My Take | Journalist should never have been prosecuted for doing her job

An essential feature of an independent judiciary is the willingness of the courts to rule against the government when the law requires it. A judgment by Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal last week, quashing the convictions of a journalist for making false statements when using the vehicle registry is, therefore, encouraging. But the decision to clear Bao Choy Yuk-ling was long overdue. She should never have been prosecuted.

Choy, a freelance producer, made two searches on the government’s database for details of a vehicle owner in 2020. This was part of her research for an RTHK documentary about a mob attack on protesters and commuters in Yuen Long during the previous year’s civil unrest.

The city’s journalists were shocked when Choy was fined HK$6,000 for making false statements. Her searches were considered routine. A government paper in 2011 revealed several thousand requests from the media for such details had been granted the previous year.

Applicants are asked to state the purpose of their search. There are only three options on a drop-down menu. The first two concern the sale and purchase of the vehicles and legal proceedings. The third is for “other traffic and transport related matters”.

The prosecution argued journalism does not fall within that third category and that Choy must have known this when selecting the option.

But the five judges of the top court unanimously disagreed. They found the “other related matters” option to be extremely broad and to include genuine investigative journalism. Choy’s statements were, therefore, not false.