Hong Kong journalists found guilty of sedition in case critics say highlights decline in press freedom

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A Hong Kong court found two former news editors guilty on Thursday of publishing seditious content on a shuttered pro-democracy media site, a ruling rights groups said was a further blow to press freedoms in the city as Beijing tightens its grip.

Chung Pui-kuen, former editor-in-chief of Stand News, and Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, the publication’s ex-acting editor, had been charged under a colonial-era law that has been increasingly used to target dissent following a wave of anti-government protests in 2019.

It was the first sedition case targeting journalists in Hong Kong since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Their convictions came nearly three years after hundreds of police officers descended on the independent news website’s office in December 2021 to seize journalistic materials and arrest staff members, forcing it to close days later.

Once a bastion of press freedom in China, Hong Kong has seen its once vibrant local media landscape wither since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the city in 2020, with Chinese-language media hit particularly hard.

Outspoken local news outlets, such as Stand News and Apple Daily, were forced to shut down in recent years. Several foreign media and non-governmental organizations have also since chosen to relocate their headquarters elsewhere, citing the changing political landscape. However, many international media outlets still operate in the city – and it remains home to many foreign journalists.

Both Hong Kong and Beijing authorities say the national security law has