The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) said that freedom of expression in general and press freedom in the territory in particular are likely to be further harmed as more Hong Kong mainstream media outlets come under the control of Chinese interests.
“We must stay vigilant to safeguard our rights,” HKJA chairman Chris Yeung (楊健興) said in a statement on Sunday to mark the publication of the group’s annual report, adding that Beijing is increasingly encroaching on Hong Kong’s autonomy and unprofessional Chinese media practices are spilling over to Hong Kong media.
The annual report, titled Two Systems Under Siege, said that Beijing’s pressure is likely to exacerbate the worsening issue of self-censorship as Hong Kong media outlets controlled by Chinese interests “report ‘forced confessions’ and muzzle dissenting voices.”
These trends would increase as more Chinese interests gain stakes in Hong Kong media organizations, the association said in the report.
It said that by the end of the year, with the addition of i-CABLE Communications, nine out of 26 mainstream media outlets would be under Chinese control or have Chinese stakes, raising the proportion to 35 percent.
More than 85 percent of media owners or top newsroom managers have been incorporated in various ways into Chinese or Hong Kong establishments, the report said.
It urged Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) administration to take immediate action to defend Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and to refrain from enacting national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law until society reaches a consensus on the issue.
The association also called for Lam’s government to enact freedom of information and archive laws to ensure that Hong Kongers, including journalists, have proper access to government information and documents, and to grant online media reporters carrying out legitimate journalistic work equal access to government facilities and news feeds.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai