A press briefing in Hong Kong on Friday last week was meant to announce results of a public consultation on reforms to the sex crime law. But when a reporter from the government-run Wen Wei Po (文匯報) lobbed a question to the territory’s security chief, Chris Tang (鄧炳強), about the upcoming leadership election of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (香港記者協會), or HKJA, scheduled for the next day, the briefing became a convenient pretext for a broader attack on the independent press organization. Over the weekend, the attacks also became the latest case of Hong Kong media being operationalized for national security messaging.
Since its founding back in 1968, the HKJA has defined membership by whether someone earns a living from journalism, rather than by nationality or employer, openly admitting freelancers and foreign-outlet staff as full, voting members. Tang, a hardliner who led the police force through its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 2019, nevertheless claimed the union lacked legitimacy and public trust. “This time, the candidates all come from foreign media, online media, or are freelance journalists,” he said in Cantonese. “How can this be called the Hong Kong Journalists Association?”
Despite the fact that unions in Hong Kong are under no obligation to make their officer lists public, Tang slammed the union for concealing candidate names ahead of the vote, which took place on Saturday. He called the HKJA a “black-box operation” (黑箱作業). Responding Friday evening, the union’s interim chair, Selina Cheng (鄭嘉如), explained that HKJA had decided this year and last to withhold full board information as a result of “intense harassment campaigns against our board in recent years, including during this election.” She stressed that this was a protective measure, and that the association had continued to fulfill its legal obligations, reporting the details of its officers in the government’s Registrar of Trade Unions.
Without evidence, and in remarks that seemed a clear public setup stemming from the Wen Wei Po question, Tang issued an unambiguous threat on national security grounds. “Regardless of the name or guise you adopt,” he said, “if you seek to endanger national security, collude with foreign forces or subvert state power, I can assure you that I will nail you, and you will bear the consequences.”
More concerning still was the apparently coordinated media campaign that unfolded before and after Tang’s Friday remarks. Over a period of five days, at least six pro-Beijing outlets in the city piled on with strongly-worded coverage questioning the HKJA’s legitimacy and representativeness.
The campaign began one week ago, on August 5, when the Bastille Post (巴士的報) ran a piece full of innuendo titled “Is the Hong Kong Journalists Association Still a Union?” The article accused the association of ignoring wage disputes at outlets that had employed one of its candidates, citing the union’s own response that “no case has been reported to us for help.” The outlet continued the attack the next day, directing its accusatory tone at Danny Vincent, a British former BBC reporter and HKJA candidate, with baseless accusations that he had fabricated reporting on the prison health of former Apple Daily (蘋果日報) publisher Jimmy Lai (黎智英).
• TAP on publications for background.
• TAP MORE under Summary for key lines of attack.
| Date ▲▼ | Publication | Headline | Summary | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5 | Bastille Post | Is HKJA Still a Union? 記協還能算是一個工會嗎? · 郭清源 | Accuses HKJA of hypocrisy, alleging the union publicized global press-freedom rankings critical of the Hong Kong government while ignoring unpaid-wage complaints, reportedly worth hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars, at outlets that had employed a board candidate. HKJA responded only that “no case has been reported to us for help.” | Archived → |
| Aug 6 | Bastille Post | An HKJA That Chose to Walk With the BBC 選擇做BBC同路人的記協 · 郭清源 | Focuses on a British board candidate’s BBC record, alleging he reported an unverified claim that a jailed pro-democracy media figure was suffering severe health decline in custody. It also cites an unconfirmed 2021 lawsuit accusing him and the BBC of fabricating a China-Nigeria report — a claim with no independent record, repeated only across allied outlets. | Archived → |
| Aug 6 | Eastweek | Leadership Election Erupts in Farce Again 換屆選舉又爆鬧劇 記協淪「散工外媒協會」 | Introduces all five HKJA board candidates, arguing none represent mainstream media since only one works for a small local outlet. It revives an unverified allegation that an elderly candidate blocked a bystander’s escape during a 2019 confrontation, criticizes another candidate’s Washington trip to testify before Congress, and mocks a third candidate’s appearance. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Orange News | The Bizarre “Gig Reporters’ Club” 「炒散記者俱樂部」光怪陸離 記協不如及早解散 · 卓偉 | Dubs the candidate slate a “gig reporters’ club” (炒散記者俱樂部), and alleges a past reform candidate was disqualified without explanation while others could not withdraw due to a missing process, which the piece frames as evidence that results are arranged in advance. It repeats unverified claims about candidates and calls for dissolution. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Orange News | HKJA’s Bizarre Leadership Election 記協光怪陸離的換屆選舉 · 馮煒光 | Questions the legitimacy of HKJA’s candidate slate, mocking an elderly Swiss-born candidate’s freelance credentials and reviving a claim that a 2024 candidate was disqualified for unclear reasons while others sought unsuccessfully to withdraw. The piece argues these episodes reflect a pattern of closed, unaccountable internal decision-making within the union. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Ta Kung Pao | Behind the News: HKJA’s “Gig Militia” Runs a “Black-Box Election” 新聞背後/記協「炒散雜軍」操控「黑箱選舉」 · 梅若林 | Argues the union has prioritized political activism over journalists’ interests, citing its conduct during 2019 protests when it allegedly issued press credentials too freely and criticized police one-sidedly. It revives unverified claims about a board candidate’s reporting and a foreign lawsuit against him, and accuses HKJA of ignoring labor disputes. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Ta Kung Pao | Backgrounds of HKJA’s So-Called Candidates 「記協」執委會所謂參選人過往經歷 | Profiles all five board candidates in terms meant to cast doubt on their standing, noting the chair was dismissed from an American newspaper citing restructuring, which the piece links to her writing critical of national security law, a candidate’s foreign advocacy trip, and unverified allegations that a British candidate fabricated a report. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Wen Wei Po | A Rabble’s Backroom Deal: HKJA Election Exposed 烏合之眾私相授受 記協選舉醜態畢露 · 鄭嫣然 | Highlights HKJA’s shrinking membership, calling candidates a “motley crew” (烏合之眾). It revives an unverified allegation that an elderly candidate blocked someone’s escape during a 2019 confrontation, and separately alleges a 12-year-old identified as a “student reporter” (學生記者) during 2020 unrest. It also alleges an opaque fund supported people arrested in 2019. | Archived → |
| Aug 7 | Orange News | Frankly Speaking: HKJA’s Election Is Self-Deception 有話直說｜記協換屆不過是自欺欺人的鬧劇 · 橙新聞評論室 | Argues none of the five candidates represents a genuine cross-section of Hong Kong journalism, describing the chair as a freelancer for foreign outlets and casting another candidate’s Washington trip as political activism. It repeats unverified claims that a British candidate fabricated a story and faced a foreign lawsuit, citing falling membership as evidence of irrelevance. | Archived → |
| Aug 8 | DotDotNews | Black-Box Election Concludes: Leaving Politicization Is the Way Out 記協換屆黑箱選舉落幕 告別政治化才是出路 · 黃子軒 | Confirms details of the closed-door vote, about 30 members over roughly an hour with each candidate winning by several dozen votes, while criticizing the union for barring media access and telling members not to report on proceedings. It argues the security chief was right to question HKJA’s legitimacy and urges depoliticization. | Archived → |
| Aug 8 | DotDotNews | Election Farce Concludes: HKJA at Its Last Road 換屆鬧劇收場 記協窮途已至 · 梁帆 | Argues HKJA’s active membership has shrunk to little more than a hundred people, revisiting a claim that the union blamed a journalist for his own 2019 assault over how he displayed credentials, and an allegation that a board member helped disrupt a police press conference. It also quotes a government statement calling HKJA illegitimate. | Archived → |
| Aug 8 | Wen Wei Po | HKJA’s Litany of Misconduct (Partial) 記協劣跡斑斑(部分) | A list of alleged past misconduct, claiming HKJA over-issued press credentials to non-journalists during 2019 unrest, lost a legal challenge a judge called overly broad, and allegedly offered uncritical support to arrested Apple Daily (蘋果日報) executives. It also alleges the union mocked a pro-Beijing reporter while downplaying an assault on a mainland journalist. | Archived → |
| Aug 8 | Wen Wei Po | HKJA Has No Legitimacy: Election a Farce 記協毫無認受性 換屆選舉鬧劇一場 · 葉文斌 | Written by a district councillor, the piece endorses the security chief’s warning about national-security cover, and argues the board slate, mostly foreign outlets and freelancers, shows HKJA no longer represents Hong Kong’s press. It alleges a double standard on journalist safety and claims an unaccounted-for “Protect Journalists Fund” (保護記者基金) raised millions in 2019. | Archived → |
| Aug 9 | Ta Kung Pao | Ta Kung Commentary: What Is HKJA’s “Black-Box Election” Hiding? 大公時評/記協「黑箱選舉」想掩蓋什麼？ · 李俊 | An institutional editorial, not a bylined opinion piece, arguing the board slate has no mainstream local media, no full-time journalists, and no established Hong Kong figures. It goes further than other coverage, describing HKJA as a political liaison group for forces opposed to China’s government and suggesting, without evidence, an intelligence-gathering role. | Archived → |
