Threatened by transnational repression, Hong Kong media outlets in exile aim to preserve press freedom

In today’s Hong Kong, journalists have been turned into ‘criminals’ because journalism has become a ‘felony’ under the National Security Law. It has become increasingly dangerous for the media to fulfil their vocation as the fourth estate. Journalists are worried that their news stories will be labelled as ‘fake news,’ and commenting on the ruling class will result in retaliation by the draconian law.

And outlines its missions:

The Chaser News has three missions: upholding press freedom, defending democracy and human rights, and connecting Hongkongers worldwide. We will provide Hong Kong people with the most truthful and in-depth reports, without any red lines or government censorship.

In addition to following Hong Kong-related news, the independent news site also reports on the UK’s policy toward Hong Kong and China, conducts interviews with overseas Hongkongers, and runs regular commentaries about Hong Kong and Chinese politics produced by overseas dissidents, such as Chung Kim-wah.

However, most editors and journalists working for the news site have remained anonymous. It has 10,000 followers on Facebook and 107,000 on YouTube.

Green Bean Media (綠豆）

Green Bean Media is also a Chinese news outlet based in the UK. It was founded in July 2022 by a group of former journalists from Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), the city’s public broadcaster, which has been transformed into a mouthpiece of the Hong Kong government following rounds of management restructuring, program reviews, and staff reprimands.

The mission of the independent media is embedded in its name:

‘Green Bean’ is a parable that tells the story of how even if a tree falls or is uprooted, the seeds will still be scattered all around. As long as there is water and air, they will strive to breathe, sprout, and grow strong. We hope that through different forms — video, sound, image, and text — we can create a record of this diasporic era, so that Hongkongers can see each other, regardless of their whereabouts in the world.

The independent media outlet not only covers news from Hong Kong but also addresses concerns of diaspora communities. It currently has 300,000 subscribers on YouTube.

Poton Media (光傳媒)

Poton Media was established in April 2023 by a group of former Apple Daily and Stand News journalists based in Taiwan. Its advisory team is composed of veteran journalists, including Mark Clifford, Ching Cheong, Stephen Vines, Lousia Lim, and Josh Rogin.

Both Apple Daily and Stand News were forced to shut down in 2021. Seven Apple Daily’s senior staffers were charged with foreign collusion under National Security, and two from Stand News were convicted of sedition under the criminal ordinance.

In an interview with Jeremy Goldkorn from the China Project in 2023, the co-founder and chief editor of the Taiwan-based independent news outlet, Shirley Leung, explained that the news platform would focus on political news and development in Hong Kong, but it has to source news from the Hong Kong government, locally based and international media outlets as their news sources, as they don’t have any reporters based in the city due to security concerns. The uniqueness of the new site relies on its news commentaries, which are written by overseas experts from a critical perspective. About 80 percent of the news outlet’s readers reside in Hong Kong, according to Leung.

Other Hong Kong exile media outlets, such as Points (棱角) and the Commons (同文), operate in a model similar to Poton Media, aggregating news from various sources and running commentaries critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.

Sustainability challenge

While exile media outlets may be successful in amplifying critical opinions, transnational repression, namely, the increasing targeting of overseas political dissidents and the extended political harassment of friends and family members of the “fugitives” and exiles, has, to a certain extent, successfully silenced critical voices from diaspora communities.

Meanwhile, as the city’s press freedom continues to be undermined by political harassment and self-censorship, more and more Hongkongers have avoided reading news altogether. A 2023 communication survey indicated that 4 in 10 Cantonese-speaking adults in Hong Kong said they sometimes want to avoid news about the changing social and political environment in Hong Kong. The trend is likely to affect the financial sustainability of these overseas media outlets, which rely on readers’ donations and subscriptions for their survival.

Last month, Flow HK, an overseas HK media outlet founded by prominent exiled activists including Ray Wong, Sunny Cheung, Alex Chow, Glacier Kwong, and Nathan Law, announced that it was scheduled to shut down in July due to a lack of financial and human resources. The activist media was blocked from accessing the internet in Hong Kong in October last year, as the city’s national security police authorities alleged the outlet of incitement to subversion, a serious offence under the NSL.