#Newspaper
#NationalSecurityLaw Charges Over #AppleDaily Editors and Executives Raise Concern Over Hongkongers' Situation Across the World
The Hong Kong police arrest of #AppleDaily senior staff on June 17, 2021 has been widely reported by news outlets across the world.
On June 19, the newspaper's editor-in-chief #RayLaw and #NextDigital CEO #CheungKimHung were mentioned in court for national security charges and were remanded afterwards. The next trial will take place in August 2021.
June 20, 2021 marks the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Apple Daily in Hong Kong. It is the only pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in print in the city.
===
#Reuters
//Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
“This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who is outside Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They’re arresting the top editorial folks.”
Asked how long he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon said: “They decide, not us,” referring to authorities.//
Full article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-security-apple-daily/update-2-hks-apple-daily-says-police-arrest-five-directors-in-latest-blow-to-tycoon-jimmy-lai-idUSL2N2NZ006
=====
#TheGuardian
//The raids were condemned by journalism and human rights groups.
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests destroyed “any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press”.
“China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”//
Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/hong-kong-police-arrest-editor-in-chief-of-apple-daily-newspaper-in-morning-raids
====
#CNN
//Press freedoms are a fundamental right guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. But experts have worried about the usage of the national security law, and there have been indications of pressures on other media in the city.
A recent ranking of worldwide press freedoms, meanwhile, indicates that the environment in Hong Kong has deteriorated. The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders — which qualifies such freedoms based on data on abuse and acts of violence against journalists along with a questionnaire to experts — ranked Hong Kong 80 out of 180 countries for press freedom, down from 18 out of 138 in 2002.//
Full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/media/apple-daily-arrests-intl-hnk/index.html
=====
#Bloomberg
//“Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the national security law, which is really aimed at silencing all dissent,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Beijing has reined in Hong Kong and will continue to take whatever it takes to silence any dissenting voices.”
In a letter to readers on Thursday afternoon, Apple Daily said police officers confiscated a “large number of items,” including the computers of 38 journalists, over the course of a five-hour search of the company’s offices.
The newspaper said it now “faces an unprecedented crackdown by the regime,” but vowed its staff would be “standing firm” despite the growing pressure.
“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,” the letter said. “Though we are facing a sweeping clampdown on our publication, the staff of Apple Daily will hold fast to our duties faithfully and press on till the end to see the arrival of dawn.”//
Full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/hong-kong-arrests-apple-daily-editor-on-security-law-scmp-says
#PressFreedom #PoliceState #Censorship #PoliticalProsecution
Image: Stand News
#NationalSecurityLaw Charges Over #AppleDaily Editors and Executives Raise Concern Over Hongkongers' Situation Across the World
The Hong Kong police arrest of #AppleDaily senior staff on June 17, 2021 has been widely reported by news outlets across the world.
On June 19, the newspaper's editor-in-chief #RayLaw and #NextDigital CEO #CheungKimHung were mentioned in court for national security charges and were remanded afterwards. The next trial will take place in August 2021.
June 20, 2021 marks the 26th anniversary of the establishment of Apple Daily in Hong Kong. It is the only pro-democracy Chinese-language newspaper in print in the city.
===
#Reuters
//Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters’ computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
“This is a blatant attack on the editorial side of Apple Daily,” Mark Simon, an adviser to Lai who is outside Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They’re arresting the top editorial folks.”
Asked how long he thinks the newspaper can survive, Simon said: “They decide, not us,” referring to authorities.//
Full article:
https://www.reuters.com/article/hongkong-security-apple-daily/update-2-hks-apple-daily-says-police-arrest-five-directors-in-latest-blow-to-tycoon-jimmy-lai-idUSL2N2NZ006
=====
#TheGuardian
//The raids were condemned by journalism and human rights groups.
Steven Butler, Asia program coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests destroyed “any remaining fiction that Hong Kong supports freedom of the press”.
“China, which controls Hong Kong, may be able to eliminate the paper, which it sees as an annoying critic, but only at a steep price to be paid by the people of Hong Kong, who had enjoyed decades of free access to information.”//
Full article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/hong-kong-police-arrest-editor-in-chief-of-apple-daily-newspaper-in-morning-raids
====
#CNN
//Press freedoms are a fundamental right guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. But experts have worried about the usage of the national security law, and there have been indications of pressures on other media in the city.
A recent ranking of worldwide press freedoms, meanwhile, indicates that the environment in Hong Kong has deteriorated. The international watchdog Reporters Without Borders — which qualifies such freedoms based on data on abuse and acts of violence against journalists along with a questionnaire to experts — ranked Hong Kong 80 out of 180 countries for press freedom, down from 18 out of 138 in 2002.//
Full article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/16/media/apple-daily-arrests-intl-hnk/index.html
=====
#Bloomberg
//“Hong Kong has been left with little free speech under the national security law, which is really aimed at silencing all dissent,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Beijing has reined in Hong Kong and will continue to take whatever it takes to silence any dissenting voices.”
In a letter to readers on Thursday afternoon, Apple Daily said police officers confiscated a “large number of items,” including the computers of 38 journalists, over the course of a five-hour search of the company’s offices.
The newspaper said it now “faces an unprecedented crackdown by the regime,” but vowed its staff would be “standing firm” despite the growing pressure.
“Hong Kong’s press freedom is now hanging by a thread,” the letter said. “Though we are facing a sweeping clampdown on our publication, the staff of Apple Daily will hold fast to our duties faithfully and press on till the end to see the arrival of dawn.”//
Full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-16/hong-kong-arrests-apple-daily-editor-on-security-law-scmp-says
#PressFreedom #PoliceState #Censorship #PoliticalProsecution
Image: Stand News
Reuters
HK's Apple Daily raided by 500 officers over national security law
Five hundred Hong Kong police officers sifted through reporters' computers and notebooks at pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday, the first case in which authorities have cited media articles as potentially violating the national security law.
Closure of Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy newspaper should spur Ottawa to action, critics say
On its final day of publication, the last pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong sold every copy in the region within hours Thursday after being forced into closing by Beijing-backed authorities, who arrested a handful of the newspaper’s executives and editors last week while freezing some of its assets.
Hong Kong residents lined up at newsstands to grab a final copy of the one-million circulation Apple Daily, the Associated Press reported. Many say it was the last uninhibited critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its Hong Kong affiliates.
Source: The Star #Jun24
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/06/24/closure-of-hong-kongs-last-pro-democracy-newspaper-should-spur-ottawa-to-action-critics-say.html
#Closure #HongKong #Democracy #Newspaper #Ottawa
On its final day of publication, the last pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong sold every copy in the region within hours Thursday after being forced into closing by Beijing-backed authorities, who arrested a handful of the newspaper’s executives and editors last week while freezing some of its assets.
Hong Kong residents lined up at newsstands to grab a final copy of the one-million circulation Apple Daily, the Associated Press reported. Many say it was the last uninhibited critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its Hong Kong affiliates.
Source: The Star #Jun24
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2021/06/24/closure-of-hong-kongs-last-pro-democracy-newspaper-should-spur-ottawa-to-action-critics-say.html
#Closure #HongKong #Democracy #Newspaper #Ottawa
Hong Kong’s Biggest Pro-Democracy Newspaper Prints Final Edition
On June 23, 2021, crowds of Hong Kong residents gathered in support outside the headquarters of Apple Daily, one of the last bastions of media resistance to Beijing, as it sent its final edition to print. The paper announced it would close after the arrests of senior leadership this week under the draconian national security law introduced last year. Banks froze the newspaper’s assets to avoid being charged themselves.
