Explainer: The decline of Hong Kong's press freedom under the national security law

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.

December 2023

• The HKJA raised concern after Japanese media reported that South China Morning Post (SCMP) reporter Minnie Chan had gone missing after a work trip to China. Responding to an enquiry from HKFP, SCMP said Chan was on personal leave concerning a private matter and also threatened legal action.
• The SCMP withdrew an opinion piece after being unable to verify the writer’s credentials.

November 2023

• The verdict in the trial against two former editors of now-defunct news outlet Stand News was postponed again pending a higher court’s ruling, expected in 2024.
• The HKJA expressed “deep regret” that reporters were not allowed to interview attendees at an international finance summit organised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

October 2023

• A Hong Kong judge called for an investigation after prosecutors claimed that video footage linked to a rioting case during the 2019 Yuen Long mob attacks had been released by an online media outlet ahead of the trial.
• Net satisfaction with press freedom in Hong Kong stood at negative 8 per cent, while 13 per cent of people believed the local news media had given full play to the freedom of speech, according to a PORI survey.
• Google received a request from the Hong Kong Police Force to remove 5 videos featuring “The Hong Konger“, a documentary about pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai from YouTube, a report read.

September 2023

• The Communications Authority rejected complaints against a now-deleted RTHK documentary that examined the 2019 Yuen Long mob attacks.
• Sebastien Lai, the son of detained media mogul Jimmy Lai, spoke at an UN event on media freedom, as the government slammed the occasion as “political manipulation.”
• Ronson Chan, the head of the HKJA, was found guilty of obstructing a police officer while reporting last September and was sentenced to five days in prison before being granted bail pending appeal.
• The Court of Appeal heard the HKJA and the RTHK Staff Union’s joint appeal against the city’s communications regulator’s decision to issue a warning over RTHK’s satirical programme Headliner.

August 2023

• US photojournalist Matthew Connors, who covered the 2019 protests and unrest, said that he was denied entry to Hong Kong when he tried to visit for tourism purposes.
• Press freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders criticised the Hong Kong authorities after Swiss photojournalist Marc Progin was faced with HK$500,000 in legal costs despite being cleared of a public disorder charge.
• The national security trial of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai was delayed again to December, 2023 to ensure that one of the handpicked judges will have finished presiding over another landmark national security case involving 47 democrats.

• The HKJA said it will offer assistance to employees of local newspaper Sky Post, which will soon publish its final print edition.

July 2023

• Government-funded broadcaster RTHK suspended an LGBTQ-related radio programme after 17 years, the host of the programme said on its official Facebook page. 
• The West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts received written closing statements in the trial against journalist Ronson Chan, who stands accused of obstructing a police officer.

• A court ruled that journalists will be allowed to report on matters related to 2019 protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong, should the government’s bid to ban unlawful acts relating to the song be successful.
• Authorities proposed that programmes about national education, national identity, and those which promote a “correct understanding” of the national security law could be exempt from an impartiality clause requiring “even-handedness” when opposing points of view are presented.
• The government watchdog rejected HKFP’s complaint against the Information Services Department over their handling of an unexplained media ban at press event, finding no evidence of maladministration.
• HKJA said Hong Kong’s press freedom index dipped further, largely due to journalists being hesitant to criticise the central government.
• A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) found that almost 70 per cent of journalists in Hong Kong say they have self-censored in their own writing.

• Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan claimed there was no conflict between the media’s journalistic work and the Beijing-imposed national security law.
• Japanese journalist Yoshiaki Ogawa, known for his coverage of Hong Kong’s protests, was barred from entering Hong Kong days before the 26th anniversary of its Handover to China.
• China’s representative intervened at the UN in an unsuccessful effort to stop the son of detained media tycoon Jimmy Lai from testifying.

June 2023

• A Hong Kong press group urged the city’s police to provide an explanation after its former chairperson was led away by officers while she was reporting on the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.
• The Hong Kong government condemned US politicians’ calls for a joint effort with the UK to prioritise the release of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai by sanctioning Hong Kong officials, prosecutors, and judges involved in national security law detentions.
• Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai filed an appeal against the High Court’s rejection of his attempt to challenge a national security committee decision which effectively barred a foreign lawyer from representing him.
• Journalist Bao Choy’s conviction for making false statements to access vehicle records was quashed after five judges ruled unanimously in favour of her appeal at the city’s top court. Her sentence was also set aside.
• Authorities will review the top court’s judgement that saw journalist Bao Choy’s conviction quashed to “improve” procedures related to accessing vehicle records, Chief Executive John Lee said.
• The District Court heard closing arguments in the trial against two former editors of now-defunct news outlet Stand News. The verdict will be handed down in October. 
• The Court of Appeal blocked media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s bid to challenge a national security search warrant of his phones, which he said contained protected journalistic materials, at the city’s top court.

• The journalists’ association says it is looking to intervene in a legal bid by the government to ban all forms of the protest song Glory to Hong Kong, in the hopes of gaining an exemption for media reporting. A statement said the press group wants to “protect the work of journalists.”
• Citizens’ Radio, a pro-democracy pirate radio station, ceased operating on June 30 after its founder said the station’s bank account had been frozen.
• A prominent Chinese financial journalist who compared the country’s economic problems to the Great Depression was banned from social media.
• Hong Kong may drop plans for a “fake news” law, Chief Executive John Lee suggested, saying the problem can be tackled by other means.

May 2023

• The government watchdog agreed to investigate HKFP’s complaint against the Information Services Department over their handling of a press event which saw several government-registered outlets barred from attendance without explanation.
• Blocking pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s overseas counsel from representing him in his national security trial is “persecution not prosecution,” his lawyer said in an application to halt the trial. 
• Chief Executive John Lee told a reporter that the pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest of 2019 should be referred to as the “black violence,” not “protests.”
• Hong Kong ranked 140th among the 180 regions at the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking released on World Press Freedom Day.

• Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy appealed to the city’s top court against her conviction linked to checking vehicle registration records for a documentary about the Yuen Long attacks in 2019.
• Hong Kong transport news site Transit Jam ceased operations, its owner announced, making it the latest outlet to disappear in the wake of the security law. The closure came days after its founder was targeted in the state-run press.
• After 40 years, Hong Kong’s most prominent political cartoonist Zunzi had his comic strip suspended after a satirical post was criticised by government bodies.
• Hong Kong’s security minister hit back at the journalists’ association after it said the suspension of a long-standing political cartoon strip following repeated government complaints showed that the city “could not tolerate critical voices.”
• Books by satirical cartoonist Zunzi disappeared from Hong Kong public library listings, after his comic strip was axed by newspaper Ming Pao on Wednesday following criticism from an official.
• The defence questioned whether an exchange between the head of Hong Kong’s largest journalists’ group Ronson Chan and a plainclothes police officer could have happened as described, as the trial against Chan began.
• Over 100 international media leaders around the world expressed support for detained Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong in a joint statement on Tuesday organised by Reporters Without Borders.
• The head of Hong Kong’s largest journalists’ group said he feared a privacy breach when he was asked to show his identity card by a plainclothes officer, a court heard.
• Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance rejected attempts by pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to challenge a decision made by Hong Kong’s national security committee relating to the admission of an overseas lawyer for his trial.
• A lifestyle editor who was not from a traditional news correspondent background was elected as president of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club, after he ran unopposed in the leadership race.
• Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club raised concerns after the government inexplicably barred several media outlets from a National Security Education Day event on April 15. It was their first press freedom statement of 2013.
• Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s bid to halt the national security trial against him was rejected by the city’s Court of First Instance.

• Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club devised a set of guidelines for releasing statements on press freedom issues, which includes seeking legal advice and contacting government departments ahead of publishing.
• Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is expected to face an 83-day national security trial, a court heard.

April 2023

• Hong Kong’s security chief criticised Ming Pao over a “misleading” comic strip about the government’s plan to spend HK$5.2 billion on a new communications system. 
• Chung Pui-kuen, former top Stand News editor, completed his testimony in his sedition trial as the case was adjourned to June for closing arguments. 
• Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee refused to comment on reports received by the city’s largest press group that reporters had been followed by unknown men.
• Hong Kong journalists who have emigrated faced a number of difficulties when trying to start their careers in media overseas, according to a report published by an overseas journalists’ body.
• Social media platform Twitter slapped Hong Kong’s government-backed broadcaster RTHK with a “state-affiliated media” label.
• RTHK said it will “follow up” with Twitter, after the social media platform added a “state-affiliated media” label to the outlet’s official account.
• Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai filed a legal bid against the government decision to reject any further work visa applications from an overseas counsel he had hired for his national security case.
• Hong Kong’s pensions fund authority demanded that American newspaper The Wall Street Journal retract “misinformation” in an op-ed about holders of British National Overseas passports’ access to their pensions.
• The Hong Kong government barred several government-registered media outlets from covering a National Security Education Day event, ignoring emails and evading questions by phone when challenged as to why.

• The son and overseas lawyers of Jimmy Lai urged the United Nations to condemn the prosecution on “trumped-up” charges of the pro-democracy media tycoon, sparking criticism of them from the Hong Kong government.
• “The media landscape in Hong Kong has been as vibrant as ever” following the implementation of the national security law, the government said in a criticism of a UK all-party parliamentary group report. 

March 2023

• Coconuts wound down its Hong Kong news site, citing commercial and journalistic challenges. The announcement came days after a new general manager took over the publishing group.
• The founder of an independent Hong Kong news publication and two others pleaded guilty to selling a “seditious” book at a Lunar New Year fair.
• HKJA called on the police to “maintain professionalism” while on duty, after a journalist was reportedly pushed by an officer while filming outside a courthouse.
• HKJA condemned the harassment and surveillance of local journalists, after an HKFP court reporter was followed from her home to her workplace for over an hour by two men with earpieces.

• 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

• Monitoring the authorities is the duty of the media, pro-establishment newspaper Oriental Daily said in an editorial after it was criticised by the police for a video commentary on the force’s performance.
• Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy vowed to “monitor the rich and powerful” and “seek truth” with her newly launched media outlet The Collective HK.
• Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai asked the High Court to prevent Beijing’s recent interpretation of the national security law from affecting an earlier ruling that allowed him to be represented by a UK lawyer at his upcoming trial.
• Chinese activists – including dissident artist Badiucao – were approached by social media users falsely claiming to be journalists from Reuters, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
• The trial against two former Stand News top editors charged under the colonial-era sedition law continued as the prosecution carried on the cross-examination of Chung Pui-kuen, ex-editor-in-chief. 
• The Hong Kong government submitted a proposal to introduce legislative amendments which would require local courts to obtain a certificate from the city’s leader before considering whether to allow foreign counsels to act in national security cases.

