On 29 May 2026, the conviction of Ronson Chan Long-sing, a veteran journalist, former chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association and former deputy assignment editor at the now-defunct Stand News, for “obstructing a police officer” was upheld on appeal. He was sentenced to five days in prison, which he began serving immediately. Chan was initially arrested in September 2022 while covering a homeowners’ meeting at a residential estate in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok area for independent media Channel C, after the journalist questioned a plainclothes police officer who attempted to stop him from reporting, alleging Chan was acting “suspiciously.”
The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), a non-profit organisation defending press freedom and journalism in Hong Kong since 1968, has been the target of numerous attacks over the past decade from the government and pro-Beijing supporters. HKJA is one of the last remaining independent organisations that operates in the city, despite continued pressure to toe the line, including random” tax audits, surveillance and doxing.
Chan was a deputy assignment editor at Stand News, a non-profit Chinese-language news site and the second most influential independent media outlet after Apple Daily. At its peak, it reached over 1.7 million followers on Facebook and about one million on Instagram. In 2021, it was forced to shut down following a police raid. Six of its journalists were arrested, while editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam were later sentenced to prison terms.
Since 2020, the Hong Kong government has prosecuted at least 28 journalists, nine of whom are currently detained. Hong Kong, once a bastion of press freedom, has fallen from 18th place in 2002 to 140th place in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index. The People’s Republic of China is 178th out of 180.