The media can “ask questions” but not provoke conflicts or make slanderous remarks, Chief Executive John Lee has said at an awards ceremony for the city’s news industry.
The news industry must abide by professional ethics and provide readers with accurate and comprehensive information, as well as pertinent and unbiased reports, Lee said at the Hong Kong News Awards on Friday.
He offered the organiser, the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong, his support for “promoting the development of high quality journalism,” and added that Hong Kong’s economy needed the power of the media to spread the news of the city’s development opportunities, strengths and attractiveness.
“Anyone can ask questions and make comments, but there is a difference between asking questions and stirring up conflicts, and there is an even greater difference between commentating and badmouthing,” he said.
Social responsibility
“This is the difference between having good intentions or bad intentions; the difference between bearing intentions to build or destroy; the difference between serving the interests of the community or one’s own benefit,” he said, adding that the media has a “major social responsibility.”
He added that he hoped the media industry would promote “mainstream values” consistent with patriotism and the One Country, Two Systems principle.
Lee also said artificial intelligence could not replace the journalistic principles of truth, objectivity and fairness.
The awards were organised by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong, an industry association formed in 1954 by the city’s four largest newspapers, the now-closed Kung Sheung Daily News and Wah Kiu Yat Po, as well as Sing Tao Daily and the South China Morning Post. It is now made up of establishment and state-run outlets.
Lee’s remarks came just days after head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) Ronson Chan said he will not seek another term after three years in the post, citing growing pressure and smears.
Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the security law. Watchdogs cite the arrest of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News. Over 1,000 journalists have lost their jobs, whilst many have emigrated. Meanwhile, the city’s government-funded broadcaster RTHK has adopted new editorial guidelines, purged its archives and axed news and satirical shows.
See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law
In 2022, Chief Executive John Lee said press freedom was “in the pocket” of Hongkongers but “nobody is above the law.” Although he has told the press to “tell a good Hong Kong story,” government departments have been reluctant to respond to story pitches.
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