A prominent Hong Kong newspaper has come under fire for downplaying coverage of the death of a Chinese dissident, stoking new concerns that Chinese Communist Party rulers in Beijing are seeking to limit the former British colony’s media freedoms.
In a tumultuous year for the territory that will see a new pro-Beijing leader take power in the territory on July 1, the 15th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, the controversy involving the South China Morning Post (SCMP) has focused attention on perceived attempts by Beijing to rein in moves towards democracy.
On June 7, the English-language SCMP prepared a full story on the suspicious death of Chinese dissident Li Wangyang (李旺陽) in hospital in China, but in an abrupt about-turn, cut the story back to a news brief buried in the back pages.
Li had just been released from more than 22 years in jail for his role in the June 4, 1989, Tienanmen Square protest in Beijing when he was found dead in hospital in Hunan Province, his neck tied with a noose made from bandages.
Authorities said it was suicide, but his family suspect foul play.
Prominent coverage by other Hong Kong media helped generate a public outcry, protests and a rare request by Hong Kong’s leader for an investigation into the tragedy by Beijing.
In a tense e-mail exchange circulated widely in media circles, Alex Price, a sub-editor at the paper, asked his Chinese editor-in-chief, Wang Xiangwei (王向偉), why the story was cut down in a way that “looks an awful lot like self-censorship.”
“I don’t have to explain to you anything. I made the decision and I stand by it. If you don’t like it, you know what to do,” replied Wang, a member of the advisory body for China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The reply triggered a newsroom backlash at the Post, where reporters say they’ve long been concerned by a creeping, invisible Beijing hand. A petition was signed by several senior staff, demanding full transparency and press freedoms.
The paper, one of Asia’s leading English dailies run by tycoon Robert Kuok (郭鶴年), has long triggered concerns about its editorial policy toward China, including the firing of a Beijing bureau chief in 2002 also after what he called attempts by editors, including Wang, to make its China coverage less critical of Beijing.
“Journalistic ethics are at stake. The credibility of the South China Morning Post is at stake. Your staff — and readers — deserve an answer,” Price wrote in his e-mail exchange with Wang.
In a statement to staff, Wang denied he’d tried to downplay the story, but said the matter “should have been resolved in a much more constructive way” and that the paper’s reporting of Li’s death in subsequent days had been extensive.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association’s chairperson, Mak Yin-ting (麥燕婷), expressed concern. She added a survey to be released this weekend would again show a steady “deterioration” of press freedoms in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover.
In other developments yesterday, Hong Kong chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) publicly apologized for an illegal glass canopy at his home, months after his election rival admitted to building an unauthorized basement.
In a territory where people are regularly prosecuted over illegal additions to their homes, Leung said the canopy had been demolished as soon as he realized it had been built without the necessary approvals.
“I tender my apologies to the public for this oversight. It was not intended,” he told reporters.
“I never tried to hide this from the public,” he said, noting that he had hosted many journalists in his home and showed them around his cherished vegetable patch in his back yard.
The glass canopy measured 10m2 and hung over the back door leading into the garden.
“I want to stress this was a glass canopy, not a glass house,” Leung said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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