Journalists and unions warn of threat to press freedom after dismissal of Keung Kwok-yuen from Ming Pao newspaper

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Hong Kong journalists have warned of a serious threat to press freedom in the city state after the abrupt dismissal of a senior newspaper editor who ran a powerful front-page story based on revelations from the Panama Papers.



Ming Pao, one of the city’s most prestigious papers, dismissed chief editor Keung Kwok-yuen on Wednesday, the same day the journalist filled the front page with revelations about Hong Kong celebrities, officials and businessmen.

The paper’s management said the sacking was a cost-cutting measure, but furious journalists accused the owners of a more sinister agenda.

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“The handling of Mr Keung’s dismissal is full of anomalies, making it difficult for anyone to accept it as a pure cost-cutting move. The management owes its readers and the public an explanation,” a statement issued jointly by eight journalist groups and unions said.

“If a journalist as moderate and professional as Mr Keung cannot be tolerated, what does it say about the press freedom of Hong Kong? We are deeply disturbed and worried,” they added.

The statement did not mention the Panama Papers, but Beijing has stepped up censorship of stories on the world’s biggest ever leak of documents, after relatives of some senior leaders were named among people who had used offshore companies to store their wealth.

Senior opposition politicians also warned of a threat to media freedoms. “The decision [to sack Keung] has set all the alarm bells ringing,” Emily Lau, the chairwoman of Hong Kong’s Democratic party, told the AFP news agency.

Hong Kong officially retained its civil liberties and legal protections when control was handed from Britain to Beijing in 1997, but many in the city fear they are being slowly eroded by a Chinese government eager for tighter control.

Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) ‘Not clear, not open’: Ming Pao staff demand answers over sudden firing of respected editor https://t.co/2wF9PgzH4I pic.twitter.com/P0LCsQTFzH

Some media outlets have been accused of self-censorship on sensitive subjects, and other controversies in recent months include the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers, known for publishing titles critical of Beijing, who reappeared in the custody of mainland authorities. Only one has since returned to Hong Kong.

Ming Pao staff held a protest meeting where they carried signs saying: “Not clear, not open” and grilled the chief editor, Chong Tien Siong, a Malaysian national widely viewed as pro-Beijing, at a public meeting.

The paper’s cartoonist responded to his editor’s departure with a tiny mark on a blank page, with the caption “To save on ink costs, I have just drawn this dot.”

Venus Wu (@wu_venus) Ming Pao comic after top editor's firing shocked HK news industry-"To save $ spent on ink,I'd just draw a dot today" pic.twitter.com/YeO33HgXv1

Staff had already protested against Chong’s appointment two years ago, as a replacement for veteran investigative journalist Kevin Lau. That change was seen as a bid to curb reporting on human rights, corruption and other sensitive issues.

After leaving the paper, Lau was attacked with a cleaver in broad daylight by two men who later fled to mainland China. They said they had been paid, but refused to say by whom.

Reporters without Borders noted in its World Press Freedom Index for 2016 that while media was still relatively free in Hong Kong, pressure on media outlets was growing and the need to fight to protect their editorial positions from Beijing’s influence was increasingly noticeable.