The rollout of the national security law has seen successive groups targeted: first protest leaders, then democratic politicians, and now journalists. More than 800 Apple Daily staff have lost their jobs while Hong Kong has lost its long-cherished freedom of speech.
Source: Foreign Policy #Jun23
https://t.co/LX9HXxgEHv
#AppleDaily #HongKong #Democracy #Newspaper #NationalSecurityLaw
On June 23, 2021, crowds of Hong Kong residents gathered in support outside the headquarters of Apple Daily, one of the last bastions of media resistance to Beijing, as it sent its final edition to print. The paper announced it would close after the arrests of senior leadership this week under the draconian national security law introduced last year. Banks froze the newspaper’s assets to avoid being charged themselves.
The rollout of the national security law has seen successive groups targeted: first protest leaders, then democratic politicians, and now journalists. More than 800 Apple Daily staff have lost their jobs while Hong Kong has lost its long-cherished freedom of speech.
Source: Foreign Policy #Jun23
https://t.co/LX9HXxgEHv
#AppleDaily #HongKong #Democracy #Newspaper #NationalSecurityLaw
#Propaganda #MainMelody
"Perfect Harmony": A July 1 without #AppleDaily and Annual Pro-democracy March
July 1, 2021 marks the 24th year since Hong Kong was handed over to China, and is also the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP). It is also the first July 1 after the outspoken #AppleDaily was shut down and the annual pro-democracy march has been banned by the police.
The headlines of the remaining printed newspapers in the city sing praises in "perfect harmony" for the CCP and the HKSAR.
A full-page ad adorned the front page of Ming Pao, Economic Journal, Oriental Daily, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, South China Morning Post, all wishing the SAR and the Party a happy birthday.
#July1Protest #Newspaper #MediaLandscape
Source: Stand News #July1
https://www.facebook.com/standnewshk/posts/4303698696382384
"Perfect Harmony": A July 1 without #AppleDaily and Annual Pro-democracy March
July 1, 2021 marks the 24th year since Hong Kong was handed over to China, and is also the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP). It is also the first July 1 after the outspoken #AppleDaily was shut down and the annual pro-democracy march has been banned by the police.
The headlines of the remaining printed newspapers in the city sing praises in "perfect harmony" for the CCP and the HKSAR.
A full-page ad adorned the front page of Ming Pao, Economic Journal, Oriental Daily, Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, South China Morning Post, all wishing the SAR and the Party a happy birthday.
#July1Protest #Newspaper #MediaLandscape
Source: Stand News #July1
https://www.facebook.com/standnewshk/posts/4303698696382384
DN Debatt. ”To the People’s Republic of China”
Four leading newspapers from the Nordic countries join in a protest against China’s violation of freedom of the press in Hong Kong. The protest follows the closure of the newspaper Apple Daily and is published on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.
It has been too much for a long time. Now, enough is enough. The world can no longer stand idly by as China gradually sucks the air out of freedom of the press in Hong Kong. Our hope that China would live up to its assurances and promises that basic democratic civil liberties would be defended and protected in Hong Kong has been dwindling lately, while our fear and disdain has been growing.
Source: DN SE #Jul01
https://www.dn.se/debatt/to-the-people-s-republic-of-china/
#PRC #Freedom #Press #Newspaper #AppleDaily
Four leading newspapers from the Nordic countries join in a protest against China’s violation of freedom of the press in Hong Kong. The protest follows the closure of the newspaper Apple Daily and is published on the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party.
It has been too much for a long time. Now, enough is enough. The world can no longer stand idly by as China gradually sucks the air out of freedom of the press in Hong Kong. Our hope that China would live up to its assurances and promises that basic democratic civil liberties would be defended and protected in Hong Kong has been dwindling lately, while our fear and disdain has been growing.
Source: DN SE #Jul01
https://www.dn.se/debatt/to-the-people-s-republic-of-china/
#PRC #Freedom #Press #Newspaper #AppleDaily
HK court denies bail to Apple Daily staff facing national security charges
Four staff members from the now-closed pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper were denied bail in a Hong Kong court on Thursday after they were charged with colluding with foreign forces under a national security law that has intensified fears over media freedoms.
