Press freedom in Hong Kong after July 1 was among the most widely- reported issues of the handover by the 6,500 foreign journalists who covered the event.
In the West, political pressure for newspapers to put a spin on stories was considered the norm, but it would make headlines if the call came from post-handover Hong Kong authorities, said South China Morning Post editor Jonathan Fenby.
'I can say hand-on-heart that since July 1, as far as I'm concerned, there has been no political attempts by the new administration to stop us doing anything. I was lobbied in the past from Government House, but nobody has rung me up from the Chief Executive's office to say 'do this, do that',' he said.
Post journalists not only wrote the news, but became part of it around July 1. Camera crews from around the world nosed massive microphones at telephones during interviews, and foreign correspondents streamed into Fenby's office with the usual questions.
The editor estimates he gave around 100 interviews about Hong Kong's press scene and the Post.
Four months later, there have been no follow-up calls to see what happened. However, allegations of self-censorship among journalists and criticism by political parties and activists are still as intense.
'The media have created a culture of silence and impotence,' ousted legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing, who writes a column in the Post, said last month.