Dozens of Hong Kong journalists and some of their families have been harassed, media group says

HONG KONG (AP) — Dozens of Hong Kong journalists and some of their family members and associates were harassed over the summer, a prominent media professional group said Friday.

Drastic political changes have created an increasingly restricted environment for journalists in the semi-autonomous city once regarded as a bastion of press freedom in Asia.

Selina Cheng, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said in a news conference Friday that her group found self-proclaimed patriots sent anonymous complaints to at least 15 journalists’ family members, the employers of their family members, their landlords and other related organizations since June. Cheng said the attacks appeared to be “systematic and organized,” and she was among those targeted.

Many of the letters and emails threatened the recipients that if they continued to associate with the reporters in question or their family members, they could be endangering national security, the trade union for the city’s journalists said. Additionally, at least 36 journalists were identified in Facebook posts baselessly calling their articles inflammatory and portraying legitimate reporting as problematic or illegal.

Since the introduction of a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020, two local news outlets known for critical coverage of the government, Apple Daily and Stand News, were forced to shut down after the arrest of their senior management, including Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai.

The Hong Kong government insists that if journalists’ reports are based on facts, there would not be any restrictions on such freedom.

In March, Hong Kong enacted another security law that deepened fears over civil liberties and press freedom. In August, two former editors of Stand News were convicted in a sedition case widely seen as a barometer for the future of the city’s media freedoms. The ruling drew criticism from foreign governments.

Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.