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Hong Kong's free press in peril

July 10, 2021

After the government froze its assets, Hong Kong's "Apple Daily" was forced to shut down. It was one of the city's few media outlets that dared to criticize Beijing. What happens now? We accompany two former staffers: a reporter and a photographer.

https://p.dw.com/p/3wIkt

Pun has won awards for his investigative reporting. Harry is proud of every one of his photos that was published in the "Apple Daily". Now both young men are out of work and don’t know what to do next. Some of their former colleagues gave up journalism even before the newspaper closed down, while others are now being brought to court. That’s because, in 2020, China introduced its controversial Hong Kong National Security Law. As a result, even a newspaper article could be viewed as "inciting subversion" or "colluding with foreign forces" in the eyes of the law. This has made life even harder for journalists working in the Special Administrative Region. They say that the demise of "Apple Daily" has dealt a severe blow to press freedom in Hong Kong. A Report by Phoebe Kong.