The 10th CUHK News Awards Ceremony was held on Nov 14. However, 2 award-winning news' institutions have closed or changed their tone...

#AppleDaily #HKconnection #NewsAward #RTHK #StandNews #GoHKgraphics

#PressFreedom #Award
Jimmy Lai and Apple Daily Editors win Golden Pen of Freedom Award

Hong Kong media mogul #JimmyLai and the staff of the shuttered Apple Daily newsroom have been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom award of the World Association of News Publishers.

Lai, who founded #AppleDaily, has been detained for nearly a year on charges under the National Security Law, including colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security. He is expected to spend his 74th birthday on Dec 8 behind bars.

Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai, accepted the award on behalf of his father. He said that “journalism is at the forefront of history,” and that “it records the present and informs the future. It is a check against the powerful, and the voice of the people in times of strife.”

Apple Daily, one of Hong Kong’s most popular Chinese-language newspapers, closed in June after authorities used the controversial National Security Law to arrest the editor-in-chief and four other senior executives.

“With Apple Daily closing in Hong Kong, and a crackdown against journalism across the region, there will be less and less people shining light in these dark corners.”

Sebastien Lai said, adding “Thank you very much for this award but please keep dad, the Apple Daily newsroom in Hong Kong, and the people of Hong Kong in your thoughts as these events unfold.”

#GoldenPen #Media #Award #PoliticalOppression #NationalSecurityLaw

Source: Citizen News; #Dec2
https://bit.ly/3EkUSyy

#Court
Hong Kong Court-apported liquidator attempts to take control of the #AppleDailyTaiwan Assets

On November 26, 2021, the Taiwan based Economic Democracy Union (#EDU) warned potential breaches of human rights and national security ramifications after a Hong Kong court-appointed liquidator sought permission to order Taiwan-based #AppleDaily and #NextMagazine to turn over all of their assets.

The union, a consortium of non-governmental organizations, urged the Taiwan government to take immediate action to ensure that Hong Kong’s #NationalSecurityLaw would have no foothold in #Taiwan.

According to a lawyer of the EDU, Taiwan would be in its rights to ignore the demands because they have not been reviewed by Taiwanese courts, and because Taiwanese courts can decline to enforce foreign laws.

Likewise, the EDU has framed the issue as significant in needing to prevent the Hong Kong National Security Law from encroaching upon Taiwanese sovereignty. The EDU also emphasized the potential dangers if the Apple Daily turned over information to Hong Kong authorities as a result of the seizure of its assets.

The liquidator is court-appointed, following the Apple Daily’s closure in June 2021. Hong Kong courts also froze 18 million Hong Kong dollars in company funds, preventing it from paying its workers, not long after courts moved to freeze assets of company CEO #JimmyLai.

Source: RFI; #Nov26

https://www.rfi.fr/cn/%E6%B8%AF%E6%BE%B3%E5%8F%B0/20211126-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E6%B8%85%E7%9B%A4%E5%AE%98%E4%BF%83-%E5%8F%B0%E8%98%8B-%E4%BA%A4%E8%B3%87%E7%94%A2-%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%98%E6%86%82%E6%B3%84%E6%96%B0%E8%81%9E%E6%9D%90%E6%96%99-%E6%9B%B4%E6%81%90%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%89%E6%B3%95%E5%9C%A8%E5%8F%B0%E6%8F%92%E8%B6%B3

#PoliceState #Assets #Liquidation #Arrest #CrossStraits

#NobelPeacePrize Laureate Pays Tribute to #AppleDaily Founder #JimmyLai Among Other Media Workers

Source: Rappler #Dec10

Read more
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#NobelPeacePrize Laureate Pays Tribute to #AppleDaily Founder #JimmyLai Among Other Media Workers

The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was award to #MariaRessa and #DmitryMuratov, independent journalists in the Philippines and Russia respectively, for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.

In the award ceremony on December 10, 2021, Ressa and Muratov paid tribute to all those media workers who were murdered or detain, upon receiving the Peace Prize in Oslo.

