No Reason To Look Forward, Yesterday Was Perfect

Michael Hedges May 9, 2022 - Follow on Twitter

Authoritarian regimes are not very creative. All situations are viewed exactly the same. Brute force is the solution to every problem. Criticism is annoying and unwanted. And, yes, 1235 is the role model year.

The former publisher of Hong Kong’s renowned independent daily newspaper Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, was returned to court this past week to face new charges, reported Hong Kong Free Press (April 28). He is currently in jail, convicted for violating draconian national security laws by attending peaceful protests and “collusion with a foreign power.” The new charges of “fraud” are for failure to disclose sub-leasing arrangements in the building, owned by the state, where his publishing company Next Digital operated. By all appearances it is further retribution from Hong Kong authorities, on orders from the Chinese Communist Party. Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily became more than press freedom icons, they are symbols.

A vibrant press and media sector once reflected both Hong Kong’s independence from the Chinese mainland as well as the city-state’s international reputation. Major international media outlets and agencies selected Hong Kong as a base for Asian bureaus. In those first years after the 1997 handover from the United Kingdom to China the living was good. Hong Kong residents clearly embraced the relative openness to pursue careers in business and finance as well as media. It was short lived. After rumblings for several years about protests and media coverage thereof the Chinese Communist Party dictated a national security law in July 2020 meant to make Hong Kong quiet again.

Chief enforcer of these and subsequent national security laws was John Lee. He was just named (May 8) Hong Kong chief executive, endorsed - read: named - by the Chinese Communist Party. He was the only candidate. His mandate is to crack down even harder on public dissent than his predecessor, Carrie Lam. “I think there’s no need to use the word ‘defend’ because it exists and we attach great importance to press freedom,” said Mr Lee a short week before being installed, reported Hong Kong Free Press (April 25). “But press freedom needs to fulfil the requirements of the law.” Meeting with the Hong Kong Journalists Association, he added, would not be possible. Among his first acts as chief executive are expected to include an “anti-fake news” law and restrictions on crowdfunding, which has been used to financially support the few remaining independent news outlets in Hong Kong.

Press freedom advocate Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) released this past week (May 3) its 2022 World Press Freedom Index. On aggregate, it was not a pretty sight with authoritarian rulers having their way with censorship and propaganda. The ranking for Hong Kong, however, set a record; the deepest dive ever falling in one year to 148th from 80th, now nestled between the Philippines and Turkey, slightly above the Russian Federation. Neighboring China ranked 175th out of 180 countries. The first RSF World Press Freedom Index in 2002 ranked Hong Kong 18th in the world.

This “plummet” was noted by news agency AFP and Japan Times, “nosedive” said Hong Kong Free Press, “plunge” according to South China Morning Post and Al Jazeera. "It is the biggest downfall of the year, but it is fully deserved due to the consistent attacks on freedom of the press and the slow disappearance of the rule of law in Hong Kong," said RSF East Asia bureau chief Cedric Alviani to AFP. "In the past year we have seen a drastic, drastic move against journalists.”

“The creation of media weaponry in authoritarian countries eliminates their citizens’ right to information but is also linked to the rise in international tension, which can lead to the worst kind of wars,” said RSF secretary general Christopher Deloire in a statement (May 3). He bluntly pointed at China for using “its legislative arsenal to confine its population and cut it off from the rest of the world.” To illustrate, he noted Russian state propaganda outlet RT, also known as Russia Today), chief editor Margarita Simonyan recently expounding “no great nation can exist without control over information.”

In another blow to Hong Kong’s languishing prestige as a beacon of free press, the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent’s Club (FCC) cancelled its annual Human Rights Press Awards, reported South China Morning Post (April 25). “Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” said club president Kieth Richburg said. “This is the context in which we decided to suspend the awards.” Reportedly now-shuttered online news outlet Stand News, closed after a police raid, was to receive nine awards. Two of its editors remain jailed for “sedition.”

For a moment it seemed the internationally noted Human Rights Press Awards would hosted by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. For this year, at least, that appears to have fallen flat due to “significant areas of uncertainty.” But in 2023 maybe, said ASU professor Jeffrey Timmermans, a former FCC governor. The school is named for legendary war correspondent and CBS TV news anchor Walter Cronkite who for decades ended his nightly broadcast saying: “And that’s the way is it.”

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Hong Kong

• Hot Topics - Media in China

• Hot Topics - Censorship

• Hot Topics - Press/Media Freedom