The fourth estate in any civil society is supposed to be sacred in upholding the checks and balances of the three branches of government. Freedom of the press is thus hailed as the mother of all other civil liberties. In Hong Kong, the news media in general seems to have sunk into such a rotten state that it puts the entire foundation of a civic society at risk. The public had been concerned about undue external pressure exerted on the media. As things have unfolded, it is evident that the enemy lies within. Take the recent departure of three outspoken radio hosts, including myself. The media is not interested in finding out why the three of us went off the air so abruptly. Instead, it is only keen to smear our names. Wong Yuk-man was said to have fled to self-imposed exile to evade creditors. Allen Lee Peng-fei, on the other hand, was said to have been dismissed for being paranoiac. In my case, it was reported that I had suddenly become rich before leaving the programme. The News Executives Association, which comprises senior news managers, is an utter disappointment. It has deliberately turned a blind eye to all this, and has yet to make a statement on the radio host case. In recent years, under the dictates of the market economy, the news media has become increasingly thirsty for exclusives. Large contingents of paparazzi have been hired to tail targeted public figures 24 hours a day. Under the pretext of the public's right to know, they have given themselves a licence to trample on others' privacy. Sometimes, even the victims' friends and families are harassed. If a person is stalked by a private eye or triad gangsters, he can seek help from the police. But there is virtually nothing one can do if the harassers are from the media. Some media workers seem to be blinded by financial rewards, and are not tethered by media ethics. They are good at abusing press freedom and turning the mass media into a weapon to satisfy their self-interest. In the eyes of some media owners, journalists are little more than cultural thugs ready to assault their political enemies at their command. Some media people seem eager to co-operate with the mainland powers, in order to undermine targeted members in their own industry. It has been circulated on the grapevine that Beijing is eager to bring 'one newspaper, one magazine and two microphones' in Hong Kong to their knees. Now that three radio hosts in question have already left, the remaining 'one newspaper and one magazine' have become even more vulnerable. Things have now deteriorated to such a state that it is no longer a simple matter of personal ethics for individual media practitioners. This is the product of a dramatically degenerating political environment. We see some news stories manufactured to fit the political stances of local media organisations. It would be an honorable act for conscientious reporters to refuse to become part of this wicked scheme. Unfortunately, many journalists already seem to have bowed to financial realities, and have become bloodhounds for their masters. A news organisation can only be as good as its owner. Media groups used to treasure their institutional characteristics. They might have had different political stances, and were hardly neutral, but they all respected the facts. Some of today's media proprietors, however, are too mercenary to care about their social responsibilities. It is only natural that the 'making-a-living' journalists have acquired similar mindsets. The collective degeneration of the local media is a result of the current political sea change. It is indeed no more than a reflection of the macropolitical forces that are at work. Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator