By Jessie Pang and James Pomfret
HONG KONG (Reuters) – After Hong Kong police raided Stand Information and arrested two editors, its workers determined that to keep away from extra arrests they needed to shut down the web media outlet, whose hard-hitting experiences of the 2019 pro-democracy protests noticed its readership surge.
Later that day, Dec. 29, 2021, a bunch of staffers gathered round a single pc to wipe their archives in a newsroom stripped largely naked of terminals and gear by police.
“It’s very depressing that all our hard work was gone in one night,” mentioned Louise, a former video journalist at Stand Information.
On Thursday, a Hong Kong courtroom discovered former Stand Information chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, 54, responsible of conspiring to publish seditious publications. One other editor, Patrick Lam, 36, was additionally convicted.
The case is the primary sedition conviction of journalists since Hong Kong’s switch of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, and critics, which embrace the U.S. authorities, say it displays deteriorating media freedoms beneath a years-long safety crackdown within the China-ruled metropolis.
Stand Information began off as a struggling non-profit in 2014, with a skeleton workers closely reliant on public donations.
Throughout Hong Kong’s months-long pro-democracy protests in 2019 the outlet’s recognition skyrocketed given its hours-long Fb (NASDAQ:) reside streams, in-depth options and investigative experiences, with greater than 20 million web page views per 30 days.
The liberal tone of Stand Information reportage helped it appeal to contemporary readers, as folks sought extra freedom and democracy amid China’s tightening management over town. A flood of contemporary donations noticed the newsroom almost triple to over 60 workers.
Six former staffers mentioned Chung, the founding editor, was dedicated to hard-hitting experiences, utilizing textual content, graphics and visuals, to carry authorities to account. This was at a time when dangers had been rising with the closure of the pro-democracy Apple (NASDAQ:) Every day newspaper and a spate of arrests, they mentioned.
“He was really willing to invest in stories that he thought were worth doing,” mentioned Athanasia, a former reporter who declined to provide her full identify given the sensitivity of the subject.
And Chung’s dedication to getting the information out was mirrored by Stand Information workers.
On the evening of the police raid, one Stand Information journalist stored enhancing a narrative till police took away his earphones, mentioned former video journalist Louise.
“He really worked till the end,” she mentioned.
Louise mentioned the sensation of “heart break” over the closure of Stand Information had by no means left her.
“It’s like a beautiful scar,” she mentioned.
Almost three years later and regardless of the conviction of two editors, former Stand Information staffers stand by their work in what they are saying is shrinking impartial reporting in Hong Kong.
“I think of Stand News as a point of no return because it was very free, and with great ideals,” mentioned Louise, now a contract video journalist and documentary director.
