Hong Kong journalists' union warned before election

Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang warned the Hong Kong Journalists Association against what he called misusing a union title, a day before the media group was due to hold committee elections.

Asked about the election at a media briefing on Friday, Tang warned against “certain organisations misusing the title of ‘union’ to engage in activities unrelated to unions.” He said anyone seeking to endanger national security, collude with foreign forces or subvert state power would “bear the consequences.”

Tang said the HKJA's electoral candidates were all employed by foreign or online media outlets and alleged suspicions of “black-box dealings” because their names were not published.

HKJA interim chair Selina Cheng said the candidate information was not public because of intense harassment campaigns against the board in recent years, including during this election. She said the union had submitted its board information to the union registry as required by law.

Ta Kung Pao, a newspaper affiliated with Beijing's liaison office, published an op-ed on Friday saying the HKJA had lost representativeness in the industry and had become a platform for forces seeking to destabilise Hong Kong.

Reporters Without Borders said it was outraged by what it called a harassment campaign against the HKJA. Aleksandra Bielakowska, the group's Asia-Pacific advocacy manager, said the pressure was an effort to discourage journalists from supporting Hong Kong's weakened media environment through the association.

The HKJA, founded in 1968, is Hong Kong's longest-established journalists' organisation and one of the last remaining groups advocating for media rights in the city. This year's leadership election had been postponed from June because of a lack of candidates.

Hong Kong's press freedom ranking has fallen since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 after large and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. Hong Kong has since introduced its own security law, and many media outlets have disbanded since the 2020 law was enacted. Critics say the legislation has been used to criminalise almost all forms of dissent.