Hong Kong journalist’s public records search should not be considered illegal, court told
- RTHK reporter Bao Choy being prosecuted after accessing driver’s information on Hong Kong government database
- Information was for television documentary on Yuen Long attack in 2019
A journalist’s search for a car owner’s registration information in a public register should be considered legal and not regarded as making a false declaration, a Hong Kong court heard on Wednesday.
But prosecutors at West Kowloon Court said Bao Choy Yuk-ling, who co-produced an episode of the RTHK television show Hong Kong Connection about the Yuen Long attack in 2019, knowingly made false statements by arguing she only intended to use the information for reporting purposes, and not for anything transport related.
Choy, a veteran investigative reporter, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of making false declarations after citing “traffic and transport-related matters” as her purpose when searching car ownership details on a government database, officially known as a “certificate of particulars of motor vehicles”, for the programme.
Her prosecution has been widely condemned by journalist groups, scholars and opposition politicians, who have accused police of using the law to suppress normal reporting activities and created a chilling effect on investigative journalism.
The ruling over the case has implications over the city’s open records policy, affecting not only for journalists engaged in investigative reporting, but also businesses and civic groups which had been obtaining data from the government database.
During Wednesday’s trial, Derek Lau Tak-wai, acting senior assistant director of public prosecutions, argued Choy had been dishonest over her reasons for searching the database as “she did not only want to identify the car owner, but also took a further step to do an interview [with the car owner]”.