Article Detail

Twenty-one governments belonging to the Media Freedom Coalition have issued a joint statement expressing their “deep concern” over Hong Kong authorities’ and the Chinese Community Party’s (CCP) ongoing censorship and suppression of the media of Hong Kong. While much of the world focuses its attention on the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Hong Kong reels from an aggressive and escalating clampdown on local media. In December, police raided the offices of the independent website Stand News, arresting seven staff and forcing the site to shut down. Then, in January, the independent website Citizen News announced it would fold out of concerns for the wellbeing of its staff in the frayed environment. An immediate precedent for both these developments can be found in the raid on the offices of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily in June, and the confiscation of notebooks, computers, disks, and files belonging to the news staff. Authorities also arrested ...