Chris Yeung, founder and chief writer of Citizen News waves to journalists after a press conference
A group of lawmakers loyal to China’s Communist Party were sworn in to Hong Kong’s Legislature yesterday following an election without opposition candidates, as yet another pro-democracy news outlet announced it could no longer operate amid a growing crackdown on freedoms in the territory.
The founders of news outlet Citizen News said the news site will stop publishing on Tuesday. While they have received no order to close, they said yesterday that deteriorating media freedoms in the financial hub put them in an impossible position.
“We all love this place, deeply. Regrettably, what was ahead of us is not just pouring rains or blowing winds, but hurricanes and tsunamis,” Citizen News said in a statement on Sunday, when it announced the closure.
The outlet is the third to close in recent months, following the shuttering of the territory’s last pro-democracy print newspaper, Apple Daily, and the online site Stand News.
Citizen News was founded in 2017 by a group of veteran journalists. The small site focused on political news and analysis pieces, as well as investigations — and in recent months became a refuge for many journalists who had lost their jobs when other outlets closed or faced other pressures.
“With Apple Daily’s sudden closure in the past summer, the journalism majors who were originally supposed to intern with them, Citizen News made arrangements to take them in, so that students wouldn’t lose this internship opportunity,” said Vivian W.W. Tam, a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s journalism school, in a public Facebook post. Tam declined to be interviewed.
But a new sweeping National Security Law — imposed on Hong Kong by China’s central Legislature — has made independent reporting increasingly dangerous. Journalists and political activists have been arrested under the law, and it has forced civil rights groups and unions to disband. Many more activists have fled.
Meanwhile, new laws have changed how Hong Kongers vote for their representatives, including a requirement that any who seek office must be “patriots,” effectively bringing the body under Beijing’s control.
Yeung said at a news conference on that the trigger for their decision to shut down was what happened to Stand News. Last week, authorities raided Stand News and arrested seven people — including editors and former board members — for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious material. Stand News announced on the same day that it would cease to operate.
Two of Stand News’ former editors who were arrested were later formally charged with sedition.
In the summer, authorities forced the closure of Apple Daily, the newspaper owned by media tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai. Lai is currently in jail and was newly charged with sedition last week.
The Society of Publishers in Asia, a group based in Hong Kong that hosts an annual journalism award, said yesterday it is concerned about pressures against independent media in the city.
“We call on the Hong Kong authorities to respect freedom of expression and the press which are vital to the success of our industry,” it said in a statement.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam last week defended the raid on Stand News, telling reporters that “inciting other people … could not be condoned under the guise of news reporting.”
The only remaining independent news media with reach in the city are Hong Kong Free Press, an English-language news outlet, and Initium, a Chinese-language news outlet which moved its headquarters to Singapore in August, but still has staff in the city.
Citizen News likened itself to a small dinghy in rough waters.
“At the center of a brewing storm, we found (ourselves) in a critical situation. In the face of a crisis, we must ensure the safety and well-being of everyone who are on board,” it said. HUIZHONG WU & ZEN SOO, HONG KONG, MDT/AP
