May 3 is the annual World Press Freedom Day, and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontiers) takes the occasion to release its latest 2024 World Press Freedom Index. Hong Kong is ranked 135th from 180 countries and regions, bettering last year’s standing by five places, but its score suffered a drop to 43.06 from 44.86 last year.
In this report, RSF exclaimed that Hong Kong, once a bastion of press freedom, has suffered a series of unprecedented setbacks since Beijing passed the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) in 2020, which aimed at suppressing independent voices. Hong Kong’s latest ranking is worse than Zimbabwe (116th), Singapore (126th), Uganda (128th), and Cameroon (130th).
According to RSF, ten journalists are still imprisoned in Hong Kong. This latest version on Hong Kong mentioned that “Apple Daily” and “Stand News” were forced to close, plus more than five other independent media outlets shuttered due to fear of retaliation. In addition, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) has been placed under full pro-government control, and the latter will not hesitate to censor programs the government does not like. RSF also pointed out that the NSL continues to suppress independent voices, and the “sedition” legislation is also widely employed to target journalists.
When the index was inaugurated by RSF in 2002, Hong Kong was ranked at a respectable 18th. But it has fallen repeatedly since then, plummeting from 80th to 148th in 2022, with slight rebounds last year and this year.
Mainland China Ranks 172nd
Taiwan, at 27th, continues to enjoy the highest ranking in Asia, up eight places from last year; followed by South Korea (62nd) and Japan (70th), down 15 and 2 places respectively from last year.Mainland China ranks 172nd, moving up slightly by seven places from last year. RSF still describes it as the world’s largest prison for journalists, with a regime that has launched a worldwide campaign to suppress journalism and the right to information, its index stagnated due to a sweeping persecution of the media. In addition, Singapore, at 126th, improved slightly by three places compared with last year.
RSF said that the metric of politics employed in the ranking has experienced the largest decline, with the global average falling by 7.6 percentage points from the year before, which means that the role of the state and other political forces in protecting press freedom is weakening. For this reason, the three Asian countries at the bottom of last year’s index, including Vietnam, China, and North Korea, have ceded their status to countries whose political scores have plummeted more.
WSJ Moves Its Asia HQs Out of Hong Kong
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced on May 5 that it would re-adjust its Asian operations and move its Asian headquarters from Hong Kong to Singapore. At the same time, it will drastically reduce its number of reporters and editorial staff in Hong Kong to single digits.
It is reported that some Hong Kong reporters will be transferred to Singapore or other parts of Asia, and a number of reporters and editorial staff will be made redundant.
