, Law and Justice, Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
BylineLAUREL BOWMAN
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
