The brand new chair of Hong Kong’s main media skilled group has mentioned she misplaced her job at The Wall Road Journal after she refused her supervisor’s request to withdraw from the election for the management submit.
Reporter Selina Cheng informed a press briefing on Wednesday {that a} senior editor informed her that her job was eradicated on account of restructuring. However Cheng mentioned she believed the true cause was linked to her supervisor’s request about three weeks in the past to withdraw from the election for chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Affiliation (HKJA), a commerce union for journalists additionally advocating for press freedom.
She mentioned her supervisor additionally requested her to stop the affiliation’s board, which she has served on since 2021. After she refused, she was informed “it is going to be incompatible” along with her job.
“I’m appalled that the primary press convention I’m giving as HKJA’s new chair is to announce that I used to be fired for taking on this place in a press union,” mentioned Cheng, who was elected as the brand new chair in June.
Dow Jones, which publishes the newspaper, confirmed Wednesday it made “some personnel modifications” however refused to touch upon people.
“The Wall Road Journal has been and continues to be a fierce and vocal advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and all over the world,” it mentioned in an announcement emailed to The Related Press.
Hong Kong journalists work in a narrowing house after drastic political modifications within the metropolis that was as soon as seen as a bastion of media freedom in Asia.
Because the introduction of a Beijing-imposed nationwide safety regulation in 2020, two native information retailers identified for crucial protection of the federal government, Apple Day by day and Stand Information, had been compelled to shut down after the arrest of their senior administration, together with Apple Day by day writer Jimmy Lai.
In March, Hong Kong enacted one other safety regulation to focus on partaking in espionage, disclosing state secrets and techniques and “colluding with exterior forces” to commit unlawful acts, amongst others. The laws has sparked worries amongst many journalists over an extra decline in media freedom.
Lower than per week after the enactment, the US-funded Radio Free Asia introduced its Hong Kong bureau had been closed due to security considerations underneath the brand new regulation.
‘Deeply shocked’
The Hong Kong Journalists Affiliation has been criticised by native authorities and pro-Beijing media retailers in recent times.
In June, Secretary for Safety of Hong Kong Chris Tang mentioned the affiliation lacks legitimacy and accused it of getting stood with the protesters in 2019.
The Wall Road Journal additionally has confronted stress from the federal government. Final July, it obtained three grievance letters from Tang over its editorial or opinion items.
In Might, the US media outlet introduced to its employees that it was shifting “its middle of gravity” within the area from Hong Kong to Singapore. That resulted in some staffers dropping their jobs within the Chinese language monetary hub. Cheng, who coated China’s vehicle and power sector, was not affected.
After she refused to withdraw from the HKJA’s election final month, she mentioned, her supervisor informed her that Wall Road Journal’s staff shouldn’t be seen as advocating for press freedom in “a spot like Hong Kong” as a result of such advocacy would create a battle because the outlet studies on incidents about press freedom within the metropolis.
Cheng mentioned the outlet has been supportive of her colleague Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in Russia on espionage costs that he, his employer and the US authorities vehemently deny.
“That is why I’m deeply shocked that senior editors on the paper would actively violate their workers’ human rights by stopping them from advocating for press freedom the Journal’s reporters depend on to work,” mentioned Cheng, who labored as a video information assistant with The Related Press in Hong Kong in 2014.
She asserted that her former employer has negatively impacted Hong Kong’s worsening press freedom.
The HKJA mentioned in an announcement that The Wall Road Journal dangers hastening the decline of what house stays for impartial journalism by pressuring its workers to not participate in it. Different elected board members of the affiliation have additionally been pressured by their employers to face down, it mentioned, with out giving particulars.
Hong Kong ranked one hundred and thirty fifth out of 180 nations and territories in Reporters With out Borders’ newest World Press Freedom Index.
