Hong Kong’s largest journalist group to consider disbanding in response to mounting government pressure for more transparency
- Association chairman Ronson Chan Ron-sing says options to be considered include dissolving the 54-year-old group
- Members worried about their future following closure of several news outlets and latest arrest of journalist, he reveals
Hong Kong’s largest association of journalists will consult members about its future, including whether to disband in the face of mounting government pressure to disclose details of its operations.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) said on Wednesday it would hold an extraordinary general meeting via Zoom on April 23 and discuss if it would amend its constitution and options for its future in “a rapidly changing social and political environment”.
Association chairman Ronson Chan Ron-sing told the Post that options to be considered included dissolving the 54-year-old group. Disbanding would require the consent of at least five-sixths of the members, according to its constitution.
Chan said that following the closures of the Apple Daily newspaper in June last year and the websites Stand News in December and Citizen News in January, as well as the arrest of veteran journalist Allan Au Ka-lun this week, members were worried about their future. Some were proposing disbanding, while others wanted to hang on, he said.
“So we should give the members a chance to speak and let the executive committee listen,” said Chan, who was a deputy assignment editor at Stand News.
The HKJA said in September it had 486 members, 56 student ones and 43 retired or permanent members.