Public broadcaster RTHK said national security judge Victor So rejected their bail applications because there was not enough evidence to show the defendants "will not commit further acts endangering national security".
The charges are the latest in a national security probe into media tycoon Jimmy Lai's newspaper, which folded after several hundred police raided its headquarters on June 17, freezing key assets and bank accounts.
Source: Reuters #Jul22
https://reut.rs/3Blrbfw
#AppleDaily #NationalSecurityLaw #VictorSo #Newspaper #JimmyLai
Four staff members from the now-closed pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper were denied bail in a Hong Kong court on Thursday after they were charged with colluding with foreign forces under a national security law that has intensified fears over media freedoms.
Public broadcaster RTHK said national security judge Victor So rejected their bail applications because there was not enough evidence to show the defendants "will not commit further acts endangering national security".
The charges are the latest in a national security probe into media tycoon Jimmy Lai's newspaper, which folded after several hundred police raided its headquarters on June 17, freezing key assets and bank accounts.
Source: Reuters #Jul22
https://reut.rs/3Blrbfw
#AppleDaily #NationalSecurityLaw #VictorSo #Newspaper #JimmyLai
#Newspaper #ChineseYouth
#Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip China’s ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Into Shape
Source: Bloomberg #Aug28
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip China’s ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Into Shape
Source: Bloomberg #Aug28
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Newspaper #ChineseYouth
#Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip China’s ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Into Shape
//Piecing together President Xi Jinping’s recent speeches and a barrage of new regulations that have roiled markets, one savvy internet user this month created a satirical image of what passes for an ideal youth in today’s China.
“The socialist successor of the new era does not attend after-school tutoring, does not play video games, does not chase celebrities,” said the post, which was shared widely before it was censored.
“They finish all their homework at school, read President Xi’s selected works for one hour everyday, go to sleep before 10 p.m., take the initiative to do chores, urge their parents to have more children and help look after them.”
The description highlights how Xi’s push for “common prosperity” and wealth redistribution is about more than just reining in tech billionaires: The flurry of rules and state-media missives targeting industries from after-school tutoring to online gaming and entertainment are also aimed at ensuring the younger generation -- some of whom are starting to embrace a minimalist lifestyle known as “lying flat” -- turns into motivated, patriotic and productive workers.//
Source: Bloomberg #Aug18
Read more:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-18/xi-crackdowns-look-to-whip-china-s-lying-flat-youth-into-shape
#Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip China’s ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Into Shape
//Piecing together President Xi Jinping’s recent speeches and a barrage of new regulations that have roiled markets, one savvy internet user this month created a satirical image of what passes for an ideal youth in today’s China.
“The socialist successor of the new era does not attend after-school tutoring, does not play video games, does not chase celebrities,” said the post, which was shared widely before it was censored.
“They finish all their homework at school, read President Xi’s selected works for one hour everyday, go to sleep before 10 p.m., take the initiative to do chores, urge their parents to have more children and help look after them.”
The description highlights how Xi’s push for “common prosperity” and wealth redistribution is about more than just reining in tech billionaires: The flurry of rules and state-media missives targeting industries from after-school tutoring to online gaming and entertainment are also aimed at ensuring the younger generation -- some of whom are starting to embrace a minimalist lifestyle known as “lying flat” -- turns into motivated, patriotic and productive workers.//
Source: Bloomberg #Aug18
Read more:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-18/xi-crackdowns-look-to-whip-china-s-lying-flat-youth-into-shape
Bloomberg.com
Xi Crackdowns Look to Whip China’s ‘Lying Flat’ Youth Into Shape
Piecing together President Xi Jinping’s recent speeches and a barrage of new regulations that have roiled markets, one savvy internet user this month created a satirical image of what passes for an ideal youth in today’s China.