Ressa is a journalist and the CEO of Rappler, a news outlet
in the Philippines that is critical of the government. In her acceptance speech, Reesa called to attention the press freedom at stake in different parts of the word:

"I remember he brutal dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, my friend, Luz Mely Reyes in Venezuela, Roman Protasevich in Belarus (whose plane was literally hijacked so he could be arrested), Jimmy Lai languishing in a Hong Kong prison, Sonny Swe, who after getting out of more than seven years in jail, started another news group and now is forced to flee Myanmar."

Source: Rappler #Dec10

https://www.rappler.com/world/global-affairs/full-text-maria-ressa-speech-nobel-peace-prize-awarding-ceremony-2021/

#PoliticalOppression #PressFreedom
2021 marks a sad milestone for Journalists in HK : Committee to Protect Journalists

In the Committee to Protect Journalists (#CPJ) annual report 2021, it revealed that the number of journalists jailed around the world had set another record in 2021, with #China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. 

As for Hong Kong, it said that 2021 "marked a sad milestone".

"For the first time journalists in the former British colony appear on CPJ’s annual survey of journalists unjustly imprisoned for their work. Eight. Zero to eight in one year."

READ FULL ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/hong-kongs-sad-media-milestone/

RELATED ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/attacks-on-the-press-in-2021/

The number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293 in CPJ’s 2021 prison census, up from a revised total of 280 in 2020. Also so far in 2021, at least 24 journalists were killed as a result of their coverage.

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #JimmyLai #AppleDaily

Source : Committee to Protect Journalists; #Dec9

The Last Day of #StandNews: Hongkongers' Professionalism and Perseverance

Stand News, an independent news outlet in Hong Kong, was founded in December 2014, and it has come to an end after seven years.

Two years ago in 2019, Hong Kong was caught up in the historic #AntiELAB movement. Stand News provided live streams on the frontlines in various districts, narrating the latest situation live, recording the city's most tumultuous moments. Their efforts made Stand News stand out from the numerous news media platforms.

In June 2021, the National Security Bureau arrested senior personnel from #NextMedia, forcing the shut down of #AppleDaily and leading to the closure of a number of publications. Stand News became the largest open, pro-democracy online news website in Hong Kong.

However, the #HKSAR government singled out Stand News on numerous occasions this year, accusing the company for "misleading" reporting of the CUHK clashes and smart prisons.

Finally on December 29, 2021, after a number of current and former seniors were arrested and the company's assets frozen, Stand News announces to cease operation and to dismiss its entire staff.

Staff members returned to the Stand News office in the afternoon, one after another. By the evening, many of them are still in the office, and rounds of applause are occasionally heard. They also took photographs with the journalists waiting outside the office, recording of their moment in history: "I have fought a good fight."

Stand News suspends its website, Facebook page, Youtube channel, and Twitter and Instagram accounts at 11pm on December 29. All content has been removed.

Source: CitizenNews; InMedia #Dec29

#Media #PoliticalOppression #PressFreedom #Regime #Arrest #PoliceState #PoliticalProsecution #NSL

====
Related News:

Stand News: Operation ceased; social media accounts will be removed
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31757

Hong Kong National Security raid pro-democracy newspaper, arrested 6 senior staff
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31751

Hong Kong Authorities' #Crackdown on Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31752

Stand News Thanks Hongkongers for Their Support Despite #PoliticalOppression
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31765

Hong Kong Police Issues Arrest warrant for Stand News founder
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31766

The Last Stand of #StandNews in Hong Kong
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31770

#WhiteTerror #PressFreedom
“Is there any trustworthy media outlet left in Hong Kong?” ask Readers of now-defunct Stand News

In Hong Kong, Stand News, an independent pro-democracy media outlet, was forced into closure on December 29, 2021 when 7 personnel linked to the outlet were arrested by the National Security police on suspicion of “conspiracy to distribute seditious publications”.

In late evening on the same day, a young couple, Ah Wai and his girlfriend, who resides in Wong Tai Sin went all the way to the news outlet’s office in Kwun Tong to bid farewell to the reporters.

“We want to thank the reporters of Stand News," said the couple. "We’ve been reading their news reports. Without their hard work, there won’t be anything worth reading [in Hong Kong].”

The young couple used to read #AppleDaily. After Apple Daily was forced to close down in June this year, they switched to Stand News. Although both acknowledged that local authorities were set to crackdown on Stand News, they didn’t expect it to happen that day.

The couple told reporters that they were astonished to learn that senior staff members of Stand News were arrested, and the newsroom being raided. It took a long time for Ah Wai’s girlfriend to settle her mind before she could get back to work. They watched the latest video published by Stand News on its social media, "2021 Tree Cave" and shared that with their friends, regardless of their political orientation.

“I believe disseminating their work is the best way to show our respect to Stand News. Reporters who produced the video would certainly want more people to know about it.”

Ah Wai’s girlfriend continued saying that the last video produced by Stand News has been keeping her company and heartened. “[The video] tells more than how gloomy an era we are facing, it tried to shed lights for us to carry on our lives.”

It is for the same reason that took the young couple to the office of Stand News. “[we] perhaps can’t do anything for the reporters, but we can at least keep them companied.”

She added that pro-democracy media outlets in Hong Kong have been targeted and cracked down one after another in the past 6 months. Stand News was among the few trusted outlets left for her to “learn the fact and true happenings in Hong Kong.”

With Stand News closing down, she sighed and felt losing connection with society.

In her keen voice, she asked the reporters, “is there any trustworthy news outlet left in Hong Kong?”

Inside the office of Stand News in this late evening, many staff members lingered on chatting with each other. Some of them walked by the door where Ah Wai and his girlfriend were standing. Ah Wai’s girlfriend waved to them to say thank you, “thank you for the hard work. I read news reports on Stand News almost every day. They become my long-time companion. I hope you all can find your own way and carry on.”

Source: Inmediahk.net; #Dec30
https://bit.ly/3sHeZUq

#Solidarity #Humanity #Crackdown #PressFreedom #PoliticalOppression #StandNews #Readers #Hongkongers

#Solidarity
Hundreds of Hongkongers in UK protest against clampdown of press freedom in Hong Kong

On January 8 and January 9, 2022 Hongkongers in the United Kingdom assembled in 7 cities to protest against Hong Kong authorities' crackdown on press freedom.

Clad in black, many Hongkongers were seen holding homemade handbills and banners calling for international community's attention over the deterioration of freedom in Hong Kong.

Holding hands and singing the protest song, "Glory to Hong Kong", long human chains were seen in Newcastle, Birmingham, Kingston, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen to show solidarity and support for journalists arrested by national security police in Hong Kong.

Sources: Apple Daily HK, Whats News Media; Harbour of freedom, and Free HK; #Jan9

#PressFreedom #StandNews #CitizenNews #AppleDaily #UK
#HumanChain

A Goodbye Letter to Hongkongers by “Apple Daily”

Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong, July 12, 2021January 05, 2022

For the readers and Hongkongers, you encouraged and supported Apple over the past week, asking us to “Persist!” and saying “Hong Kong cannot carry on without Apple!” Here, I apologize for not living up to your expectations. I wish you all safe and well throughout your lives, in the coming days without Apple.

Having too much to say let me tell our story from the start, 26 years ago.

Read the fully translated article here:
https://telegra.ph/A-Goodbye-Letter-to-Hongkongers-by-Apple-Daily-01-04

Source: The Stand News #Jun24

#Goodbye #Letter #Hongkongers #AppleDaily

#NeverForget #AntiELAB
2.5 years after #721YuenLong Mob Attack: Who Owns the Truth Now in 2022 Hong Kong?

January 21, 2022 is the 2.5-year mark of the 7.21 Yuen Long Mob Attack. On July 21, 2019, pro-democracy protesters, train passengers and pedestrians were indiscriminately attacked by white-clad gangsters in Yuen Long. While the Hong Kong police had allegedly turned a blind eye, the question once posed by #RTHK's news program #HongKongConnection resurfaced: in 2022-Hong Kong, who owns the truth?

Watch RTHK's "7.21 Who Owns the Truth?" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/4rImPpE3p2U

The news documentary was produced by former RTHK journalist #BaoChoy on the first anniversary of the attack in 2020 and had won accolades including the Press Freedom Award.

Choy examined various video evidence, tracing the attackers to various pro-China groups. She also interviewed one of the victims, who was able to identify his attackers from the surveillance camera footage provided. The victim lamented that he had to identify the suspects before the journalists, since the police did not invite him to take part in any investigation. The victim wonders if the police wanted to investigate at all.