| Aug 10 | DotDotNews | “Black-Box” Election Farce Ends: HKJA Has No Reason to Exist 來論｜「黑箱」換屆鬧劇收場 記協已無存在價值 · 吳桐山 | Confirms the closed-door vote drew about 30 attendees and just met the minimum candidate threshold, then cites an unscientific online poll claiming most respondents believe HKJA is unrepresentative. It argues the union politicized itself in 2019 and quotes a government statement accusing HKJA of lacking credibility, legitimacy, and representativeness. | Archived → |
| Aug 10 | Wen Wei Po | HKJA Election: Black-Box Operation 記協選舉 黑箱作業 · 李梓敬 | Written by a sitting Legislative Council member, the piece confirms the election drew five candidates, several repeat incumbents, and cites a membership decline to roughly 200. It concedes Hong Kong’s Trade Unions Ordinance (職工會條例) legally permits non-resident members, but argues this allowance is being misused as cover for political activity. | Archived → |
Until 2023, the Bastille Post was one-third owned by Sing Tao News Corporation. The company’s flagship Sing Tao Daily has been described by a former editor as consistently pro-Beijing in its coverage of China, and it is chaired by Charles Ho (何柱國), a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Since 2023, the Bastille Post has been fully owned by Lo Wing Hung (盧永雄), the outlet’s president who is also a delegate to the Chinese government advisory body. Also on August 6, another Sing Tao title, Eastweek (東周刊), named all five HKJA candidates, characterizing Selina Cheng as professionally unstable by saying she works “gig jobs” (炒散), and even belittling one candidate as “having a tendency toward ‘cross-dressing,’ often being seen dressing as a woman.”
On August 7, the day of Tang’s press conference, at least five more pro-Beijing outlets piled on with strikingly similar pieces. Many of these came from the Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group, the media conglomerate linked to the Liaison Office of China’s central government in Hong Kong — and publisher of Wen Wei Po, which tossed Tang the apparent HKJA setup question at the Friday press conference.
The Wen Wei Po described HKJA’s five candidates as “a ragtag band of five,” and “old, weak and battle-worn,” dwelling on the case of Marc Gerard Progin, whom the article called “an 81-year-old Swiss-born retired watchmaker who identifies himself as a freelance photo-journalist.” Progin, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1976, has worked for years as a freelance journalist, and has received sharp government criticism for his coverage of the 2019 protests.
Among the outlets involved in the press attack on the HKJA was Orange News (橙新聞), which an investigation by Lingua Sinica has linked to the Liaison Office through a chain of holding companies.
Orange News is run by Sino United Publishing (聯合出版), or SUP, a conglomerate that controls more than 80 percent of Hong Kong’s publishing market and was revealed for the first time in 2015 to be a front for the Chinese Communist Party. Lingua Sinica‘s reporting traced Sino United’s shares through a Shenzhen-registered company, Bauhinia Culture Holdings, to a state-run enterprise whose directors include a former Liaison Office secretary-general. As we said in that investigation, SUP is “an empire within an empire,” a key part of China’s efforts through the Liaison Office to control press and publishing across the territory.
In the recent campaign against the HKJA, we can glimpse how these intersecting empires within empires can be operationalized to attack organizations that operate within the law but are pegged as a threat to China. To better visualize the architecture of this campaign, we can turn the list of recent commentaries and reports inside out, mapping them to the media ownership structure sitting underneath the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government, Beijing’s command center in the territory. (See the graphic below.)
• Tap on an outlet to see its commentaries attacking the Hong Kong Journalists Association over the past week.
As Hong Kong's top national security official, Chris Tang exercises what seems to be a growing role over the activity of the local press more broadly. For further evidence of this, we can again dial the clock back to last Friday, when Tang also had a commentary appear in the South China Morning Post that gruffly criticized a recent op-ed by US economist Stephen Roach, who argued Hong Kong had become "just another big Chinese city," its rule of law severely compromised under Beijing's growing control. Stating in his opening that the "Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government rightly rejects the allegations," Tang avoided mentioning Roach, a prominent economist, and instead coldly dismissed the author as "a so-called expert on Hong Kong."
But Tang's rebuttal was not just allowed to stand on its own in a territory where freedom of speech has long been celebrated. In its English-language section, the government-linked DotDotNews leapt in line, publishing a straight summary of his op-ed under the honeyed headline "Chris Tang defends HK's economy, security laws, and judicial independence in SCMP op-ed." Tang was pictured with his arms folded, the Security Bureau insignia looming behind.
Is this not exactly the kind of ingratiating, uncritical amplification an official could expect in "just another big Chinese city"?