Unions ‘deeply disturbed and worried’ by dismissal of Keung Kwok-yuen from Ming Pao on same day it ran a front-page report on figures linked to leaks
The veteran editor of a Hong Kong newspaper that published a report on the
Panama Papers document leak has been dismissed, sparking outcry from
journalists’ unions and exposing new concerns about press freedoms in the semi-autonomous
Chinese territory.
The staff association of newspaper Ming Pao expressed “extreme dissatisfaction and
anger” at the sacking of Keung Kwok-yuen, the paper’s No 2 editor, on
Wednesday, purportedly to save operating costs.
In a statement, the association questioned whether the
dismissal was actually about “punishing staff members who have different
opinions on editorial issues”.
On Wednesday, Ming Pao carried a front-page report on
Hong Kong politicians and businessmen named in the leaked documents. The union
didn’t mention the Panama Papers in the statement posted on its Facebook
page.
Eight other Hong Kong journalist associations said in
a joint statement they were shocked by Keung’s dismissal and that Ming Pao’s
management owed its readers and the public an explanation.
The statement by the eight unions, including the Hong
Kong Journalists Association, said: “Mr Keung is a veteran journalist who
has spearheaded the coverage of major controversies in Hong Kong in the past
decades.”
Hot-button issues covered by the paper have included
mass street protests calling for electoral reform and opposing a national
security law, and a proposed public school curriculum criticised as an attempt
to boost support for the communist government in Beijing.
“If a journalist as moderate and professional as Mr
Keung cannot be tolerated, what does it say about the press freedom of Hong Kong?
We
are deeply disturbed and worried,” the statement said.
Recent years have seen growing anxiety among many Hong
Kong journalists and politicians about the growing influence of Beijing on the
territory, which retained its own civil liberties when handed over from Britain
in 1997. Media groups with close business and personal ties to Beijing have
been accused of soft-pedalling their coverage of issues potentially
embarrassing to China and its allies in Hong Kong.
In January 2014, Ming Pao’s then chief editor Kevin
Lau was abruptly dismissed, sparking fears that the newspaper’s owners were
moving to curb aggressive reporting on human rights and corruption in China.
A month later, he was attacked with a
cleaver in a daylight
attack. Two men who fled to mainland China subsequently received 19-year prison
terms for theft and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. They said they
had been paid to carry out the attack but refused to say by whom.
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