The journalist, moreover, traced the association of some of the attackers to various village representatives in Yuen Long, partly by checking car license plates against the government's vehicle registration database. However, the authorities then arrested and fined Choy for making "false statements" when accessing the public-available database. It was the first time such a charge was laid against journalists using the vehicle database.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (#HKJA) criticized the move, stating that checking public records had been a common investigative tool in Hong Kong.

In May 2021, RTHK began to take down videos over one year old from their online platforms. This documentary is now no longer available on their official website, as are the programs chronicling the 2019 Anti-ELAB movement.

Meanwhile, the police and state media had made concerted effort to rewrite the Yuen Long attack into a clash between "invading" protesters and those defending Yuen Long. However, another investigative report by Stand News discovered that the alleged call to protest in Yuen Long was likely fabricated, and was ultimately dismissed by discussion forums.

Watch "Tracing the Source - Investigative Report by Stand News" (English subtitled), courtesy of Real Hong Kong News:
https://youtu.be/Gch5ikVyI80

After the implementation of the #NationalSecurityLaw, pro-democracy news outlets, like #AppleDaily and #StandNews, have been pressured into shutting down. Their libraries of articles and videos, including interviews and video footage of 7.21 and many other events during the movement, had gone offline. Though netizens scrambled to back up the data, the records made by these news outlets in Hong Kong cannot be easily accessed by the public, and some may possibly be lost forever.

Two and a half years after the attack, Hongkongers today find very little room to publicly remember the events that transpired. Gatherings that merely hinted at support of the movement are suppressed by police wielding both the anti-gathering rules introduced at the start of the pandemic, as well as the #NationalSecurityLaw.

Meanwhile, the deep rift between the police force and the general public as a result of the 7.21 attack had not been healed, as the Force and its supporters cling to their version of events, which are regularly cited by pro-government and pro-China media.

For now, it is up to individual Hongkongers to investigate, record, document and remember the events they have seen, heard, and experienced during the pro-democracy movements.

Source: RTHK; Stand News

Subtitles by Real Hong Kong News

See also:
"Tracing the Source" - 7.21 Yuen Long Attack Investigative Report by Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30599

30 months after, Hongkongers refuse to forget
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31954

#Memory

Half a year after Apple Daily, Stand News also ceased operations as seniors were arrested and materials taken away by the National Security Police

#AppleDaily #StandNews #PressFreedom #NSL #GoHKgraphics

#FreedomOfSpeech #PoliceState
#PoliticalOppression
#Free #JimmyLai" – Campaign for world attention on Hong Kong #HumanRights and Press Freedom

On Chinese New Year’s eve (Jan 31), a series of transatlantic illuminations aiming to draw international attention on China's #authoritarian rule over Hong Kong were seen on the walls of Tower Bridge in London and Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.

Bright white lights reading "Free Jimmy Lai and the Apple 7" of three storey tall were projected onto the walls.

In addition, the illuminations also showed the "Olympics rings in thorns", a portrait of Jimmy Lai and a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.

The US-based designer, Robin Bell said his intention was to grab people's attention on Human Rights around the world.

Mark L. Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, shared photographs of the illuminations on his Twitter page, calling the upcoming #WinterOlympics in #Beijing " the most shameful Olympics since the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin”.

#ProtestArt #RobinBell #MarkClifford #AppleDaily #FreedomOfSpeech #FreedomOfPublication

Source: RFA; #Jan31
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/uk-jimmy-02012022155410.html

#PressFreedom
Pro-democeacy news anchor stumbles in career development in Hong Kong

Young news anchor, Ingrid #TseHingYee worked for three media outlets in three years. Her disrupted career, is a sad reflection of Hong Kong's stifled media and banished press freedom.

Most recently, Tse was seen hosting a press briefing for the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institution.

She thanked her supporters after the briefing, saying that she is pondering possible developments in her career.

Tse joined #AppleDaily in 2021 after resigning from i-Cable in 2019 due to arguments about editorial decisions.

The 25-year-old journalist moved to work in online media Hong Kong #CitizenNews after Apple Daily was folded in June 2021.

In January 2022, Citizen News announced plans to close after some 200 police raided #StandNews, another independent media outlet in Hong Kong, citing concerns about the safety of its staff.

Source: inmediahk; #Feb12
https://bit.ly/3gVtGwl