It has been three years since Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper and one of the largest Chinese-language media outlets in Hong Kong, was forced to close. Following police raids on its newsroom and the freezing of its assets, the paper published 1 million copies of its final print edition on June 24, 2021.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the newspaper founder, alongside three Apple Daily subsidiaries, is still standing trial, accused of “conspiring to collude with foreign forces” and “conspiring to publish seditious material.”
The 76-year-old was first arrested under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law in August 2020 and has been imprisoned since Dec. 31 that year.
Photo: REUTERS
On the third anniversary of the newspaper’s shutdown, three of the former employees reflected on their time at Apple Daily and their lives since they were forced to leave their beloved home.
Shirley Leung (梁嘉麗) joined Apple Daily in 2018 as a journalist and covered various topics, including feature articles about protesters during the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement. These protests lasted from June 2019 until Beijing’s Hong Kong National Security Law took effect on June 30, 2020.
Recalling those days working at the only pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, she said she cherished the press freedom that now no longer exists in Hong Kong.
“When you see your colleagues or superiors get arrested and serve prison sentences because they stood firm in their positions, defended press freedom and were committed to journalism, you feel a great sense of pride,” Leung said. “They are truly respectable, and I am very proud to have worked with them.”
Leung, who founded Photon Media in April last year in Taiwan that focuses on Hong Kong news, said Taiwan is a suitable base for her operation because it upholds press freedom.
Leung said she was motivated to establish her own outlet because her experience at Apple Daily had made her “braver.”
On the last day of the newspaper’s operation, Leung remembered how Chan Pui-man (陳沛敏), the former associate publisher of Apple Daily on bail at that time, said: “We should just focus on making today’s final edition of the newspaper the best it can be — let’s do good journalism.”
While Leung rebuilds her journalistic career in Taiwan, Joshua (a pseudonym due to safety concerns) moved to Canada.
With previous job duties including filming live video and editing documentaries, the former producer at Apple Daily said working in the field often meant navigating numerous “inconveniences.”
“Some media outlets were allowed to film in certain places, but if they [people managing the venue] knew you were from Apple Daily, they wouldn’t let you film,” he said, citing examples such as covering court cases or events inside government premises.
Despite the difficulties, Joshua said his problem-solving abilities improved significantly during his several years working for Apple Daily due to frequent dealings with the authorities.
This “training,” along with the grueling work patterns has been useful in adapting to life in the Land of Maple Syrup, where he mostly works in the catering and service industry.
Joshua said it might be tough for him to resume video journalism in the country, because the Chinese-language news organizations in Canada are “old school” and “rigid,” which makes him nostalgic for the vibrant work environment he once had in Apple Daily.
The UK is also a popular destination for Hong Kong immigrants, including former Apple Daily video editor Andrew (a pseudonym due to safety concerns), who has been in the UK for about three years.
He resigned a few months before Apple Daily’s closure, as he had already foreseen that the Hong Kong government would target the company.
At that time, Andrew, in his late 20s, decided to prioritize moving to the UK, which had just eased immigration policies for Hong Kongers through the introduction of the British National (Overseas) visa.
Andrew said he did not seek out media jobs upon arrival in the UK, because he knew his English proficiency was not high enough.
Now working in the catering industry, he admitted he missed the fast-paced environment of news media.
“I honed my skills there [at Apple Daily], and now it’s like I’ve put them aside ... There’s a sense of powerlessness,” he said.
That said, he added he still has a passion for it and continues to work on his English skills in hopes of returning to a newsroom one day.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS