Press freedom in Hong Kong hits six-year low as public fears Beijing’s influence
- Members of the public give city’s press freedom an overall score of 45 out of 100
- Expulsion of journalist Victor Mallet and government banning Hong Kong National Party seen as harmful
Press freedom in Hong Kong has hit a six-year low among the city’s public with Beijing’s influence labelled their main concern for the first time, according to an annual public opinion survey.
More than 1,000 members of the public gave the city’s press freedom an overall score of 45, on a scale of 0 to 100 – a record low since the survey, jointly released by the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong on Tuesday, started in 2013.
The association’s chairman Chris Yeung Kin-hing said: “The public and journalist community are increasingly worried. Some responses are even alarming.”
The score’s year-on-year decline of 2.1 was also the highest in the survey’s history. It was conducted between January 21 and 24 and involved 1,003 members of the public.
More than a third of respondents – 368 – said Beijing’s influence was their main concern, followed by media self-censorship.
Can’t you see the big picture here? Journalists find self-censorship more widespread and reports ruffling the authorities’ feathers are more often pushed down by senior media figures
“Major contributors to the low score … included concerns over the central and Hong Kong governments; self-censorship; a decline in confidence in legal protection for journalists; diversity in voices; and supervision by mass media,” said Karie Pang Ka-lai, assistant director of the HKU programme.