Hong Kong authorities have moved to further constrain the territory’s free press with an announcement by police that they would no longer recognize certain types of media accreditation.
Critics accused the police force of infringing on the constitutionally enshrined free press by attempting to create a government licensing system and reduce independent monitoring of their activities.
Under the announcement, the police force would only recognize journalists from “internationally recognized and renowned” foreign outlets or from media organizations that are registered with the government information system.
Photo: AFP
It explicitly states that it would no longer recognize the accreditations given by major associations such as the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and Hong Kong Press Photographers Association (HKPPA), which represent hundreds of journalists.
The new policy would restrict those not recognized from attending news conferences, and would likely see less protection or assistance for individual journalists during protests and police-run operations.
The HKJA, HKPPA and five media unions have demanded that the new policy be withdrawn — “or we will respond by taking any possible and necessary measures.”
“The amendment allows authorities to decide who the reporters are, which fundamentally changes the existing system in Hong Kong,” they said. “It will be no different from an official accreditation system, which will seriously impede press freedom in Hong Kong, leading it toward authoritarian rule.”
Freedom of the press has deteriorated sharply in Hong Kong over the past 18 months, particularly since the introduction of national security legislation almost three months ago, and subsequent police raids on newsrooms.
The territory has since 2018 dropped 10 places on the Press Freedom Index.
Hong Kong police face numerous accusations of targeting journalists and photographers when deploying tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd-control measures during pro-democracy protests that swept the region last year.
A letter from the media groups said that existing guidelines were a product of detailed discussions between police and media, and that police had broken the relationship by announcing a “significant amendment” without consultation.
The letter claimed that Hong Kong Police Commissioner Chris Tang (鄧炳強) repeatedly refused the HKJA’s requests for meetings.
The new rules are an additional step in tightening control over the media, former HKJA chairwoman Mak Yin-ting (麥燕婷) said.
“It is absurd, because by doing so, the government, who should be monitored, is taking the power to decide who can be the monitor over them,” she added.
Some of the most widely seen footage of incidents at protests, including the police shooting of a protester last year, and the tackling of a 12-year-old girl by officers just last month, were filmed by university media.
In the case of the girl, police did not release a statement until after the footage had drawn considerable outrage.
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