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Chris Yeung, chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association, says press freedom in the city is the worst in 30 years. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong’s press freedom hits record low, amid fears of uncertainty over national security law

  • Press freedom in the city is the worst in 30 years, Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Chris Yeung says
  • He hopes the Hong Kong government will assure that the security law will not be used against reporters

Press freedom in the city has dropped to a record low, according to a survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, while its chairman raised fears the newly enacted national security law could further restrict the media and reporters.

The warning came as new regulations giving police sweeping powers – from raiding premises without a court warrant to ordering internet firms to remove content or seize their equipment – were announced on Monday, after the first meeting of a committee set up to oversee the enforcement of the law.

“The state of press freedom in Hong Kong is the worst I’ve seen in 30 years. I think all of us reporters feel it is getting harder to breathe,” the association’s chairman Chris Yeung Kin-hing said at the release of its annual report on Tuesday.

The report included the Hong Kong Journalists Association Press Freedom Index 2019.

Virtually all protections for free speech and free press are meaningless
Chris Yeung, chairman, Hong Kong Journalists Association

The index is divided into two scores – from journalists and the general public – based on surveys conducted by the association between January and March this year.

Both scores declined to the lowest since the index was launched in 2013, with the general public index for 2019 declining to 41.9 out of 100, down 3.1 points. The journalists’ score dropped to 36.2 in 2019, down from 40.9 the previous year.

More than 90 per cent of journalists surveyed said police had used violence to deliberately obstruct reporting in Hong Kong’s protests. Photo: Sam Tsang

Meanwhile, more than 90 per cent of journalists surveyed said police had used violence to deliberately obstruct reporting in Hong Kong’s anti-government protests, and more than 70 per cent of them said the government was a key player in the suppression of press freedom.

Yeung said he feared the situation would only worsen over the coming years.

The association was still seeking legal advice on how the national security law, which came into force on June 30, would affect journalists working in the city.

Survey reveals 98 per cent oppose security law amid fears over personal safety, self-censorship

Yeung said he had already been approached by journalists who wanted to know if they could still publish investigative pieces on high-ranking government and police officials, and expressed worries reporters would begin self-censoring to avoid violating the law.

“Even though the law cites in Article 4 and 5 that freedom of speech and press are protected, in the name of national security, the law has overriding powers. So, virtually all protections for free speech and free press are meaningless,” he said.

Yeung raised concerns journalists would no longer be able to guarantee protection to their sources as they could have their phones tapped, while media organisations and reporters could be forced to hand over correspondence with sensitive sources.

Hong Kong schools told to remove books that might fall foul of the legislation

Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor dodged a question on whether she could guarantee reporters would not be punished under the law during their work.

“If all reporters in Hong Kong can give me a 100 per cent guarantee that they will not commit any offences under this piece of legislation, then I can do the same,” she said.

In response, Yeung said he hoped Lam and the Hong Kong government would assure that the law would not be used against reporters. He said the association was open to meeting officials from the governments in the city and in mainland China to discuss the situation, although it had yet to hear from them.

“At this stage, we would like to make our fears and anxieties loud and clear. We firmly believe that the damage the law could cause to Hong Kong society are not in the best interests of either the Hong Kong or the Chinese government,” Yeung said.

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