Benedict Rogers: Freedom of the press is not for sale

This week, elections are taking place in two different parts of the world, both of which could be disappointing for the cause of democracy.

In the United States, whatever happens and whoever wins, the race has been so close that unless the loser responds with graciousness and magnanimity rather than litigiousness, division will prevail and democracy itself will be undermined.

It is in everyone’s interests – especially the interests of the free world – for a clear result and a peaceful and smooth transition to the next administration, whatever shape that takes. Any further mess or delay risks undermining democracy, eroding the moral power of the free world and handing dictators like Xi Jinping a propaganda tool to use to promote their inhumane alternative.

The former British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, whom I know is a passionate defender of human rights especially for Hong Kong and China, tweeted to our American friends: “The reputation of democracy is at stake and the world is watching. Please proceed carefully.” He is right.

Meanwhile this Sunday, Myanmar goes to the polls for only the second time since its very fragile democratic transition five years ago. All the hopes raised by the victory of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2015 have been sorely disappointed.

The country has if anything declined into further conflict and repression over the past five years, and it is particularly disappointing that the election commission has cancelled voting in at least 56 townships in ethnic areas, disenfranchising at least a million people. The best that can be said is that the re-election of the NLD is perhaps the least-worst option – better than the military-backed parties – but only marginally. The beacon of hope that the world saw five years ago is now a very faintly flickering light in Myanmar, if even that, and is tarnished by accusations of genocide.

Amidst all of this, of course, we have the continued suffocation of democratic norms and behaviours in Hong Kong.

In the past week we have seen the arrest of eight pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators, which marks the latest example of sustained political interference by the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong’s democracy, as it seeks to abuse the law to settle political scores.

The fact that the police have targeted pro-democracy lawmakers, while sparing pro-Beijing politicians who were filmed physically assaulting their opposite numbers and dragging them from the chamber, demonstrates the arbitrary and political nature of these arrests.

It is clear that Beijing will not be content until it has reduced the Legislative Council to little more than a rubber stamp occupied by party apparatchiks, totally detached from the people of Hong Kong.

But all this leads me to what was perhaps the most significant event of the week, the arrest of award-winning journalist Choy Yuk-ling, one of the producers of RTHK’s Hong Kong Connection.

Let me be very clear. I care deeply about democracy, freedom and human rights in general. I care passionately about Myanmar, whose struggle for freedom I have championed for over twenty years. I have visited Myanmar – through the front door and many times across the borders – more than fifty times, written three books about the country, met Aung San Suu Kyi at least five times, and been deported by the military twice. But as a journalist who began my career in Hong Kong, press freedom in what was once Asia’s “world city” is one of the causes closest to my heart.

As I have said before, although all freedoms are intertwined and there is no hierarchy of human rights, if there are two freedoms which provide a foundation for all others it is these two: freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, as set out in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and freedom of expression – and the press – as described in Article 19. It’s those two basic rights that I most want to defend, for if we do not have the freedom to think, believe, practice our beliefs and speak and write about our beliefs and about the truth, then what freedom do we have? As Thomas Jefferson said, “The liberty of speaking and writing … guards our other liberties.”

Hong Kong Connection is a respected current affairs programme, produced by Hong Kong’s public service broadcaster. The programme in question investigated the police response to the Yuen Long MTR station attack in 2019, which saw 45 commuters and protesters injured after being attacked by suspected gang members.

Police were widely criticized for failing to attend emergency calls from Yuen Long for over half an hour and making no arrests on the night, prompting accusations of collusion which were exacerbated when pictures emerged of police officers standing alongside the attackers.

Choy Yuk-ling should be commended for doing her job, rather than investigated by the police.

Yet hers is not the only case. Time after time the Hong Kong Journalists' Association has highlighted the threats to press freedom, as has the Foreign Correspondents Club of Hong Kong, of which I used to be a very regular member. Indeed I had both my first job interview and my second job interview in the FCC, I organized several events at the FCC, I spoke a few times at the FCC and I dined or drank many nights at the FCC. I remember my favorite corner was always alongside or opposite the incredible doyen of correspondents Claire Hollingsworth, whom I used to approach with trepidation but fascination.

Until recently, it seemed that while other freedoms in Hong Kong were more directly assaulted, the two freedoms closest to my heart – freedom of the media and freedom of religion or belief – while certainly threatened, were perhaps less immediately endangered. The fact that I can write for this publication is – on the surface – maybe some evidence of that.

And yet – now the arrest of Ms Choy, of course on top of the abuse of journalists in recent months – proves that wrong.

So too does the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese diktat to priests to “watch your words” and its ban on praying for Hong Kong’s human rights.

There freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of the media are intertwined.

And on top of that is the influence of what’s called ‘red-capital’, which infects the media sector and might even influence the Church too.

According to research by our team in Hong Kong Watch, Hong Kong media is being bought up, infiltrated or influenced by pro-Beijing actors – by purchase of shares, purchase of advertising space or boycott of advertising space. Hong Kong until now has been the only city under Chinese sovereignty where press freedom is purportedly protected, yet Beijing’s influence runs deep and is growing further. If the free world wants to defend the free press in Hong Kong, it needs to be mindful of this.

In a week where freedom is under pressure – though when is there a week when it isn’t? – let’s observe the US and Myanmar, learn the lessons of what not to do, and let’s just keep up the fight for freedom. Let’s especially speak out for Ms Choy and for every journalist in Hong Kong, for freedom of the media as a foundation stone for any civilised and open society. We need to be smart, we need to coordinate, but above all, we need to keep going.

Benedict Rogers is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch. The article was published in Apple Daily on 6 November 2020. (Photo: Apple Daily)