Since Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, the city has seen the closure of independent media outlets, journalists jailed, newsrooms raided and government tax audits that appear to disproportionately target the media sector.
Hong Kong has plummeted in a global press freedom index. It now ranks 140th in the annual Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, down from 73rd in 2019, whilst Chief Executive John Lee has said that press freedom remains intact. HKFP rounds up incidents that indicate how the city’s media landscape has changed.
April 2026
- A Hong Kong press union warned that the stalking of journalists has a “chilling effect” on press freedom, after the Security Bureau slammed the group over “groundless speculations” that law enforcement may have tailed reporters from local news outlet InMedia.
- Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said journalists will not be permitted to tag along with survivors of the deadly Tai Po fire when they return to their flats to collect their belongings.
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that a French journalist was denied entry to Hong Kong in November, accusing the city’s authorities of “weaponising visas” against foreign media workers.
- Hong Kong remains at 140th place on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) global press freedom index of 180 countries and territories, with the NGO highlighting the 20-year sentence handed down to Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai earlier this year.
March 2026
- Hong Kong’s High Court dismissed the Hong Kong Journalists’ Association’s legal challenge against government restrictions on media access to the vehicle registry, years after the government lost in a landmark case concerning a journalist’s use of the registry to obtain records of vehicles involved in the 2019 Yuen Long mob attack
- Yahoo Hong Kong announced it will begin winding down its news operation in line with its “strategic evaluation and long-term business planning.” An employee in Yahoo Hong Kong’s news content division confirmed to HKFP that the company would cease publishing original reports from April.
- Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming and three of his staff were reportedly arrested on suspicion of selling seditious titles, including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
- Three companies linked to the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper became “prohibited organisations” after the Hong Kong government removed them from the corporate registry.
- A former top editor of Apple Daily filed an appeal against his 10-year jail term in a high-profile national security case.
February 2026
January 2026
December 2025
November 2025
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
- Hong Kong’s independent news sector, including companies, staff and family members, was facing simultaneous tax audits and backdated demands, the Hong Kong Journalists Association said, adding that the situation reflected a worsening press freedom environment.
- Hong Kong journalists told HKFP that police had stopped them from taking photos and videos of two sites linked to Beijing’s national security office, which are among six designated “prohibited places.”
- A documentary on Hong Kong journalist Ronson Chan was withdrawn from screenings in Taiwan, Canada, the US, and the UK, citing “pressure on the interviewee.”
- Hong Kong tumbled five places, to 140th, in the annual Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, entering the “red zone” – meaning a “very serious” situation – for the first time, alongside China.
- Following the publication of the annual index, state-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao blasted Reporters Without Borders, calling the NGO “a political thug” and its press freedom rankings “a political smear tool.”
- Radio Free Asia said it would lay off almost all of its staff and close production in several languages, including a rare Uyghur service, after President Donald Trump cut off funding.
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
- Former Hong Kong journalists Chan Cheuk-sze and Kathy Wong won best documentary short at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan for their debut film Colour Sampling Ideology.mov, a 59-minute visual analysis of colour symbolism in politics in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
- More Hong Kong residents than ever perceived the city’s news outlets to be self-censoring and shying away from criticising local and Beijing authorities, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute found. In total, 65 per cent of the survey respondents perceived news outlets to have practiced self-censorship, up eight per cent from the previous year, and marking a record high.
- An independent media outlet in Macau took down a report about various facilities being shut down before Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to the territory to mark the 25th anniversary of its handover to Beijing. The report was taken down “due to ‘unavoidable’ reasons,” according to All About Macau’s statement.
- Jimmy Lai continued to testify during his national security trial, saying he halted calls for sanctions against the Hong Kong and Beijing governments after the national security law came into effect in 2020, as it would be “suicide” to make such demands.
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
- David Neuberger, an overseas non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal, withdrew from his position on an advisory board to an international press freedom NGO, days after he was on a panel that denied media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six other democrats an appeal over a 2019 protest.
- The chief editor of Ming Pao urged columnists to be “prudent” and “law-abiding” when writing for the newspaper, warning that otherwise, “crisis may come”. The memo read: “For Ming Pao to conduct itself and its mission in Hong Kong’s new era, as well as to exercise the role of the fourth estate, is a heavy responsibility and a long path that requires extra caution.”
- The Hong Kong Journalists Association issued its annual press freedom index, which recorded a rating of 25 out of 100, the lowest since the survey was first conducted in 2013. Reporters said they were hesitant to criticise the government and that it had become harder for the media to function as a watchdog and to access information.
- Chinese journalist Haze Fan was refused a visa to work at Bloomberg’s Hong Kong bureau, “without explanation.” Fan was previously detained in China.
