Warning over media freedom amid rising tensions in Hong Kong

2014-07-07

Hong Kong's formerly freewheeling press is seeing its "darkest days" yet, in what is likely a harbinger of further erosion of the former British colony's traditional freedoms, journalists and political commentators said on Monday.

"The year under review has been the darkest for press freedom for several decades," the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said in a statement issued with its annual report on Sunday.

"As political tension between Hong Kong and Beijing increases, the HKJA expects further deterioration in press freedom in the years to come," the statement on the group's website said.

According to a recent HKJA poll, the territory's journalists rated press freedom at 42 on a 100-point scale, as well as expressing concern about self-censorship and pressure from media owners and management.

"People used to talk about the frog heating up slowly in a pan of tepid water in the past, but it's not like that now," Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) chairwoman Sham Yee-lan told RFA on Monday.

"Right now, the frog is getting boiled alive."

She said Hong Kong's media is currently in a state of "siege emergency."

"[It] is under attack from all quarters, including some within its own ranks, and from some who blatantly trample press freedom underfoot," Sham said.

'Grave attacks'

The HKJA report reviews a series of "grave attacks, both physical and otherwise in the past 12 months," including an attack on former Chinese-language Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau, the sacking of Commercial Radio talk-show host Li Wei-ling and the removal of other prominent journalists from senior editorial positions.

It also cited advertising boycotts by major companies against Apple Daily and am730, as well as the refusal of the government to issue a free-to-air TV licence to Hong Kong Television Network.

The report also hit out at a June 10 white paper in which Beijing asserted its ultimate authority over Hong Kong, which was promised a "high degree of autonomy" under the terms of its 1997 handover to China.

Beijing has "lectured" the city's journalists on the need to increase their coverage of opposition to the pan-democratic Occupy Central movement, and to report on the mainland's economic development in an "objective and rational manner."

"Such comments pile pressure on the media [and] further narrow the limited press freedom in place since the chief executive Leung Chun-ying took office in 2012," the HKJA said.

Veteran journalist and political commentator Poon Siu-to said the recent assaults on the media were likely just the start of the erosion of many more of Hong Kong's traditional freedoms, however.

"It's not just the problem of press freedom; the whole of Hong Kong society is coming under pressure," Poon told RFA.

"Press freedom is the canary in the cage when it comes to protecting Hong Kong's traditional values, so it has taken the heaviest blow," he said.

"And now we see judicial independence and political freedoms coming under attack as well," Poon said. "We're not talking about one or two areas; this is an out-and-out emergency."

Headline change

Last week, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in favor of universal suffrage and public nominations of candidates in the 2017 race for chief executive.

But Kevin Lau's replacement at the Ming Pao, Lui Ka-ming, stopped the presses to change the paper's headline from "Rally for universal suffrage hits a 10-year record," to "Hundreds in Occupy Central trial run; police begin to clear the area."

Lui later wrote that his changes reflected the most recent developments after police moved to remove some 2,000 protesters who had blocked a road in the Central business district.

The Hong Kong government meanwhile issued a statement saying it is "extremely respectful and protective of press freedom in Hong Kong," and will continue to work to protect the city's important core values.

Pro-democracy legislator and former League of Social Democrats chairman Andrew To said many people feel that Beijing's white paper has changed the territory forever, and not for the better.

"There is a huge difference between Hong Kong today and Hong Kong as it was in the past," To said. "Hong Kong people feel that it has already been taken over by the communists."

"We are very worried that they will bring their way of doing things here to Hong Kong."

Both To and the HKJA report cited growing use of online and social media, as people trust mainstream media organizations less and less.

"One by one, the newspapers and the media have moved, since 1997, in the direction of self-censorship," To said. "But Hong Kong has social media and some online broadcasters and newspapers, which criticize the official line."

"A lot of people aren't relying on mainstream media for their news any more, or they only regard it critically," he said.

Legislation

In its statement, the HKJA called once more on the Hong Kong government to enact freedom of information legislation and to grant a license to HKTV in recognition of media diversity.

It also called on the government to take all possible measures to prevent violence against journalists and pursue perpetrators, including masterminds.

"The HKJA also calls on media owners and top executives to respect the right of journalists to carry out their duties without pressure and to expose details of advertising boycotts to discourage the practice which threatens the development of independent media in Hong Kong," the statement said.

The group said it had set up a committee to monitor self censorship and investigate complaints from whistleblowers.

"The committee will hopefully increase public awareness ... by telling them what has been taken out [of] the media," it said.

The pro-democratic organizers of a proposed Occupy movement in Central have vowed to stage a full-scale civil disobedience movement, should Beijing's final decree on the 2017 election process fail to meet international democratic standards.

Organizer Chu Yiu-ming said a road blockade in downtown Hong Kong would only be the last resort, however.

"I have emphasized all along that the whole peaceful occupation of Central will only come after all possibilities for talks have been exhausted, and there are no other options," Chu said.

He said campaigners are still waiting for a final decision from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing in August.

On Sunday, Democratic Party chairwoman Emily Lau said fears are growing that Beijing will reject growing public calls for public nomination of election candidates.

"In which case the hopes of the Hong Kong people for universal suffrage will have come to nothing," Lau said. "If this does happen, I think the people of Hong Kong will definitely come out in protest, and we could think about occupying Central."

"The central government wants fake elections to get rid of all the people it doesn't like, and that is totally unacceptable to us."

Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan and Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Link to original story on RFA website