36 The Economist January 8th 2022
China
HongKong’smediaShowing who’s boss
L
ife as an independent journalist in
Hong Kong, long hard, is becoming im
possible. On December 29th Stand News,
the territory’s leading prodemocracy news
outlet, was forced to shut after hundreds of
police raided its office, froze its assets and
arrested seven people. The current and for
mer editors were charged with conspiracy
to publish seditious content and denied
bail. Fearing for their reporters’ safety, two
other news sites, Citizen News andMad Dog
Daily, halted operations on January 4th.
After the enforced closure in Hong
Kong last June of Apple Dailynewspaper,
Standand Citizenwere the two most popu
lar Chineselanguage, prodemocracy out
lets. Both rose to prominence in the protest
movement in 2019, and were known for
their popular livestreams and compre
hensive coverage. A Standreporter, Gwy
neth Ho, who was attacked while covering
the protests, entered politics and is now in
jail under a nationalsecurity law that Chi
na imposed in 2020. The chief editor at
Citizen, Daisy Li, said they were “no longer
able to say for sure” what may violate thesecurity law. Hong Kong’s chief executive,
Carrie Lam, denied it had anything to do
with the closures.
Citizenhad been a lifeboat for indepen
dent journalists, rescuing some who had
resigned or been fired from other outlets,
including Apple Daily, Cable tvand rthk,
the public broadcaster (the output of
which now resembles that of Chinese state
media). Journalists posted photos of fare
well cards: “We fought the good fight, we
finished the course, we kept the faith.”
Controls on the press are likely to tight
en. Hong Kong’s security chief, Chris Tang,
said in December that he “fully supported”
the introduction of “fake news” regula
tions. Traditional news outlets have grown
increasingly cautious, while the influence
of Communistbacked newspapers such as
Wen Wei Poand Ta Kung Paohas grown.The last significant independent news out
let in the city is Hong Kong Free Press, an
Englishlanguage news site. Almost half of
around 100 respondents surveyed by Hong
Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club were
considering leaving because of concerns
over press freedom. China’s foreign minis
try accused the club of “sowing discord”.
The onslaught on free speech extends
beyond independent news organisations.
On January 4th Chow Hang Tung, an activ
ist barrister, was sentenced to 15 months in
jail for arranging a commemoration of the
Beijing massacre of June 1989. A vigil for
victims in 2020 led to prison terms for 23
other activists. In December three univer
sities removed monuments inspired by the
massacre. Even Disney+, a streaming ser
vice, removed from Hong Kong broadcasts
of an episode of “The Simpsons” that men
tions the massacre and refers to Mao Ze
dong as “a little angel that killed 50m peo
ple”. With every passing day, Hong Kong
becomes more like the rest of China.
Yet Hong Kong’s press used to be vital in
helping the world understand China. Its
journalists have broken many important
stories about the country. No longer. Hard
ly any Hong Kong outlets, for example, co
vered the political scandal that followed
the accusation in November 2021 by Peng
Shuai, a famous Chinese tennis player, of
sexual assault by a senior Chinese official.
Citizen and Standwere exceptions.
The space for civil society is also
shrinking. Some 60 prodemocracy grassA once-vibrant press corps is battered into dull conformity→Alsointhissection
37 Chinav AmericaattheUN
38 Chaguan: For-profit paranoia