Leung Chun-ying 'failing' on press freedom, says journalist group

Leung Chun-ying has been accused of failing to honour most of the pledges he made on press freedom in his campaign for the top job. The Journalists' Association also claims the chief executive is indifferent to a rising number of attacks on the media.

The accusations were made in the association's annual report on freedom of expression, released yesterday. One of its authors says the past year was the worst for press freedom since the handover in 1997.

The association found that Leung's administration, in its first 11 months in office, disseminated news in 182 written statements. This was done, the association says, to dodge further press enquiries. Leung's predecessor, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, issued only 22 statements in his first 11 months. The written statements include ministers' blogs.

"If you write blogs or issue written statements, you just give your own story. Journalists have no way to raise queries on issues that the public is concerned about," said Mak Yin-ting, former chairwoman of the association and one of the report authors. "It's a cowardly act not to take questions from the media and explain in press conferences."

Anonymous briefings were also a concern. Mak said the current administration was not shying away from the practice - in which journalists must quote government sources anonymously - although it was being used slightly less than before. Leung's government used them for 20.4 per cent of its news in the period, compared with 24.4 per cent by Tsang's administration.

Most news was disseminated via doorstop interviews.

Mak also said Leung had done nothing about a freedom of information law, which he promised to enact in a charter he signed with the association during his chief executive campaign.