National security law: constrained freedoms, compromised sources among worries confronting Hong Kong media sector

‘When the red line is unclear and moving according to political needs, media organisations may self-censor,’ chair of Hong Kong journalist body says

NGOs, meanwhile, are left to wonder if lobbying against legislation could be seen as ‘disrupting’ the government’s duties, now a crime

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Journalists are reflected in a riot officer’s visor while covering a protest against Hong Kong’s national security law on July 1. Concerns are growing among local media figures that elements of the new law could constrain traditional press freedoms in the city. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 9:17pm, 2 Jul 2020Updated: 3:49pm, 4 Jul 2020

Hong Kong’s new national security law, with its vaguely defined offences and sweeping new powers for police and mainland agents, poses a threat to press freedom in the city, local media figures and scholars have said.

They also warned that under Article 9 of the new legislation, local authorities are granted supervisory powers over the local media industry, a field previously free of control and fiercely protected under the Basic Law.

Chris Yeung Kin-hing, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said on Thursday that he worried local journalists could be prosecuted when reporting on issues thought to be related to national security.

“Under the categories of crimes of secession, subversion, and terrorism, there are references saying that any incitement or advocation of those crimes is also liable to punishment under the law,” he said.

Hong Kong media members document the scene as police officers cordon off an area and check the ID cards of anti-government protesters in Central. Photo: Dickson Lee

“So are media reports considered an act of endangering national safety, and will the publication of certain interviews and articles be deemed problematic?

“When the red line is unclear and moving according to political needs, media organisations may self-censor on some sensitive topics and refrain from interviewing those who are criticised by state media,” the veteran journalist added.