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Press freedom in Hong Kong
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong’s largest journalist group faces scrutiny from authorities, asked to justify activities amid media crackdown fears

  • Registry of Trade Unions demands Hong Kong Journalists Association to provide additional financial information and justify previous activities, social media posts
  • HKJA chair says group ‘regularly assess the risks’ of shutdown, but has ‘nothing to hide’

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Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Ronson Chan. Photo: May Tse
Jeffie Lam
Labour authorities have asked Hong Kong’s biggest journalists’ group to justify its activities and provide additional financial information about its operations, amid fears of deteriorating press freedoms in the global financial hub.

The investigation came hot on the heels of the closure of two online news portals, Stand News and Citizen News, with the former being accused of publishing articles breaching the Beijing-decreed national security law.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) revealed on Friday it had received a letter from the Registry of Trade Unions earlier this week demanding it provide additional financial information, on top of the annual financial statements it submitted every year.

It was understood the association was also asked to clarify how some of its activities and Facebook posts were related to its work as a trade union.

“For instance, they mentioned that we had opposed the extradition bill in 2019 and questioned how it was related to our group’s nature,” said a source, referring to the ill-fated legislation that eventually sparked the months-long social unrest that year.

In a statement, the association clarified it was not asked to provide its membership list and said it would respond to the request before the deadline.

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