Hong Kong ranks 37th overall for journalists’ safety in new global index
City scored highly for physical safety of reporters, but performed worse in areas measuring digital and psychological well-being
Hong Kong ranked 37th out of 73 places in safety for journalists according to a new global index, outperforming South Korea and Indonesia but falling below Singapore and other European counterparts.
The Global Index on Journalists’ Safety, published on Tuesday, also saw the city score better than the United States when it came to the physical safety of reporters, but scored lower in areas measuring digital and psychological well-being.
In response, the Hong Kong government on Wednesday strongly condemned “any unfounded and biased remarks made by the organisations concerned when publishing the relevant index and statement”.
It said the city had always been listed among the safest in the world, and that freedom of the press and speech were protected under the law.
More than 30,000 journalists across 73 jurisdictions were surveyed between 2021 and 2024 for the joint initiative between the Worlds of Journalism Study research network and the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with Unesco.
Respondents were asked a set of standardised questions about their financial, psychological, physical and digital safety in their operating environments. Additionally, data from the Unesco Observatory of Killed Journalists was used for the index.