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(Bloomberg) — A group of Western envoys to Hong Kong has condemned the erosion of media freedoms in the Asian financial hub, a situation they say has been worsened by Beijing’s imposition of a “vaguely defined” national security law.
In a jointly-written opinion piece in the South China Morning Post, the consuls general for the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia warned of the rising risks for journalists operating in Hong Kong. The city’s journalists have been working through an extended bout of political turmoil since large, sometimes-violent protests broke out in 2019, followed by China’s decision to bypass the local legislature and impose the controversial new security measures over the summer.
“Hong Kong is a vibrant international city but media freedom here is under attack,” they wrote. “The many cases of violence against media during the civil unrest last year were the starkest examples of a years-long downward trend marked also by the expulsion of foreign journalists, increasing restrictions on media access, and harassment and demonization by political actors.”
Although the former British colony still maintains press freedoms unique from mainland China, where media outlets are mostly controlled by the Communist Party and regularly censored, the city has slipped gradually in global rankings of press freedoms. Hong Kong is currently ranked at 80th place worldwide in a Reporters Without Borders global ranking, down from 18th place in 2002.
