National security law blamed as Hong Kong press freedom slumps to all-time low in journalists’ survey

From the SCMP

  • Nearly all journalists taking part in the survey said the Beijing-decreed law was harming press freedom
  • Prosecution of RTHK contributor and police raid of Apple Daily offices also represented blows to the industry in 2020, index finds

Hong Kong’s press freedom index as rated by journalists has sunk to a new all-time low, with most contributors to the survey attributing the decline to the national security law that Beijing imposed on the city last year.

The prosecution of a freelance producer working on a documentary covering a mob attack during the city’s 2019 protests, and the police raid of a media organisation’s offices were among the threats to the industry stated in the joint survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI).

Marking a new low since the study was first published eight years ago, the index for 2020 dropped to a score of 32.1 out of 100, compared with 2019’s 36.2, the nadir at the time.

 Read more at  https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3132100/national-security-law-blamed-hong-kong-press-freedom-slumps