Freedom of the press in Hong Kong

See also: Media of Hong Kong § Media Freedom

Freedom of the press in Hong Kong is the right to gather, report on, publish and issue news, protected under the Hong Kong Basic Law. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike.

— Hong Kong Basic Law, Article 27

Multiple media groups were no longer able to publish or issue news after the passing and implementation of the 2020 Hong Kong national security law.

Indexes

See also: Reporters Without Borders and Hong Kong Journalists Association

This is a historical list of Hong Kong's rankings and scores in RSF's World Press Freedom Index and Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA)'s Press Freedom Index.

Year	RSF Ranking	Total no. of assessed areas	RSF Score [4]	HKJA Score, Public	HKJA Score, Journalists [5]
2002	18	139	N/A	(Not Assessed)
2007	61	169
2013	58	179	73.84	49.4	42
2017	73		70.54	47.1	40.3
2018	70	180	70.96	45	40.9
2019	73		70.35	41.9	36.2
2020	80		69.99	42.6	32.1
2021	80		69.56	42	26.2
2022	148		41.64	41.4	25.7
2023	140		44.86	42.2	25
2024	135		43.06

Hong Kong ranked the 70th out of all 180 surveyed areas in April 2018, a rating significantly better than that of China Mainland's (176th) and slightly worse than Taiwan’s (42nd). ^[6] The report attributed Hong Kong's rating to low and infrequent violence against journalists, rising prominence of online journalism, their recognition by the Hong Kong government, and organized resistance to Beijing's influence of said journalistic medias.

Rank declined slightly to the 73rd place in 2019, attributed by the report to "leading traditional media [receiving] pressure to comply with Beijing’s dictates," ^{[7] [8]} citing Victor Mallet's visa controversy and the passing of 2019 Hong Kong Extradition Bill as events threatening journalistic freedom and independence. ^[9]

Hong Kong Journalists Association gave a score of 32.1 to journalistic freedom in 2020, the lowest of all scores since its first assessment in 2013. ^[10]

Hong Kong suffered the worst decline amongst all assessed areas in 2022’s Press Freedom ranking, dropping to the 148th place from previous year's 80th.^{[ citation needed ]}

History

Newspaper with an entire section censored and replaced with 全文被檢lit. 'whole article censored', 1937.

One of the early record of government prosecution against the media is the 1858 suing of W. Jarrant, the owner of newspaper The Friend Of China, for alleged defamation.^{[ citation needed ]}

The government banned news articles with anti-Qing sentiment in 1907 - Qing being the imperial and feudalist government of China at the time.

Censorship departments were set up against newspapers publishing in Chinese language during the Canton-Hong Kong strike in 1925.

The Communist Party's newspaper 香港小日报lit. 'Hong Kong Daily Tabloids' was seized twice in 1929 and 1930 during the Chinese Civil War, eventually ceasing its publication. ^[11]

Anti-Japanese sentiments and its related phrases were censored after outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Chinese phrases including lit. ' Japs ', 'enemies', and 'traitors' were also censored on a keyword basis. Censorships were loosened after the end of the World War II.

References

1. "基本法與你" [Basic Law and You]. gov.hk. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
2. "致力維護新聞自由" [Our Commitment to Journalistic Freedom]. gov.hk. Archived from the original on 2018-05-11. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
3. "The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China". gov.hk. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2025-04-27.
4. "Index | RSF". rsf.org. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
5. "Press freedom in Hong Kong at 11-year low according to media survey, amid fears over Article 23 national security law - The Hong Kong Journalists Association". Hong Kong Journalists Association. Archived from the original on 2025-01-23. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
6. "無國界記者新聞自由排名 台灣42香港70 批中國「愈來愈接近當代版極權主義」" [Hong Kong's Press Freedom Ranking Dropped to 70th, Taiwan at 42nd; "PRC Approaching Contemporary Totalitarianism," RSF Commented]. Citizen News. 2018-04-25.^{[ dead link ]}
7. "The Hong Kong Journalists Association denounces new fall in press freedom | RSF". rsf.org. 2018-08-01. Retrieved 2025-04-28. In its annual report published on July 29 [2018], the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) denounces a new fall in press freedom and places the responsibility on Beijing and pro-Chinese factions.
8. "RSF [World Press Freedom] 2019 Index: Asia-Pacific". rsf.org. Retrieved 2025-04-28. While the islands of press independence are under attack, the Chinese system of total news control is increasingly serving as a model for other anti-democratic regimes such as Singapore (151st), [... Brunei (152nd) and] Thailand (136th). Similarly, censorship has become the norm in [...] Hong Kong (73rd), where the leading traditional media now receive pressure to comply with Beijing's dictates.
9. "新聞自由排名 港跌至73 主流傳媒被指「早迅速遵守北京命令」" [Hong Kong's Press Freedom Ranking Dropped to 73th; Mainstream Media "Complying with Beijing’s Dictates," Says RSF]. Ming Pao . 2019-04-19. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2019-04-19.
10. "香港新聞自由指數業界評分再創新低 特區政府被視為元兇" [Hong Kong's press freedom score at new low, Government perceived [by public and journalists] as largely responsible] (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Hong Kong Journalists Association. 2021-05-03. Archived from the original on 2025-01-17. Retrieved 2025-05-14. 新聞從業員部分的指數為32.1分[...]主要原因是在多項問題的分數上均出現顯著跌幅，包括批評特區政府及中央政府時有所顧慮的情況、是否有足夠法例確保新聞記者採訪時可以順利獲取所需資訊、傳媒發揮監察的功效以及立場取態的多元化程度[Journalists' perceived [freedom] score is 32.1 [,] largely due to major drops in multiple indexes: [increased] concerns and anxiety when criticizing the [Hong Kong and PRC] government, insufficient legal protection [...], self-censorship by publishers, and insufficient diversity / pluralism on point of views.]
11. 楊國雄 (1 October 2013). 香港戰前報業 [Hong Kong news press before the [Second World War]]. Joint Publishing. pp. 210–. ISBN   978-962-04-3449-5.