Another blow to press freedom – computers and media

The night before, Ronson Chan celebrated the 53rd anniversary of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. “Freedom of the press is the backbone of Hong Kong’s success,” said Chan, who heads the organization. Then he added a few semi-prophetic words: “Despite the unknown before us, we will not fall to our knees.” Just a few hours later, on Wednesday morning, more than 200 police officers moved into the editorial building of the pro-democracy online medium, Stand News. In the raid, they took away seven people, including editor-in-chief Ronson Chan.

The arrest of 44-year-old Denise Ho, who achieved a certain fame as a pop singer and recently campaigned for the rights of the gay community as a human rights activist and publicist, caused particular panic. The public critic has long been a thorn in the Chinese government’s side: During the 2019 pro-democracy protest movement, she testified about Hong Kong police brutality at a hearing at the Washington Capitol.

Immediately after the wave of arrests, the non-profit medium, which was founded in 2014, announced its dissolution — not least because authorities confiscated all assets. All the publication’s journalists have lost their livelihoods in one fell swoop – as well as their work in recent years: the online content of “Stand News” will be removed from the network.

The authorities accuse the publication of “riot”: editors-in-chief published articles that fomented hatred against the government and the judiciary – often by bloggers based abroad. As an example, texts were cited in which the authors called for sanctions against China.

Since Beijing imposed the National Security Act on the British Crown Colony, the liberties of civil society in Hong Kong have eroded. Whether they are pro-democracy activists, opposition politicians or critical journalists: almost all of them have fled abroad, withdrew into private life or have been arrested by the police. Several international newsrooms based in Asia have also moved from Hong Kong, including the New York Times.

The closure of “Stand News” is only the latest in a series of raids and arrests that have been going on for months. It wasn’t until last June that the pro-democracy Apple Daily was forcibly shut down, and at that time, too, were violations of the National Security Act. Founder Jimmy Lai, 74, who fled China to Hong Kong as a migrant worker, remains in prison.

Unlike his six colleagues, editor Ronson Chan is finally released after being questioned by the police. “Stand News has always been reporting professional news, there’s no doubt about it and everyone knows it,” he said at his apartment in an initial statement. But this in itself is a serious crime in the eyes of the Chinese government.