Two former editors of Stand News, an independent news site in Hong Kong, Patrick Lam and Chung Pui-kuen are set to hear the ruling of their sedition trial this Thursday. Media professionals in the city regard this trial as highly significant, testing the thresholds of press liberties and the objectivity of the justice system.
The pair is accused of concocting plans to publish seditious materials aimed at causing harm to both the central government of China, the local governing bodies and the National Security Law, which was enforced by Beijing in 2020.
Lam and Chung were apprehended last December, following raids on Stand News offices and the residences of seven of their journalists by law enforcement agents. The online news platform halted its operations as an immediate response. The indictment regards 17 published articles that voiced criticisms against Beijing and the Hong Kong government. Nevertheless, the prosecution requested the addition of 587 additional articles as proof of Stand News’s prejudice against the government.
Among the 17 disputed items, eight are news stories, comprising interviews and profiles of campaigners for democracy, whereas nine are opinion-based blog posts. The prosecution argues that Stand News, by releasing these pieces, was enabling a platform endorsing “extremist and anti-government” views.
During the hearing, Chung defended the choice to broadcast the opinion pieces penned by anti-government politicians, maintaining he had no cause to suppress their remarks.
Chung passionately advocated for substantial freedom of speech as being most beneficial to society, insisting it’s better to eradicate dangerous ideologies through free speech rather than restricting free speech in their name. He denied the prosecution’s assertion that an appeal in one of the blogs posts for defenders of “the Hong Kong nation” was promoting secession from Beijing. He further insisted that journalists should not face penalties for accurately reporting views expressed by others.
Chung stated that a media establishment should report on facts, including extremist positions if they are noteworthy for the public. Even if such views advocate Hong Kong’s independence, they should still be reported, he pronounced.
Stand News, which came into existence in 2014, gained widespread recognition during the protest events in Hong Kong in 2019 due to its live streaming of such events. It has achieved a reputation as a trustworthy media outlet, earning accolades from both government supporters and democracy advocates based on its even-handed reportage.
Even under the 2020 National Security Law that essentially vanquished political opposition in Hong Kong and led to the detainment of numerous democracy supporters, the newspaper carried on its publication. Despite this, the local administration’s high-ranking members found their coverage of government critics disconcerting.
Following businessman Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily shutdown in June 2021, Stand News emerged as the city’s premier independent media outlet. Seventy-six years old Mr. Lai has been behind bars for three and a half years, largely in solitary detention, pending charges under the National Security Law.
Hong Kong employs a common law model that operates with an independent judiciary, yet for trials tied to national security, judges must receive government approval. In a significant development earlier this year, former British Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption stepped down as an overseas judge from the court of final appeal. He claimed that constitutional promises of free speech and freedom of assembly are merely nominal.
Jonathan penned in the Financial Times, “Previously a dynamic and politically assorted society, Hong Kong is gradually turning into a totalitarian state. The principle of legality is severely undermined in all issues where the government holds a strong opinion.”