January 2023

• Defunct independent Hong Kong news outlet Citizen News removed all of the content from its website and social media platforms, as the online publication marked a year since it ceased operations.
• Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao was criticised by one of the city’s top officials over a comic strip about Beijing’s recent interpretation of the national security law.
• Hong Kong broadcaster TVB dropped all BBC channels from its streaming service.
• Britain will stand up to “Chinese aggression” and defend Hong Kong’s freedoms, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed after his government intervened in the case of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
• A committee on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong urged the city’s government to change the law as quickly as possible so it can ban a British lawyer from representing former pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai at his security trial.
• Hong Kong’s Immigration Department barred freelance photographer Michiko Kiseki from the city last month.
• The local legal team representing jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial said it was not “professionally associated” with an international group of lawyers who reportedly met with a UK minister over Lai’s case.
• Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee said there were people using journalism as a cover to pursue political aims, personal benefit, or “launder money” in the city. 

• 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

• The national security trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was adjourned on its scheduled starting date until December 13 as Hong Kong waits for Beijing to “clarify” the law as to whether overseas lawyers are allowed to appear in such cases.
• Defendants charged under the national security law could be sent to mainland China for trial if they cannot find a lawyer in Hong Kong, the city’s top delegate to Beijing’s advisory body said.
• US-based NGO Human Rights Watch announced it would co-host the Human Rights Press Awards after Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) cancelled the event earlier this year.
• Jimmy Lai, the founder of defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail after being convicted of fraud.
• The jailing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai over fraud charges “has nothing to do with freedom of the press or freedom of speech,” the Hong Kong government said, following criticism from the US.
• Chung Pui-kuen, a former top editor of Hong Kong news outlet Stand News facing sedition charges was granted bail after spending almost a year in custody pending trial.
• The national security trial against Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was adjourned until September 25, 2023.
• Proceedings against former editors of independent outlet Stand News were “unfair” and “not transparent,” the defence argued, as the court sought to rule on whether the discovery of previously undisclosed evidence was grounds to terminate the trial.
• An additional six articles published by the shuttered independent media outlet Stand News were flagged by the prosecution for potentially violating Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition law.
• A proposal asking Beijing to “clarify” whether overseas counsellors are allowed to take part in national security court cases in Hong Kong was presented to Beijing’s top decision making body.
• China’s top law-making body gave Hong Kong leader John Lee the power to bar foreign lawyers from national security trials, removing the decision from the city’s courts.

November 2022

• The Trust Project, an international consortium which promotes greater accountability and transparency in the news industry, froze its Hong Kong operations, HKFP reported.
• Hong Kong’s Department of Justice appealed against a court’s decision to let a UK barrister represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his upcoming high-profile national security trial.
• Hong Kong’s Security Bureau “expressed deep regret” over “a misleading and fact-twisting commentary” published by Ming Pao on the government’s decision to ban cannabidiol, commonly known as CBD, from February next year.
• Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy lost an appeal against her conviction over assessing public data for a documentary about a mob attack in July 2019.

• The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it was “disappointed and worried” by the court’s decision to reject an appeal filed by journalist Bao Choy convicted over accessing public data for a documentary about a mob attack in July 2019.
• Hong Kong’s Department of Justice lost an appeal against the High Court’s decision to let a UK barrister represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his upcoming high-profile national security trial.
• A Hong Kong court’s decision to allow a senior British lawyer to represent jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai sparked a chorus of condemnation from powerful Beijing loyalist voices.
• Hong Kong’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster RTHK should “cooperate seamlessly” with other government departments including the police, said its chief Eddie Cheung in an interview with the city’s security chief.
• A Hong Kong citizen journalist who waved the British colonial-era flag while the Chinese national anthem was being played was jailed for three months for insulting the anthem following the first conviction under a new law.
• Hong Kong’s justice minister refused to remark on comments made by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who called a ruling from the city’s appeal court allowing a UK lawyer to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in an upcoming national security trial “absurd.”
• Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was set to apply to halt his high-profile national security trial, which was scheduled to begin in just over two weeks’ time, Lai’s legal representative said.
• Hong Kong’s Department of Justice hoped to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against allowing a UK barrister represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial, scheduled to start in just two weeks’ time.
• Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy furthered her chance of appealing her conviction over accessing car licence information for an investigative documentary about a mob attack in Yuen Long in July 2019.
• Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal refused to grant the secretary for justice a final chance to appeal against a court decision to allow a UK barrister represent media mogul Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial scheduled to start on December 1.
• Six former staff members of Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily and its parent company Next Digital pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit collusion charge in a landmark national security case.
• Hong Kong’s Department of Justice filed an application to the city’s top court to appeal against a decision to allow a UK barrister to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a high-profile national security trial.

• State-controlled pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong fiercely criticised the decision to let a senior British barrister represent Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial, quoting one pro-China figure as saying the hearing should be shifted to the mainland if necessary.
• Pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai had no financial motive in breaching the terms of the lease for his Apple Daily newspaper headquarters by operating a consultancy from the same building, a court which convicted him of fraud was told.
• Hong Kong’s top court adjourned its decision on whether to allow the Department of Justice to appeal against an earlier ruling that let media tycoon Jimmy Lai hire a UK lawyer for his national security trial.
• Patrick Lam, a former top editor of defunct Hong Kong outlet Stand News was granted bail after his lawyer called on the court to terminate the Stand News sedition trial over improper handling of evidence.
• Hong Kong’s top court will not allow the Department of Justice to appeal against an earlier court decision admitting a UK barrister to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a high-profile national security trial.
• Beijing will be invited to determine whether overseas counsels are allowed to take part in national security trials in Hong Kong, Chief Executive John Lee said.
• Hong Kong’s secretary for justice will seek to adjourn a national security trial involving pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai – two days before it was slated to begin – while awaiting Beijing’s proposed interpretation of the city’s national security law.
• Beijing’s power to interpret the national security law “can be used sparingly,” the head of the Hong Kong Bar Association said.
• The lease of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club was renewed for three years, with a newly added “standard” clause regarding national security. 

October 2022

• Hong Kong police expressed “strong concerns” over a satirical cartoon published in Ming Pao that contained what they called “misleading content,” according to local media reports.
• An international journalists’ group urged the global community to continue its condemnation on the “media offensive” conducted by the Hong Kong government in a report about the city’s press freedom published earlier.

• Hong Kong police can search journalistic materials stored on phones belonging to media tycoon Jimmy Lai seized under a national security warrant, the High Court ruled.
• Hong Kong’s High Court allowed media tycoon Jimmy Lai to hire a barrister from the UK to handle his high-profile national security trial, saying that it was “clearly in the public interest.”
• Jimmy Lai, the founder of defunct Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was convicted of fraud after being found to have violated the terms of the lease for the newspaper’s headquarters.
• Two reporters quit the South China Morning Post last year after a senior editor axed their three-month investigation into human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, according to an editor who resigned shortly after.
• The South China Morning Post sent a warning to a former editor who resigned along with two reporters after their three-part series on rights abuses in Xinjiang was axed by management last year.
• Hong Kong authorities hit back at the US following its statement on pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai’s fraud case, calling the remarks made “purely politically oriented” and far from the truth.

September 2022

• Ronson Chan, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was arrested while reporting on a home owners’ committee meeting for online outlet Channel C.
• China lashed out at “slander” by Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club after the club expressed concern over the arrest of the head of the city’s largest journalist group.

• Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Andy Li and paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who pleaded guilty more than a year ago to conspiring with media mogul Jimmy Lai, were set to be sentenced after the Apple Daily founder stands trial in December under the Beijing-enacted national security law.
• The Hong Kong police ruled that a complaint filed by a journalist who was allegedly hit by a non-lethal projectile during the 2019 protests was “unsubstantiated.”
• Ronson Chan, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was officially charged with obstructing police officers while reporting.
• Chief Executive John Lee told “patriotic” journalists to “deliver Hong Kong’s latest developments and correct message” to the world when he attended a media sector celebration ahead of China’s upcoming National Day.
• Ronson Chan, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was granted bail after pleading not guilty to obstructing police officers and an alternative charge of obstructing other person lawfully engaged in a public duty.
• Self-proclaimed non-pro-establishment party Path of Democracy appealed to the government to enact a fake news law as part of a broad list of suggestions for Chief Executive John Lee ahead of his policy address.
• Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai filed an appeal against the court’s decision to uphold a national security search warrant on his phones, which he says contain protected journalistic materials.
• Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s request to hire a lawyer from the UK was opposed by the justice minister and a barristers’ group.

August 2022

• Reporting restrictions on proceedings regarding the transfer of criminal cases to the High Court must be lifted if the defendant makes such a request, a Hong Kong court ruled in a landmark judgement.

• Hong Kong’s government watchdog said they will launch a “full investigation” into the Information Services Department’s refusal to disclose the list of media outlets invited to cover July 1 Handover celebrations following a complaint made by HKFP.
• Hong Kong’s detained pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai filed an application for judicial review to try to stop police searching his phones, which he says contain protected journalistic material.
• A group of pro-Beijing Hongkongers urged authorities to launch a national security investigation into US-funded media outlet Radio Free Asia, accusing it of spreading one-sided and “poisonous” information to “imperceptibly influence” the public.
• The national security trial for Jimmy Lai, the founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, will proceed without a jury, local media reported.
• Media tycoon Jimmy Lai was set to plead not guilty and stand trial in a national security case, as Hong Kong’s security chief granted three companies linked to the defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily access to their frozen funds to hire legal representatives.
• Hong Kong courts should not blur the line between criminal and civil cases, the District Court heard as the prosecution and defence presented their closing statements during the fraud trial against media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
• Public trust in the credibility of Hong Kong’s media fell to its lowest level in two decades, according to a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
• Hong Kong’s High Court heard journalist Bao Choy’s appeal against her conviction over accessing public vehicle registration records when she researched and produced an investigative documentary about the Yuen Long mob attack in 2019.
• Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai lost his legal bid to block a national security search warrant of his phones, which he says contain protected journalistic materials.

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.

• Veteran Hong Kong journalist Kevin Lau’s opinion column in Ming Pao was halted. Lau told HKFP that he was retiring.
• A United Nations rights monitor urged Hong Kong to repeal its national security law, citing the “overly broad interpretation” of its provisions and the subsequent violation of free expression in the city.

June 2022

• Hong Kong investigative news wire Factwire announced it was disbanding with immediate effect.
• Hong Kong effectively barred several independent newspapers, international media outlets and news wires from attending the inauguration of incoming leader John Lee, as well as from covering other July 1 events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Handover.
• The largest press group in Hong Kong expressed “utmost regret” after journalists from at least seven local and international media organisations were denied access to cover events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule.
• Photographer Steven Knipp withdrew a photo donated to Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, saying the club had failed to stand up for press freedom.
• Chief Executive Carrie Lam said during her final press briefing that the platform had allowed her to address public concerns and media enquiries in a timely manner.
• Fewer Hongkongers expressed trust in public broadcaster RTHK, a study by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found.
• The court set the date for the sedition trial against defunct independent outlet Stand News, which will begin on October 31 and is scheduled to last for 20 days.
• Hong Kong Journalists Association held its annual general meeting in which members approved changes to the group’s constitution to make dissolution easier.
• Hong Kong’s last British governor Chris Patten accused Beijing of ‘vengefully’ targeting city’s freedoms.