#Newspaper #CCPRules
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
Read more
⬇️⬇️⬇️
#Newspaper #CCPRules
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
//#China has long accused foreign elements of being behind the protests that convulsed Hong Kong in 2019. Authorities returned to the theme in recent days, with the foreign ministry releasing a 6,300-word “fact sheet” of U.S. interference in the territory.
None of the material in either report offers proof of the so-called black hands that Beijing has frequently invoked in its denunciations of external meddling...
There is, though, an account of behind-the-scenes manipulation by an external presence that sought to incite demonstrations in Hong Kong. It’s just that it comes from the other side.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China is a memoir by Shanghai-born businessman #DesmondShum that was published this month. The book has created a stir among China scholars because of its ringside view of the nexus of business and politics in Beijing. But Shum’s description of China’s actions in Hong Kong is also revealing.
In Shum’s words, he was enlisted by the Communist Party to serve as a foot soldier in its campaign to undermine Hong Kong’s political system. As a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that is part of the party’s united front operations, Shum says officials ordered him to go to Hong Kong to organize and fund counter-demonstrations during the 2014 #UmbrellaMovement. Those with businesses in Hong Kong were told to pay employees to march in support of China’s position, he says.
The businessman, who was raised in Hong Kong, relates how he joined one march, making sure that he was seen by officials from the Liaison Office, the central government’s main agency in the city, so that he would receive credit.
“I found the whole exercise laughable,” Shum writes. “Everyone, from the Liaison Office officials to all of us marchers, was acting. Few, if any, believed in the main idea underlying the action — that Hong Kong needed less democracy or less freedom. Everyone was there because of self-interest and to gain brownie points in Beijing.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-03/china-worried-about-foreign-meddlers-in-hong-kong-plays-its-own-tacit-role
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
#Regime #Infiltration #ForeignPower
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
//#China has long accused foreign elements of being behind the protests that convulsed Hong Kong in 2019. Authorities returned to the theme in recent days, with the foreign ministry releasing a 6,300-word “fact sheet” of U.S. interference in the territory.
None of the material in either report offers proof of the so-called black hands that Beijing has frequently invoked in its denunciations of external meddling...
There is, though, an account of behind-the-scenes manipulation by an external presence that sought to incite demonstrations in Hong Kong. It’s just that it comes from the other side.
Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China is a memoir by Shanghai-born businessman #DesmondShum that was published this month. The book has created a stir among China scholars because of its ringside view of the nexus of business and politics in Beijing. But Shum’s description of China’s actions in Hong Kong is also revealing.
In Shum’s words, he was enlisted by the Communist Party to serve as a foot soldier in its campaign to undermine Hong Kong’s political system. As a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that is part of the party’s united front operations, Shum says officials ordered him to go to Hong Kong to organize and fund counter-demonstrations during the 2014 #UmbrellaMovement. Those with businesses in Hong Kong were told to pay employees to march in support of China’s position, he says.
The businessman, who was raised in Hong Kong, relates how he joined one march, making sure that he was seen by officials from the Liaison Office, the central government’s main agency in the city, so that he would receive credit.
“I found the whole exercise laughable,” Shum writes. “Everyone, from the Liaison Office officials to all of us marchers, was acting. Few, if any, believed in the main idea underlying the action — that Hong Kong needed less democracy or less freedom. Everyone was there because of self-interest and to gain brownie points in Beijing.”//
Read the full article:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-10-03/china-worried-about-foreign-meddlers-in-hong-kong-plays-its-own-tacit-role
Source: Bloomberg #Oct3
Photo: Chan Long Hei
#Regime #Infiltration #ForeignPower
Bloomberg.com
‘Red Roulette’ Uncovers Covert Hands in Hong Kong
China has long accused foreign elements of meddling in the city’s affairs, yet a new book sheds light on its own role behind the scenes.