Hong Kong press freedom rises from record low, first turnaround since 2018
Hong Kong Journalists Association says rebound reflects ‘resilience’ of city’s media professionals rather than improving press freedom
Press freedom in Hong Kong has reversed a declining trend that started in 2018, climbing to 28.9 points out of 100 in 2024-25, according to a survey by the city’s trade union for journalists.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association released the findings on Friday, saying the slight rebound reflected the “resilience” of the city’s media professionals within the “current landscape”, rather than an improvement in press freedom.
The latest index stood at 28.9 out of 100, with higher scores indicating more favourable conditions. It was up 3.9 points from the last survey in 2023, when the score hit its record low since the index was launched in 2013.
This year’s score was the highest since 2020 when the rating stood at 32.1. It also reversed a falling trend since 2018. The index was 40.9 in 2018 and had been declining since.
“The [association] views this slight improvement as a positive sign, though the figures remain extremely low and do not reflect substantive improvement in Hong Kong’s press freedom landscape,” the organisation said.
“Over the past 18 months, the state of press freedom in Hong Kong has not significantly deteriorated, while certain incidents have become increasingly normalised.