2021 was a year of dramatic changes for Hong Kong’s media scene, as the city adjusted to life under Beijing’s national security law
The media landscape in Hong Kong following the forced closure of the Apple Daily bears a striking resemblance to that of Shanghai after the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949, a veteran Chinese journalist told RFA
Hong Kong police have arrested a journalist with the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper at the airport as he tried to leave for the United Kingdom, local media reported
In a year of declining press freedom amid the global pandemic, China took the lead in media repression
An ongoing investigation into a hard-hitting journalist with Hong Kong’s government broadcaster RTHK will have a “chilling effect” on the city’s news organizations, the Hong Kong Journalists’ Association (HKJA)
Jimmy Lai , 71, the founder of the Hong Kong pro-democracy daily Apple Daily , was arrested at his home on the morning of August 10, 2020 on charges of “collusion with foreign powers”
The regime of Beijing adopted on June 30, in defiance of its international commitments, a national security lawwhich makes liable to life imprisonment, even the death penalty if cases are tried in China, “terrorist activities” , “secession” , “subversion” and “collusion with a foreign power” linked to Hong Kong. The law could be invoked against journalists wherever they are based in the world
The decision, adopted on 28 May by the National Assembly Chinese People, is to allow the repression of “terrorism” , the “secession” of “sedition” and the “foreign interference” in the Hong Kong area . These four crimes, for which no official definition has yet been given, are in China punishable by death and frequently used against journalists.