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.”

• Arizona State University’s journalism school will host the Human Rights Press Awards from next year, after Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club axed the event citing legal “red lines.”
• The president of Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club said that the club still has a “role to play” following its decision to cancel this year’s Human Right Press Awards, citing legal risks.
• Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club overwhelmingly polled in favour of a motion relating to press freedom. More than half of the board members abstained from the vote.
• The ex-acting chief editor of the now-defunct Stand News told a Hong Kong court that he intended to plead not guilty to sedition charges, as the case was adjourned until late June.
• Ronson Chan, chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said he would leave the city for six months to join the Reuters Institute’s fellowship programme at Oxford University starting in early October.
• Hong Kong national security police demanded that Passion Times, an online news outlet which had ties with a defunct opposition group, remove “sensitive” content.
• The “sensitive” content which Passion Times was ordered to delete on national security grounds were pictures of a suggested new “national flag” for Hong Kong, according to local media.
• A Hong Kong citizen journalist was sentenced to one month in jail for behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place on National Security Education Day in 2021.

April 2022

• A poll by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute found that Hongkongers’ satisfaction with press freedom and media outlets in the city dropped to a record low.
• Hong Kong veteran journalist Allan Au was arrested by national security police for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious materials, and was released on bail after spending over 17 hours in police custody.
• The Stand News sedition case was transferred to the District Court, as the outlet’s parent company remained unrepresented in court.
• Hong Kong’s sole chief executive candidate John Lee said that press freedom existed in the city, so there was no need to ask him to “defend” it.
• Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law.

• The Foreign Correspondents’ Club decision to scrap the Human Rights Press Awards was related to local outlet Stand News winning a number of titles, HKFP was told. 
• Pro-democracy cartoonist Ah To has announced his departure from Hong Kong, saying he would face “great mental stress” if he were to continue to produce political cartoons in the city.
• Hong Kong journalists collectively won the The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan’s Freedom of the Press Asia award.
• HKFP was told that the Hong Kong Journalists Association postponed its annual Kam Yiu-yu Press Freedom Award, although the decision to do so was made earlier in the year.
• Keith Richburg, the president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, apologised to the judges of the annual Human Rights Press Awards about the cancellation of the event.

March 2022

• NowTV apologised after a reporter asked authorities how mainland Chinese medics in the city to help fight the fifth wave of Covid-19 patients would be held accountable in the event of a medical mishap.

February 2022

• Hong Kong’s Consumer Council announced it would host the Consumer Rights Reporting Awards independently for the first time since the event launched in 2001, ditching two press groups it had partnered with for more than 20 years.

• A statement signed by 21 western nations condemned a press freedom crackdown in Hong Kong and the arrests of journalists at the defunct independent media outlet Stand News.
• US-funded news outlet Radio Free Asia announced the suspension of some Cantonese programmes and commentaries, citing concerns about press freedom in Hong Kong and the “red lines” of the national security law.
• An International Federation of Journalists report found that Hong Kong was turning into a “city of fear” where “open discussion is stifled” and the national security law “effectively acts as a tripwire for all journalists.”
• Stand News’ sedition case was adjourned to April. 

January 2022

• Independent Hong Kong media outlet Citizen News announced that they decided to halt operations. They said the decision was to ensure staff safety and was prompted by the authorities’ crackdown on fellow independent newsroom Stand News.
• Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the closure of Stand News and Citizen News in under a week were unrelated to the national security law and press freedom.

• The Registry of Trade Unions launched a probe into the Hong Kong Journalists Association,  asking it to provide answers how certain events it held were relevant to their objectives.
• Members of Jumbo, a student publication at Hong Kong Baptist University collectively resigned citing interference from the university after receiving complaints.

December 2021

• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK “paused” the social media pages of a dozen programmes, including the axed political satire show Headlinerand the popular Hong Kong Connectionwhich was still in production.
• Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the staff of Apple Daily won the Golden Pen of Freedom award.
• The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang threatened the Wall Street Journal over an editorial it published about the city’s first “patriots-only” legislative race. 
• Reporters Without Borders said press freedom in Hong Kong was in “free fall” in its latest report on China.
• Hong Kong’s High Court ordered that Next Digital Limited – the parent company of the now-defunct Apple Daily – must be wound up.
• RTHK broadcasters outside of the news department were ordered not to discuss the University of Hong Kong’s removal of a Tiananmen Massacre statue.

• Over 200 national security police officers were deployed to raid the offices of non-profit online news outlet Stand News, seven people linked to the outlet were arrested.
• Hong Kong independent media outlet Stand News announced its decision to shut following a newsroom raid and seven arrests. Its website and social media pages were deleted.
• Two former chief editors of digital media outlet Stand News were denied bail by a court after they were accused of publishing seditious materials.
• Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng said that criticism from foreign politicians and organisations over the arrest of figures connected to Stand News were “baseless” and “in blatant violation of international law.”

