Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced the territory’s Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news firms in the territory willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good.
Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she has gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair.
Four years into a crackdown on dissent that has swept up democracy-leaning journalists, rights advocates and politicians in the territory, a lot of people are tuning out the news. It is a striking sign of change in a place that used to pulse with talk, from morning conversations over newspapers in bustling dim sum restaurants, to lively debates on social media throughout the day, to evening discussions at dinner tables.
Photo: AP
Wong says it is too hard to read the headlines, but avoiding them left her feeling more disconnected.
“There’s a loss of the sense of belonging to this place,” she said.
Since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, press freedom has narrowed.
In 2021, Apple Daily and Stand News closed down after the arrests of their top management. Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.
On Thursday, two former editors of Stand News were convicted in the first sedition case involving media since the former British colony returned to China’s rule in 1997. The judge said their company became a tool for smearing the Beijing and Hong Kong governments during protests in 2019.
After the verdict, the Hong Kong government said that when journalists base their reporting on facts, there are no restrictions on press freedom.
Politics is one factor driving news avoidance, said Francis Lee (李立?), a professor of journalism and communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Early last year, a survey conducted by Lee’s team at the Center for Communication and Public Opinion Survey found that about four in 10 Cantonese-speaking adults in Hong Kong agreed or strongly agreed that they sometimes want to avoid news about the changing social or political environment in Hong Kong.
People who do not trust the government are more likely to tune out the news, such as democracy supporters who tend to view the territory’s recent changes negatively, Lee said.
When people perceive the news firms as unable to perform, they are also more inclined to avoid news, he said.
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