Newspaper has Regional Headquarters in Hong Kong for Decades (Representation)
Hong Kong, China:
The New York Times said on Wednesday that it was moving its digital information center from Hong Kong to South Korea due to a national security law imposed in Beijing last month and the difficulty in obtaining visas.
It is the first major outsourcing by an international press organization since authoritarian China enacted its radical security law late last month, strengthening its control over the semi-autonomous city.
In a staff email, The Times leaders said the new law “has created a lot of uncertainty about what the new rules will mean for our operations and our journalism.”
“We believe it is prudent to make contingency plans and begin to diversify our editorial staff in the region.”
The newspaper has had a regional headquarters in Hong Kong for decades, overseeing coverage of Asia and, more recently, helping manage 24-hour digital information operations alongside its two other centers in London and New York.
In its own report on the decision, the Times said it would move its digital team – about a third of its employees from Hong Kong – to Seoul over the next year.
The Times report said it had recently “encountered difficulties in obtaining work permits” for its staff in Hong Kong, which was “common in China but rarely a problem in the former colony”.
China has said that law-abiding foreign journalists in Hong Kong “do not need to worry” under the new law.
“We have an open and welcoming attitude towards foreign media reports in China,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying during a regular press briefing.
Earlier this year, China expelled several journalists working for US news agencies – including The Times – in a Washington dispute with Washington.
Some of the expelled Times journalists have already moved to Seoul.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a March report that 82% of journalists interviewed said they had experienced interference, harassment or violence while reporting in China in the past year.
– A press center that is fading? –
Hong Kong has been a regional hub for international media for decades thanks to its easy business environment and key civil liberties that Beijing has committed to protect until 2047 as part of the transfer agreement with the Great -Brittany.
Alongside the New York Times, media organizations with major regional hubs in Hong Kong are AFP, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and The Financial Times.
But Beijing’s new security law has thrilled the city because its broad formulation criminalizes certain political speeches and intensifies control of the Communist Party.
One provision calls on the authorities to “strengthen the management” of foreign media outlets.
The local government of Hong Kong – which responds to Beijing – has shown little appetite to defend the media and the city has lowered the ranking of press freedom in recent years.
Authorities are currently examining the independent but government-funded TV station RTHK following criticism that it was too supportive of the pro-democracy protests that rocked the city last year, an allegation that the network denies.
Visas for foreign journalists have started to come under political pressure.
In 2018, Financial Times reporter Victor Mallet was effectively expelled after hosting a conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (FCCHK) with a local independence advocate.
When China expelled American journalists earlier this year, it also announced that it would not be allowed to enter Hong Kong, even though the city is said to be in charge of its own immigration policies. At least one of the journalists was a permanent resident of Hong Kong.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the Hong Kong government “has the right to make decisions on visa applications in accordance with” one country, two systems “and the basic law of Hong Kong”, referring to agreement created by the transfer agreement.
Earlier this month, the KCHF wrote a letter to city chief Carrie Lam, asking for urgent clarification on how Beijing’s security law will affect journalists in the city.
At a press conference last week, a reporter asked Lam if she could “guarantee media freedoms 100%”.
Lam replied, “If the Foreign Correspondents Club or journalists in Hong Kong can give me a 100% guarantee that they will not commit any offense under this national law, then I can do it.”
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
