Hong Kong student editor challenges government media curb

A university student editor has started legal action against the government’s media managing arm for barring student and online reporters from press conferences.

Teenie Ho Kar-hei, a third-year student and chief editor of Chinese University’s English magazine Varsity, filed a High Court writ on Friday seeking a judicial review against the head of the Information Services Department, whose director is Patrick Nip Tak-kuen.

Ho and Baptist University student Xu Fangwen, who lodged a separate case at the same time, are also challenging the department’s reluctance to allow student reporters of university publications to attend official events, from press conferences to consultation sessions.

The trigger appears to have been the Legislative Council by-election for the New Territories East constituency on February 28. Students and online reporters were turned away from the press zone where votes were counted, the writs claimed.

A week ago the Legislative Council announced it would hand out media passes to all journalists, print and online media alike.

“I did it to protect journalists’ right to report and press freedom,” said Ho, who also lodged the case on behalf of her university's Chinese-language magazine, U-Beat.

Ho asked the court to declare the department’s policies on student and online media unconstitutional and contrary to the Basic Law and the city’s Bill of Rights, on the grounds that they were arbitrary and disproportionate.