- Ex-chief editor of independent Hong Kong media outlet Stand News Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam were found guilty of sedition, marking the first such conviction of journalists in Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Judge Kwok Wai-kin ruled that Stand News was “a tool to smear and slander central and [Hong Kong] government” during the 2019 protests.
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
- The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance took effect on March 23, after being passed into law by Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature four days earlier. Known as Article 23, authorities said it was needed to plug loopholes left by Beijing’s security law, while United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that “such provisions readily lead to self-censorship and chilling of legitimate speech and conduct, in respect of matters of public interest on which open debate is vital.”
- Andy Li, one of the 12 Hong Kong fugitives caught by China’s coastguard in August 2020 while trying to flee to Taiwan, took the stand in media mogul Jimmy Lai’s national security trial. Testifying against the Apple Daily founder, Li said that Lai’s “radical” stance was common knowledge and that he had financed a global advertising campaign.
- Bloomberg admitted an error in reporting that Hong Kong planned to ban some social media under its new security law, as the government condemned the “false report” and denied any such intention.
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong removed copies of the University Community Press from campus, saying the publication was “unauthorised” and could not be displayed without permission. The publication, formerly known as CUHK Student Press, was managed by the student union before the body was forced to shutter in 2021.
- Radio Free Asia closed its Hong Kong office over staff safety concerns after Article 23 was enacted. The US-funded news outlet said that it no longer had full-time staff in Hong Kong and has closed its physical office, citing “concerns about the safety of RFA staff and reporters.”
- Hong Kong authorities condemned the BBC’s reporting on Article 23, saying its report about the remission of sentences for security law convicts was “extremely misleading,” and condemned “fact-twisting” remarks by what it deemed anti-China organisations quoted in the report.
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
- A Hong Kong judge called for an investigation after prosecutors claimed that video footage linked to a rioting case during the 2019 Yuen Long mob attacks had been released by an online media outlet ahead of the trial.
- Net satisfaction with press freedom in Hong Kong stood at negative 8 per cent, while 13 per cent of people believed the local news media had given full play to the freedom of speech, according to a PORI survey.
- Google received a request from the Hong Kong Police Force to remove 5 videos featuring “The Hong Konger,“ a documentary about pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai from YouTube, a report read.
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
- HKJA said it received several recent reports of journalists being tailed, as police slammed the group over “unverified speculations” that those following journalists were suspected of being members of law enforcement.
- Two ex-Stand News editors charged under the colonial-era sedition law continued to stand trial.
February 2023
January 2023
- Hong Kong’s top court allowed journalist Bao Choy to appeal her conviction over accessing car licence information for an investigative documentary about a mob attack in Yuen Long in July 2019.
- The government watchdog rejected a complaint filed by HKFP related to the authorities’ refusal to disclose their media invite list for Chief Executive John Lee’s inauguration last July 1.
- Chen Zhiming, chief editor of Hong Kong magazine Exclusive Character, was reportedly missing in mainland China for over four months.
- A Hong Kong reporter who was allegedly shot at with a police projectile during a protest in 2019 expressed disappointment that his complaint was rejected.
- The sedition trial against two ex-chief editors of defunct media outlet Stand News continued, as the court heard testimony from one of the defendants, former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen.
December 2022
- The national security trial of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was adjourned on its scheduled starting date until December 13 as Hong Kong waits for Beijing to “clarify” the law as to whether overseas lawyers are allowed to appear in such cases.
- Defendants charged under the national security law could be sent to mainland China for trial if they cannot find a lawyer in Hong Kong, the city’s top delegate to Beijing’s advisory body said.
- US-based NGO Human Rights Watch announced it would co-host the Human Rights Press Awards after Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) cancelled the event earlier this year.
- Jimmy Lai, the founder of defunct pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail after being convicted of fraud.
- The jailing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai over fraud charges “has nothing to do with freedom of the press or freedom of speech,” the Hong Kong government said, following criticism from the US.
- Chung Pui-kuen, a former top editor of Hong Kong news outlet Stand News facing sedition charges, was granted bail after spending almost a year in custody pending trial.
- The national security trial against Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was adjourned until September 25, 2023.
- Proceedings against former editors of independent outlet Stand News were “unfair” and “not transparent,” the defence argued, as the court sought to rule on whether the discovery of previously undisclosed evidence was grounds to terminate the trial.
- An additional six articles published by the shuttered independent media outlet Stand News were flagged by the prosecution for potentially violating Hong Kong’s colonial-era sedition law.
- A proposal asking Beijing to “clarify” whether overseas counsellors are allowed to take part in national security court cases in Hong Kong was presented to Beijing’s top decision making body.
- China’s top law-making body gave Hong Kong leader John Lee the power to bar foreign lawyers from national security trials, removing the decision from the city’s courts.
