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Hong Kong Citizen News to cease operations from Tuesday on heels of Stand News closure, as observers see no room for anti-govt media serving as political tool
Global Times
Jan 03 2022
The street view of Hong Kong Photo: VCG
Hong Kong’s online news site Citizen News announced on Sunday night that the online site will stop operating from January 4, a decision which came three days after the shutdown of the Stand News as experts and policy advisors urged that media groups in Hong Kong should be further regulated instead of becoming anti-China political tools in name of a free press.
In a statement published on its Facebook account on Sunday night, Hong Kong Citizen News bid farewell to its readers saying that the news site will stop operating starting from Tuesday, and its website will also stop being updated, and will be shut down soon.
The news site has long taken the “fourth power” as privilege by criticizing the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, and the decision of ceasing operation probably showed that they are unable to adapt to the new situation or have no idea about how to deal with the future, Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung criticized the interpretation of Citizen News in October for its misleading report about the Article 23 of the Basic Law. When Tang responded to a question about whether the legislature would target speech crime, the senior Hong Kong official answered that a criminal offence consisted of an act and an intention, and the Secretary for Justice would only prosecute based on sufficient evidence.
In a statement published on the HKSAR government website on October 9, the Security Bureau said the report by Citizen News was misleading as it said Tang refused to guarantee that freedom of speech would not be undermined under Article 23.
Daisy Li, the chief editor of Citizen News, used to work for infamous now-defunct Apple Daily from between 1997 to 2016, according to open data.
Similar to Stand News, it also published articles harshly criticizing the central government and also the Communist Party of China. For example, in an article published in June, it referred to the CPC leadership as “dictatorship” and criticized it for “abusing its power” in controlling the local governance in Hong Kong.
After Stand News closed its doors, some local experts also said that despite a chorus of Western media-led criticism, the HKSAR government will continue implementing the national security law for Hong Kong and local regulations as well as newly implemented laws to regulate media outlets, which cannot become platforms for instigating social conflicts or anti-China movements, nor a channel for brainwashing and poisoning the mind's of Hong Kong’s youths .
Nixie Lam, a member-elect to the 7th Legislative Council, told the Global Times she “is not surprised” as she heard of such decision. Similar to Stand News and Apple Daily, Hong Kong Citizen News is also a biased media, and Chris Yeung from the site was the former president of journalist association of Hong Kong, which played a key role during the turmoil in 2019, Lam said.
From faking press ID to having so called cameramen standing in front of the police line, the site’s staff provoked or even stopped police officers from launching normal operations during the turmoil in 2019, she noted.
Global Times
Jan 03 2022
The street view of Hong Kong Photo: VCG
Hong Kong’s online news site Citizen News announced on Sunday night that the online site will stop operating from January 4, a decision which came three days after the shutdown of the Stand News as experts and policy advisors urged that media groups in Hong Kong should be further regulated instead of becoming anti-China political tools in name of a free press.
In a statement published on its Facebook account on Sunday night, Hong Kong Citizen News bid farewell to its readers saying that the news site will stop operating starting from Tuesday, and its website will also stop being updated, and will be shut down soon.
The news site has long taken the “fourth power” as privilege by criticizing the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, and the decision of ceasing operation probably showed that they are unable to adapt to the new situation or have no idea about how to deal with the future, Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung criticized the interpretation of Citizen News in October for its misleading report about the Article 23 of the Basic Law. When Tang responded to a question about whether the legislature would target speech crime, the senior Hong Kong official answered that a criminal offence consisted of an act and an intention, and the Secretary for Justice would only prosecute based on sufficient evidence.
In a statement published on the HKSAR government website on October 9, the Security Bureau said the report by Citizen News was misleading as it said Tang refused to guarantee that freedom of speech would not be undermined under Article 23.
Daisy Li, the chief editor of Citizen News, used to work for infamous now-defunct Apple Daily from between 1997 to 2016, according to open data.
Similar to Stand News, it also published articles harshly criticizing the central government and also the Communist Party of China. For example, in an article published in June, it referred to the CPC leadership as “dictatorship” and criticized it for “abusing its power” in controlling the local governance in Hong Kong.
After Stand News closed its doors, some local experts also said that despite a chorus of Western media-led criticism, the HKSAR government will continue implementing the national security law for Hong Kong and local regulations as well as newly implemented laws to regulate media outlets, which cannot become platforms for instigating social conflicts or anti-China movements, nor a channel for brainwashing and poisoning the mind's of Hong Kong’s youths .
Nixie Lam, a member-elect to the 7th Legislative Council, told the Global Times she “is not surprised” as she heard of such decision. Similar to Stand News and Apple Daily, Hong Kong Citizen News is also a biased media, and Chris Yeung from the site was the former president of journalist association of Hong Kong, which played a key role during the turmoil in 2019, Lam said.
From faking press ID to having so called cameramen standing in front of the police line, the site’s staff provoked or even stopped police officers from launching normal operations during the turmoil in 2019, she noted.
