The University of Liverpool is one of the top UK universities, member of the prestigious Russell Group of 24 leading UK universities.
The Worlds of Journalism Study is a cross-national collaborative project assessing the state of journalism in the world through representative surveys with journalists.
UNESCO is the lead UN Agency for promoting freedom of expression and safety of journalists as part of its mandate to “promote the free flow of ideas by word and image”.
Hong Kong: Free press under existential threat
Janet Wai Han Lo
,
and
Wong Tin Chi
Book Chapter
published in 2021
The study is part of the research project from The Euromedia Research Group, "Media for Democracy Monitor". We collected the information of Hong Kong media and exchanges information with a network of researchers. The information we collected is used to describe and analyse developments in media structure, policy, and political situation in Hong Kong. The data is helpful in monitoring to what extent the media are fulfilling their democratic role.
Sample
Our media sample consisted of nine leading news media representing different political standpoints, media types, and media characteristics: one public broadcasting service (RTHK), three daily Chinese newspapers with different political standpoints (Apple Daily, Oriental Daily News, and Ming Pao), one daily English newspaper (South China Morning Post), two television broadcasting companies (TVB and Cable TV), and two online news portals (HK01 and Stand News). Among these, senior staff (editors-in-chief or senior managing editors) and leading journalists have been interviewed, with the exception of seniors from TVB and South China Morning Post and the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. In total, twenty junior and senior journalists from Hong Kong’s leading news media representing different political standpoints were interviewed.Main Findings
The study documented a turning point in the deterioration of Hong Kong’s press freedom. The findings suggested that leading news media in Hong Kong have been facing unprecedented political pressure and that journalists have been struggling to maintain their standards under this existential threat.Policy recommendations/implications
Journalists have worked very hard to continue meeting their standards during the political turbulence. The newsroom now faces a greater challenge with the enactment of the national security law, highlighted by the example of when the pro-democracy media tycoon was arrested, his organisations’ newsroom was made to undergo an unprecedented hour-long raid and news organisations were barred from interviews about the search. Hong Kong’s leading news media are finding themselves under unprecedented political pressure following the largest and longest anti-government protests in the history of Hong Kong. When we started collecting data for this project, the anti-extradition movement had just started, and freedom of the press was declining rapidly. By the time we had finished collecting data, the newsroom was facing even greater challenges with the enactment of the national security law. We are afraid the worst is yet to come.- Research focuses:
- Physical, Psychological, Digital, Legal, Financial
- Methods used in research:
- Interviews, Archival research
- Countries of research focus:
- Hong Kong (China)