November 2022
- The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it was “disappointed and worried” by the court’s decision to reject an appeal filed by journalist Bao Choy, convicted over accessing public data for a documentary about a mob attack in July 2019.
- Hong Kong’s Department of Justice lost an appeal against the High Court’s decision to let a UK barrister represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his upcoming high-profile national security trial.
- A Hong Kong court’s decision to allow a senior British lawyer to represent jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai sparked a chorus of condemnation from powerful Beijing loyalist voices.
- Hong Kong’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster RTHK should “cooperate seamlessly” with other government departments, including the police, said its chief Eddie Cheung in an interview with the city’s security minister.
- A Hong Kong citizen journalist who waved the British colonial-era flag while the Chinese national anthem was being played was jailed for three months for insulting the anthem, following the first conviction under a new law.
- Hong Kong’s justice minister refused to remark on comments made by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, who called a ruling from the city’s appeal court allowing a UK lawyer to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in an upcoming national security trial “absurd.”
- Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was set to apply to halt his high-profile national security trial, which was scheduled to begin in just over two weeks’ time, Lai’s legal representative said.
- Hong Kong’s Department of Justice hoped to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal against allowing a UK barrister to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial, scheduled to start in just two weeks’ time.
- Hong Kong journalist Bao Choy furthered her chance of appealing her conviction over accessing car licence information for an investigative documentary about a mob attack in Yuen Long in July 2019.
- Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal refused to grant the secretary for justice a final chance to appeal against a court decision to allow a UK barrister to represent media mogul Jimmy Lai in his high-profile national security trial scheduled to start on December 1.
- Six former staff members of Hong Kong pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily and its parent company, Next Digital, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit collusion charge in a landmark national security case.
- Hong Kong’s Department of Justice filed an application to the city’s top court to appeal against a decision to allow a UK barrister to represent media tycoon Jimmy Lai in a high-profile national security trial.
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
- Disclosing the media invite list for the July 1 leadership inauguration ‘would harm Hong Kong’s security,’ the government claimed.
- Hong Kong democracy has taken a “quantum leap forward,” officials told a United Nations rights committee, during a grilling over the national security law, declining press freedom and other developments in the wake of the 2019 protests.
- Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said journalists are “in the same boat” as him and that he hoped the news sector would join him in promoting the success of One Country, Two Systems to the world.
June 2022
May 2022
- Reporters Without Borders said Hong Kong authorities wielded a draconian new security law to silence critical news outlets and jail journalists in its latest report, as the city plummeted down an international press freedom chart.
- Hong Kong’s sole leadership candidate, John Lee, compared press freedom to identity cards, saying that “Hong Kong already has press freedom.”
- Arizona State University’s journalism school will host the Human Rights Press Awards from next year, after Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club axed the event, citing legal “red lines.”
- The president of Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club said that the club still has a “role to play” following its decision to cancel this year’s Human Right Press Awards, citing legal risks.
- Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club overwhelmingly polled in favour of a motion relating to press freedom. More than half of the board members abstained from the vote.
- The ex-acting chief editor of the now-defunct Stand News told a Hong Kong court that he intended to plead not guilty to sedition charges, as the case was adjourned until late June.
- Ronson Chan, chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said he would leave the city for six months to join the Reuters Institute’s fellowship programme at Oxford University starting in early October.
- Hong Kong national security police demanded that Passion Times, an online news outlet which had ties with a defunct opposition group, remove “sensitive” content.
- The “sensitive” content, which Passion Times was ordered to delete on national security grounds, was pictures of a suggested new “national flag” for Hong Kong, according to local media.
- A Hong Kong citizen journalist was sentenced to one month in jail for behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place on National Security Education Day in 2021.
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
- The Registry of Trade Unions launched a probe into the Hong Kong Journalists Association, asking it to provide answers on how certain events it held were relevant to its objectives.
- Members of Jumbo, a student publication at Hong Kong Baptist University, collectively resigned, citing interference from the university after receiving complaints.
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
- A top Beijing official said the principle of “patriots governing Hong Kong” extends to the judiciary, the education sector and the media, in addition to public officials.
- A leading civil servant with no broadcasting experience took over as head of RTHK, where three senior employees quit in the space of two weeks.
- Hong Kong’s national security police arrested a former top executive of Next Digital, the publisher of Apple Daily, over alleged fraud.
- RTHK made a last-minute decision to cancel a programme featuring a panel discussion of Beijing’s plans for a drastic election overhaul.
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
- National security police raided the private office of Jimmy Lai.
- A district councillor was given a suspended prison sentence for publicly identifying the policeman who allegedly shot an Indonesian journalist in the eye.
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