November 2021

• The Consumer Council cancelled an annual consumer reporting awards contest co-organised with the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
• An anonymous survey conducted by the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club found that close to half of the respondents considered leaving Hong Kong.
• The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed “strong disapproval” of the member survey conducted by the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club. 
• Digital media outlet DB Channel announced plans to shut down operations in Hong Kong after the channel’s co-founder Frankie Fung was denied bail pending trial under the national security law.
• Hong Kong police closed an investigation into a baseball bat attack on an Epoch Times reporter, with no one facing charges.
• Hong Kong digital news outlet Stand News was nominated for the Reporters Without Borders 2021 Press Freedom Prize for Independence.
• The Economist said that the Hong Kong authorities refused to renew a work visa for their correspondent Sue-Lin Wong, without providing an explanation.

• Chief Executive Carrie Lam refused to explain why a journalist from the Economist was denied a work visa renewal, saying any government has discretion on the issuing of visas. 
• The Hong Kong government is conducting a legal study on the problem of “fake news,” Chief Secretary John Lee said.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK removed from its website a news report about Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who accused a former top Chinese official of sexual assault.
• Chief Executive Carrie Lam vowed to “proactively plug loopholes” in the city’s internet regulation to ensure “fake news” circulating online does not “harm society.”
• Hong Kong’s High Court partially upheld a decision made by the Communication Authority against public broadcaster RTHK, which stated that it presented factual inaccuracies and denigrated the police force in a now-axed satirical show.

October 2021

• Two Hong Kong news organisations were barred from attending a reception organised by the local media sector in celebration of the upcoming Chinese National Day.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK refused to say why it deleted a story from its website about proposals for a new law criminalising insults against public officers.
• The Hong Kong Journalists Association apologised for the alleged theft of its members’ personal information, after a Beijing-backed newspaper published shredded documents taken from the office trash.
• Police rejected 26 out of 27 complaints submitted by the Hong Kong Journalists Association as “not pursuable.”
• The Independent Police Complaints Council accused the Hong Kong Journalists Association of airing misinformation over misconduct investigations.

• Two registries announced new rules tightening public access to government records to step up the protection of personal data privacy.
• Hong Kong democrat Alan Leong was dropped by Ming Pao as a writer for the newspaper’s legal column, ending an 18-year term.

September 2021

• All remaining directors of Next Digital, parent company of Apple Daily, resigned and called for the company’s liquidation, citing a “climate of fear” created by the national security law.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK said it is committed to promoting public debate following reports that it axed another current affairs programme, the 41-year-oldCity Forum.
• The Hong Kong Journalists Association hit back at criticism from the Secretary for Security, who accused it of infiltrating campuses to “rope in” student journalists as members.
• The head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association said that the security chief’s suggestion that the group could make public its members’ information may be in violation of the Privacy Ordinance.

• A Hong Kong cartoonist apologised to police for a satirical comic strip which linked the Junior Police Call organisation to a controversy over the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK refused to comment on the whereabouts of its English-language radio presenter Hugh Chiverton after he disappeared from the airwaves without explanation.
• Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary asked a court to wind up Next Digital Limited, the parent company of Apple Daily, in the “public interest.” 
• Public broadcaster RTHK told its staff to avoid contact with foreign governments or political organisations under new editorial guidelines, as it vowed to prevent acts that endanger national security.

August 2021

• Digital Hong Kong news outlet Initium became the first media organisation to quit the city following the implementation of the national security law, as the outlet moved to Singapore.
• HKFP columnist and ex-RTHK broadcaster Steve Vines left Hong Kong for the UK citing the security law crackdown.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK deleted all of its English-language Twitter archive and prevented readers from “replying” to its tweets citing resource constraints.
• Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced that public broadcaster RTHK will partner with China Media Group – the holding group for CCTV and China National Radio –  to air more programmes.
• Beijing-controlled Wen Wei Po called for the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) to be regulated.

July 2021

• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK axed the current affairs programme The Pulse, hosted by veteran journalist Steve Vines.

• NGO Reporters Without Borders released a report accusing Chief Executive Carrie Lam of trampling on the city’s press freedom, and listed her as a “predator.”
• Hong Kong Journalists Association published its annual report saying that the city’s press freedom was “in tatters.”
• Local media reported that a senior executive at Now News resigned citing “turbulent times” for Hong Kong’s media.
• Staff at public broadcaster RTHK were ordered to refer to Taiwan as part of China.
• A sexual assault complaint against a Hong Kong police officer who allegedly touched the breast of a female journalist was dropped after the force failed to identify the officer. 
• Three former Apple Daily journalists had their bail revoked by national security police. 
• Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui told lawmakers that the government was mulling plans to implement a “fake news” law.
• Four former Apple Daily journalists charged under the national security law were denied bail in court. 
• Hong Kong national security police confiscated the travel documents of a reporter who filmed a knife attack against an officer. 
• Two former editors of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily charged under the national security law withdrew their bail review applications.

• The Hong Kong government appointed a special fraud investigator to scrutinise pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital. 

June 2021

• RTHK axed another current affairs programme, “Letter to Hong Kong”.
• It is announced that pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai is to stand trial on national security charges in Hong Kong’s High Court, where the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
• A Hong Kong court ruled that a local female reporter was guilty of resisting a police officer in the execution of their duties while covering a protest in Mong Kok in May 2020.
• Hong Kong’s Department of Justice dropped a charge of improperly accessing public records against a reporter for Beijing-owned newspaper Ta Kung Pao.
• Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers raided the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and arrested five senior executives on suspicion of violating the national security law.
• Hong Kong’s security chief John Lee accused pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily of using journalism as a tool to endanger national security.
• Two senior executives from the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily were charged under the national security law for allegedly conspiring to collude with foreign powers.

• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK fired outspoken pro-democracy radio host Tsang Chi-ho.
• Next Digital CEO Cheung Kim-hung and Apple Daily Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law facing national security charges were denied bail at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts.
• Pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper warned it was unable to pay staff and was at imminent risk of closure after the government froze company assets citing the national security law.
• Apple Daily’s finance section, its English edition, Twitter account and video department ceased operations following an exodus of staff.
• Police arrested an Apple Daily editorial writer under the national security law for allegedly conspiring to collude with foreign forces.
• Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily decided to halt all operations in the city and published its last edition of the newspaper on June 24.
• Two Apple Daily executives arrested on suspicion of endangering national security sought a court order for Hong Kong police to return journalistic and privileged legal material seized during their arrest and in a raid on the newspaper.
• Hong Kong national security police arrested a former editorial writer for Apple Daily at the airport as he was about to fly to Britain.
• Independent digital outlet Stand News announced it will remove opinion articles and columns it published before May and stop accepting donations in order to reduce risks under the national security law.
• Human Rights Watch released a report saying that basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong were being “erased” under the security law.
• Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK sacked veteran journalist Allan Au from hosting a phone-in radio programme.
• Veteran Hong Kong journalist and commentator Steve Vines announced his departure from public broadcaster RTHK.

May 2021

• RTHK began removing shows from its YouTube channel and Facebook page a year after they air. It deleted its archive of content over a year old.

• The Hong Kong Press Freedom Index hit a record low where close to 99 per cent of respondents said the Beijing-enacted national security law harmed the city’s free press.
• RTHK refused to extend an employment contract for journalist Nabela Qoser following an extended probation period. Qoser was known for her vigorous questioning of officials.
• Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy filed an appeal against a magistrate’s decision to convict her after she accessed public records to investigate police behaviour during the “7.21” mob attack at Yuen Long MTR station in 2019.
• An executive producer who led Hong Kong’s longest running TV documentary programme Hong Kong Connection resigned from RTHK.
• Epoch Times reporter Leung Zhen was attacked by a man wielding a baseball bat from a passing vehicle.
• Assets belonging to pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai were frozen by the Hong Kong authorities.
• Trading in shares of Next Digital, the parent company of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, were suspended at the company’s request.
• Hong Kong’s Security Secretary John Lee denied that the freezing of the assets of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai represented a crackdown on press freedom.
• RTHK denied replacing an episode of Hong Kong Connection about the proposed shake-up of the city’s electoral system following local media reports that it had been axed.
• RTHK axed a story about the annual Tiananmen Massacre anniversary long-distance run from its news show “LegCo review”.

• WhatsApp chats which democrat Claudia Mo had sent to media organisations like the BBC and the New York Times outlining her fears for freedom of speech in the city were deemed by a High Court judge to be sufficient grounds to deny her bail.

April 2021

• RTHK said that the Hong Kong government has the power to surcharge its employees for the cost of axed programmes.
• Amnesty International Hong Kong said the state of human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong had deteriorated under the national security law in 2020.
• The public perception of the independence and credibility of Hong Kong’s news media dropped to a record low, according to an opinion poll.
• Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the Hong Kong government is the “biggest victim of fake news,” after pledging to submit a bill to tackle “doxxing” within the current legislative term.
• RTHK dropped veteran journalist Steve Vines as a regular current affairs commentator on its Morning Brewprogramme after more than ten years.
• The Epoch Times’sprinting presses were ransacked by a gang of men wielding sledgehammers.
• Hong Kong journalist Yvonne Tong, who famously challenged a WHO official, resigned from RTHK.
• Reporters Without Borders East Asia warned that silence from the Hong Kong authorities over an attack on the Epoch Times is fostering a “climate of suspicion” against journalists and “encouraging” violent attacks on the media.
• Police chief Chris Tang said media outlets that endanger the security of Hong Kong by publishing “fake news” will be investigated.
• State-owned newspaper Ta Kung Pao in a full-page cover story accused Apple Dailyand other pro-democracy “yellow media” of “constantly creating fake news.”
• Reporters without Borders warned that the national security law posed a “grave threat” to the city’s journalists as Hong Kong remained 80th out of 180 regions in the 2021 world press freedom index.

• RTHK rejected a media award for a TV documentary about the police handling of the Yuen Long mob attack in 2019.
• The Hong Kong government criticised a Reporters Without Borders report which warned that the national security law poses a “grave threat” to journalists in the city.
• Hong Kong documentary producer Bao Choy was found guilty and fined HK$6,000 for knowingly making false statements to obtain vehicle ownership records for the RTHK programme on the Yuen Long mob attacks of 2019.
• Police confirmed that a journalist from Ta Kung Pao was arrested in February for making false statements to obtain public vehicle records.
• The Foreign Correspondents’ Club urged Hong Kong’s police chief to clarify his recent comments about “foreign forces” attempting to stir hatred and conflict in the city using disinformation.
• Beijing accused the FCC of being an external force interfering with China’s internal affairs and undermining the city’s rule of law.
• A fifth senior staffer resigned from RTHK.
• RTHK signed up Chief Executive Carrie Lam to host her own daily show on Beijing’s electoral overhaul for the city.
• RTHK axed another episode of a TV documentary series about online media financed by public donations after a month-long vetting.

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.

