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#Censorship #PoliticalSuppression
#RTHK terminates the contract of critically acclaimed reporter #NabelaQoser

In Hong Kong, the public broadcaster RTHK refused to renew the contract of journalist Nabela Qoser, who is known for her professionalism and critical stance.

Since 2019, the pro-Beijing camp and figures have been attacking Qoser after she raised sharp questions during government press conferences.

Although the station has earlier announced that Qoser was wrongly accused by the complaints, RTHK reopened the investigation in October 2020. Citing the ongoing probe as a reason, RTHK terminated Qoser's civil service contract in January 2021, though she was employed in 2017. The public broadcaster further switched her to a 120-day contract, before terminaring it in May 2021.

Qoser has to leave the station by the end of May 2021.

Source: Stand News #May3
https://bit.ly/3vD3Ylr

#Journalism
#NeverGiveUp
Hong Kong Pro-democracy Activist #GwynethHo: Don’t let “suffering” retaliate the movement

The following is an excerpt of a #letter written by former journalist and currently detained activist Gwyneth Ho:

"It is human nature to be afraid of prison, but we should not think of imprisonment as a form of suffering imposed by the government to activists, where activists’ freedom is being completely restricted in a passive state.

If we interpret 'suffering' as a passive state, the 'sufferers' will become the 'victims'.

We should not see the experience of suffering as failure or an end to the movement. Otherwise, it will retaliate and wear us down. I hope everyone keeps in mind that the years 2019, 2020 and 2021 go hand in hand and cannot be considered individually. To suffer or the acknowledgement of the risk of suffering has always been a part of the political movement. As long as the state of 'suffering' is not over, our movement goes on."

Source: Stand News #May3
https://bit.ly/3gUCjIt
#PressFreedom
Hong Kong Drops to the 148th Ranking out of 180 in 2021 World Press Index

The Reporter Without Borders (#RSF) announced the latest World Press Index on May 3, 2022. The ranking of Hong Kong drops from the 80th to the 148th place, hitting the city's lowest record and claiming the largest drop among all 180 territories included in the survey.

RSF in their report called Hong Kong "once a bastion of press freedom" which "has seen an unprecedented setback since 2020 when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices."

Regarding the media landscape, RSF pointed out that "since the 1997 handover to China, most media have fallen under the control of the government or pro-China groups. In 2021, two major independent news outlets, #AppleDaily and #StandNews, were forcefully shut down while numerous smaller-scale media outlets ceased operations, citing legal risks."

RSF also detailsd how the Hong Kong SAR government "froze the assets of Apple Daily and Stand News, forcing them to cease operations and causing the unemployment of 860 of their staff."

The National Security Law is also a cause to the massive drop in Hong Kong's ranking in the World Press Index. According to RSF, the law is "a pretext to gag independent voices in the name of the fight against “terrorism”, “secession”, “subversion”, and “collusion with foreign forces”. Due to its ambiguous phrasing, the law looks like it could apply to any journalist covering Hong Kong, regardless of their location."

Source: RSF; Mingpao #May3

https://bit.ly/3FebcSL

https://rsf.org/en/country/hong-kong