As Chief Executive John Lee assures Hongkongers that press freedom is “in our pocket,” HKFP rounds up media industry incidents since the onset of the national security law.

media journalism press freedom
File photo: StudioIncendo.

September 2023

August 2023

Website of Sky Post
Website of Sky Post. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.

July 2023

Glory to Hong Kong
Glory to Hong Kong. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
Eric Chan
Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP

June 2023

Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy stands outside Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal after winning her appeal against her conviction for making false statements to obtain vehicle records, o June 5, 2023. Photo: Candice Chan/HKFP.
Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy stands outside Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal after winning her appeal against her conviction for making false statements to obtain vehicle records, on June 5, 2023. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

May 2023

Lee Williamson
Foreign Correspondents’ Club President Lee Williamson. Photo: Hillary Leung/HKFP.

April 2023

Xia Baolong
Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Xia Baolong attends the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Day on April 15, 2023. Photo: HKMAO.

March 2023

Coconuts hong kong
Coconuts news site. Photo: HKFP screenshot.
  • HKJA said it received several recent reports of journalists being tailed, as police slammed the group over “unverified speculations” that those following journalists were suspected of being members of law enforcement.
  • Two ex-Stand News editors charged under the colonial-era sedition law continued to stand trial.

February 2023

January 2023

Chung Pui-kuen, former chief editor of Stand News, at the District Court on January 26, 2023.
Chung Pui-kuen, former chief editor of Stand News, at the District Court on January 26, 2023. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.
  • Hong Kong’s top court allowed journalist Bao Choy to appeal her conviction over accessing car licence information for an investigative documentary about a mob attack in Yuen Long in July 2019.
  • The government watchdog rejected a complaint filed by HKFP related to the authorities’ refusal to disclose its media invite list for Chief Executive John Lee’s inauguration last July 1.
  • Chen Zhiming, chief editor of Hong Kong magazine Exclusive Character, was reportedly missing in mainland China for over four months.
  • A Hong Kong reporter who was allegedly shot at with a police projectile during a protest in 2019 expressed disappointment that his complaint was rejected.
  • The sedition trial against two ex-chief editors of defunct media outlet Stand News continued, as the court heard testimony from one of the defendants, former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen.

December 2022

November 2022

Bao Choy
Journalist Bao Choy speaks with reporters outside High Court on Nov. 7, 2022. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.
Timothy Owen
King’s Counsel Timothy Owen leaving the Court of Final Appeal in Central on November 25, 2022. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

October 2022

IFJ report 2022
The International Federation of Journalists’ Hong Kong Freedom of Expression Report 2022. Photo: International Federation of Journalists, via screenshot.

September 2022

Ronson Chan HKJA Channel C
Ronson Chan on September 22, 2022. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP

August 2022

High Court
The High Court. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

July 2022

  • Disclosing the media invite list for the July 1 leadership inauguration ‘would harm Hong Kong’s security,’ the government claimed.
  • Hong Kong democracy has taken a “quantum leap forward,” officials told a United Nations rights committee, during a grilling over the national security law, declining press freedom and other developments in the wake of the 2019 protests.
  • Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said journalists are “in the same boat” as him and that he hoped the news sector will join him in promoting the success of One Country, Two Systems to the world.
Kevin Lau.
Kevin Lau.

June 2022

May 2022

  • Reporters Without Borders said Hong Kong authorities wielded a draconian new security law to silence critical news outlets and jail journalists in its latest report as the city plummeted down an international press freedom chart.
  • Hong Kong’s sole leadership candidate John Lee compared press freedom to identity cards, and said that “Hong Kong already has press freedom.”
chief executive election john lee rally
File photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.

April 2022

FCC
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

March 2022

February 2022

Consumer Council
Consumer Council. Photo: Consumer Council.

January 2022

citizen news china team
Citizen News’ China news team. Photo: Citizen News screenshot, via YouTube

December 2021

Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam was arrested by national security police on Wednesday.
Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam was arrested by national security police on December 29, 2021. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

November 2021

Sue-Lin Wong
Sue-Lin Wong. Photo: The Economist.

October 2021

Chinese National Day October 1, 2021 Police Causeway Bay protective vest
File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

September 2021

Ronson Chan
Chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association Ronson Chan. Photo: Screenshot.

August 2021

July 2021

Steve Vines on The Pulse
Steve Vines on The Pulse. Photo: RTHK screenshot.
apple daily's headquarter
Photo: Kenny Huang & Michael Ho/Studio Incendo.

June 2021

Apple Daily raid June 17, 2021
Dozens of Hong Kong police enter Apple Daily’s headquarters in Tseung Kwan O on June 17, 2021.

May 2021

RTHK Youtube homepage
RTHK’s YouTube Channel. Photo: RTHK Screenshot via YouTube.
claudia mo democrats mass resignation legco dq
Claudia Mo. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

April 2021

Bao Choy press freedom
Journalist Bao Choy appears in court on April 22, 2021. Photo: Studio Incendo.

March 2021

  • A top Beijing official said the principle of “patriots governing Hong Kong” extends to the judiciary, the education sector and the media, in addition to public officials.
  • A leading civil servant with no broadcasting experience took over as head of RTHK, where three senior employees quit in the space of two weeks.
  • Hong Kong’s national security police arrested a former top executive of Next Digital, the publisher of Apple Daily, over alleged fraud.
  • RTHK made a last-minute decision to cancel a programme featuring a panel discussion of Beijing’s plans for a drastic election overhaul.
RSF 2021 press freedom index
Press freedom in 2021. Photo: RSF.

February 2021

World Press Photo
World Press Photo Exhibition in Hong Kong. Photo: World Press Photo Exhibition Hong Kong, via Facebook.

January 2021

  • The Hong Kong government announced a decision to move Covid-19 press briefings online. It backtracked following criticism from a Hong Kong journalism watchdog.
  • Police demanded Apple Daily hand over the information on journalists who searched for public vehicle licence plate records.
  • Police visited the newsrooms of Apple Daily, InMedia and StandNews with search warrants demanding documents relating to the primary election for LegCo in July 2020.
  • The head of RTHK, Leung Ka-wing, advised staff not to interview the 55 democrats arrested under the national security law over their alleged involvement in the primary.
  • Three people convicted of rioting and assaulting a mainland journalist at the airport during anti-government protests in 2019 were jailed for up to 5 1/2 years.
  • Bao Choy pleaded not guilty to making false statements after she obtained vehicle registration information for a film about the 2019 Yuen Long mob attacks.
  • The head of Hong Kong’s largest police union slammed public broadcaster RTHK for allegedly biased reporting of a weekend lockdown to combat Covid-19.
Silent protest RTHK union
A silent protest staged by the RTHK union to support their colleague Nabela Qoser. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

December 2020

November 2020

jimmy lai
Jimmy Lai. File Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

October 2020

  • National security police raided the private office of Jimmy Lai.
  • A district councillor was given a suspended prison sentence for publicly identifying the policeman who allegedly shot an Indonesian journalist in the eye.

September 2020

Inside the Red Brick Wall
Inside the Red Brick Wall. Photo: Ying E Chi Cinema, via Facebook.

August 2020

apple daily protest arrest
File photo: KH/United Social Press.

July 2020

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Hong Kong Free Press is a new, non-profit, English-language news source seeking to unite critical voices on local and national affairs. Free of charge and completely independent, HKFP arrives amid rising concerns over declining press freedom in Hong Kong and during an important time in the city’s constitutional development.