The Hong Kong government dealt yet another blow to the city’s press freedom on Thursday when two former editors of local independent media outlet Stand News were found guilty of sedition. The judge, handpicked by Hong Kong’s chief executive, ruled against the editors, who had spent over 300 days in pre-trial detention and were the first journalists to be convicted in decades. Jessie Pang and James Pomfret from Reuters reported on the conviction:

A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city.

The two editors, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, could be jailed for up to two years when they are sentenced on Sept. 26. Their conviction is the first for sedition against any journalist or editor since Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China in 1997.

Critics, including the U.S. government, say their case reflects deteriorating media freedoms under a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city. [Source]

Chung and Lam were arrested in December 2021 when national security police raided Stand News’ headquarters, seized its computers, and froze its assets. Hours after the raid, Stand News deleted its entire internet presence. The sweeping attack on the outlet mirrored tactics used by authorities against Apple Daily in June, and were followed just days later by the closure of another independent new outlet, Citizen News. Hans Tse from the Hong Kong Free Press reported on the basis for the Stand News editors’ conviction:

The prosecution presented 17 articles published by Stand News as evidence of sedition, arguing that the outlet had sought to incite hatred against authorities through them.

The articles included interviews with now-detained activists and opinion pieces that were said to promote “radical political ideologies” and incite hatred against a Beijing-imposed security law.

Those ruled “seditious” included an interview with former Stand News journalist turned activist Gwyneth Ho – who was in May convicted of conspiring to commit subversion over her role in an unofficial primary election along with 44 other pro-democracy figures – and opinion pieces written by self-exiled activist Nathan Law and journalism teacher Allan Au.

[… Judge Kwok Wai-kin] also ruled that Stand News had upheld a “localist” ideology and promoted the notion of “localist autonomy” for Hong Kong.

“It even became a tool to smear and slander central and [Hong Kong] government” during the 2019 protests, Kwok wrote. [Source]

Offering a different perspective to Kwok’s, many of the defendants’ fellow journalists praised their courage, as Tiffany May reported for The New York Times:

Former colleagues of Mr. Chung described him as a fearless leader and a fair-minded journalist who encouraged employees to seek out pro-Beijing politicians for interviews or opinion articles, even though those requests were regularly declined.

“He was steadfast to his ideals,” said Lam Yin-pong, a former editor at the site who now runs a one-man online news agency. “He has the most backbone. His sacrifice is very extreme.”

[…] Former co-workers of Mr. Chung recalled in interviews that he was often the first one into the office and last to leave. Sometimes he would jump in and write article drafts himself, make graphics and write captions for photographs, they said. When Stand News struggled financially, he took a reduced salary, they said. [Source]

In his mitigation letter, Lam wrote, “Journalists do not have to be loyal to anyone, support anyone or be enemies of anyone,” adding, “if we really have someone to be loyal to, it will be the public and only the public because we believe in freedom of the press and freedom of speech.” Kanis Leung from the Associated Press provided more details on the editors’ mitigation letters, in which they expressed their belief in the power and responsibility of reporting: 

Defense lawyer Audrey Eu read out a mitigation statement from Lam, who said Stand News reporters sought to run a news outlet with fully independent editorial standards. “The only way for journalists to defend press freedom is reporting,” Eu quoted Lam as saying.

Eu did not read out Chung’s mitigation letter in court. But local media outlets quoted his letter, in which he wrote that many Hong Kongers who are not journalists have held to their beliefs, and some have lost their own freedom because they care about everyone’s freedom in the community.

“Accurately recording and reporting their stories and thoughts is an inescapable responsibility of journalists,” he wrote in that letter. [Source]

As Xinqi Su and Holmes Chan reported for AFP, other Hong Kong journalists lauded Chung’s commitment to publicly defend himself and his profession on the witness stand for 36 days:

“He was trying to remind us what values and principles we should adhere to,” [a reporter from another publication] told AFP after the ruling.

“The real audience was the public,” an ex-Stand News features writer said.

“In terms of conveying his views on independent media and how it used to exist in this society, I think the message was delivered.”

[…] “The trial is not just about them but about the whole industry… It’s very depressing, but (Chung’s testimony) gave me a lot of positive inspiration,” [said media researcher Carol Lai, who attended the verdict on Thursday.] [Source]

The colonial-era sedition law, under which the editors were charged, carries a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison. However, Hong Kong’s new Article 23 national security law introduced this year increased the maximum sentence for sedition to seven years, or 10 years if an “external force” was involved. The editors have been granted bail until their sentencing on September 26, and have the right to appeal.

Reactions from rights organizations were highly critical. Beh Lih Yi from the Committee to Protect Journalists said the use of the sedition law to target journalists “makes a mockery of justice,” adding, “Today’s oppressive ruling shows Hong Kong is descending further into authoritarianism, and that not toeing the official line can land anyone in jail.” Cédric Alviani from Reporters Without Borders stated, “This appalling verdict sets a very dangerous precedent for journalists. From now on, anyone reporting on facts that are not in line with the authorities’ official narrative could be sentenced for sedition.” Sarah Brooks from Amnesty International wrote, “This dismaying verdict is one more nail in the coffin for press freedom in Hong Kong. Stand News and its two editors convicted today have been targeted simply for doing their legitimate journalistic work.”

Other recent events similarly underline the precarious state of journalism in Hong Kong. In July, Wall Street Journal reporter Selina Cheng announced she was fired for her role leading the Hong Kong Journalists Association, which led to widespread criticism of the outlet’s perceived capitulation to government pressure. Last week, as Ryan Ho Kilpatrick wrote for China Media Project, the Hong Kong Journalists Association published the findings of their latest Press Freedom Index, which showed a deteriorating media environment:

Local journalists, surveyed in partnership with the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, gave Hong Kong a score of 25 for press freedom. That’s a decline of 0.7 points from the year before and a record low for the index since its inception in 2013. While the public score continued to hover around 42, more than half — 53 percent — of the randomly selected members of the public interviewed said press freedom had declined in the past year.

Journalist respondents were especially concerned about the potential impact that new national security legislation known as Article 23 — introduced in March 2024 — would have on the media. More than 90 percent of the hundreds surveyed said this would significantly impact press freedom. [Source]