• The cinema screening of a documentary about a violent campus clash between student protesters and police in 2019 was cancelled at short notice after a pro-Beijing newspaper claimed the film may violate the national security law.
• Hong Kong’s Ombudsman said that it would investigate the Immigration Department for refusing a work visa to Hong Kong Free Press for its incoming editor in 2020.
• Bao Choy went on trial for allegedly violating the Road Traffic Ordinance in seeking to obtain vehicle licence plate information for a documentary.
• RTHK axed another episode of a current affairs programme at short notice, the ninth such cancellation since the new Director of Broadcasting Patrick Li took office.
• The Hong Kong government announced plans to restrict public and media access to currently available information on company directors listed in the Companies’ Registry.
• RTHK sought to withdraw its entries from journalism awards.

February 2021

• RTHK suspended BBC World News after a ban in China over its Xinjiang reporting. 
• Security officers at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts barred at least two reporters from attending a trial hearing, to protect the identity of a police officer who had provided a witness statement anonymously.
• Hong Kong’s High Court refused to grant bail to media mogul Jimmy Lai again over national security law charges.
• Director of Broadcasting Leung Ka-wing resigned from his post at RTHK six months before the end of his term.
• A Hong Kong government report found “deficiencies” in the editorial management of RTHK.
• Funding for RTHK was cut by 4.6 per cent in the 2021-22 budget.
• Baptist University cancelled the World Press Photo exhibition, which included images of the Hong Kong protests, two days before its expected launch.

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 demandedApple Dailyhand 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.

• The staff union at RTHK staged a silent protest to support fellow journalist Nabela Qoser, after she was told to accept a new short-term contract or face dismissal.
• The Communications Authority ruled that three episodes of RTHK’s satirical programme Headliner insulted and denigrated the police force, and “strongly advised” the station to follow broadcasting regulations more closely.
• Three parliamentarians from the Norwegian Liberal Party nominated Hong Kong Free Press for a Nobel Peace Prize.

December 2020

• iCable News’ China desk resigned en masse after the broadcaster fired 40 people in the newsroom, citing the impact of Covid-19.
• Secretary for Home Affairs Caspar Tsui said the government would examine “loopholes” in the laws against fake news and misinformation.
• Bookstore Bookazine declined to distribute a book by Hong Kong Free Press political columnist Kent Ewing, citing fears over the national security law.
• The Court of First Instance rejected the Hong Kong Journalists Association’s legal challenge against police “ill-treatment” of the media at protests.
• Prosecutors filed an appeal against the granting of bail to Jimmy Lai after Chinese state media criticised the decision.
• Lai resigned fromApple Dailyparent company Next Media to “spend more time dealing with his personal affairs.”

November 2020

• Freelance producer Bao Choy was arrested for searching car licence plate records while researching a TV documentary about the 2019 Yuen Long mob attacks.
• A student journalist was charged with obstructing police and resisting arrest in a protest in May.
• Police arrested a journalist for obstruction after she refused to stop filming the arrest of two women in a mass protest in Mong Kok in May.
• Hong Kong Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung banned a planned journalists’ protest against the arrest of Choy, citing Covid-19 restrictions, despite earlier approval.

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

• The University of Hong Kong was asked a long list of “unusual” questions by the Immigration Department when applying for a work visa for a Pulitzer-winning journalist.
• The government reportedly told an independent film distributor to include an official warning in two documentaries about the anti-extradition bill protests.
• Media groups criticised the police decision to stop recognising accreditations issued by journalist associations.
• RTHK journalist Nabela Qoser had her probation extended and was investigated again after she grilled Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

August 2020

• Police ordered reporters from five Hong Kong digital media platforms to leave a press conference.
• Apple Daily newspaper claimed that personal data of staffers had been published on a doxxing website.
• The Foreign Correspondents’ Club said reporters were facing “highly unusual” problems obtaining visas, including months-long delays.
• Beijing’s foreign affairs office told the FCC in response to “distinguish right from wrong.”
• Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai was arrested under the national security law.
• More than 100 police raided the newsroom at Lai’s Apple Dailynewspaper in Tseung Kwan O.
• Journalist Wilson Li was arrested in connection with a pro-democracy NGO under the national security law.
• Police said they would select which media outlets should have close access to their operations after excluding several local and international news organisation from the Apple Dailyraid.
• Dozens of people gathered at shopping malls to protest for press freedom after the arrest of Lai and the newsroom raid.

• Public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong removed a website interview with activist-in-exile Nathan Law, citing the national security law.
• The government appointed new members to RTHK’sadvisory board.
• The Hong Kong Journalists Association filed a legal challenge against the Communications Authority’s warning concerning RTHK’s Headlinershow.
• Over 300 iCable News staff signed a petition against the dismissal of three senior engineers.
• A survey showed some journalists who covered the 2019 protests reported a range of health issues due to crowd control weapons.
• Hong Kong Free Press was denied a work visa for a journalist following an almost six-month wait without any explanation.

July 2020

• The Foreign Correspondents’ Club issued an open letter to Chief Executive Carrie Lam demanding the government give assurances of press freedom under the national security law.
• Lam said she would guarantee press freedom if the media guaranteed that it would not violate the security law.
• The Hong Kong Journalists Association warned of the “chilling effect” of the law.
• The New York Timesmoved a third of its Hong Kong staff to Seoul, citing the national security law and the difficulty in securing work visas.
• Police fined journalists at a protest in Yuen Long for allegedly breaching anti-coronavirus social distancing rules.

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