Online publication Macau Concealers ceases operations

Macanese publication Macau Concealers has ceased operations claiming scant resources and unprecedented environmental changes as the reason for the closure. Multiple Hong Kong media news outlet quoted Macau Concealers' post on it Facebook on Tuesday where it said it would shut down on the following day (Wednesday) after operating for almost 16 year. Macau Concealers thanked its readers for their support and said it had done its duty by safeguarding press freedom and presenting a diversified view of Macau. 

The news outlet's Facebook page and website cannot be accessed now and its Instagram account has been turned to private. Hong Kong Free Press quotes Macau Concealers' ex-deputy director Roy Choi, who said the online media outlet, financed by the New Macau Association, had insufficient funds, adding that he was unclear whether the digital outlet faced any political pressure, but the team at Macau Concealers should have considered other fundraising ways before shutting down the platform. Moreover, former Macau Concealers' director Jason Chao, along with Choi, urged Macau Concealers' director Kam Sut-leng to take actions to preserve content produced by the platform and make archive available online. 

In an open letter published on Hong Kong's Stand News, both Chao and Choi said, "The next generations will determine whether Macau Concealers has done its mission. However, over the past 10 years and more, (the news outlet) has witnessed that history. News is the first draft of history. The content on Macau Concealers’ page, including interactions within the community, are of unique cultural and historical value." 

They urged Macau Consealers' person-in-charge to take actions to save the content online, enabling readers in the future to know that Macau had a platform with a different perspective. 

At its birth, Macau Concealers was born as a satirical publication. It became a major local online news source after several years. Its Chinese name (愛暪日報) was a wordplay on the city's major newspaper Macao Daily News, as it wanted to mock the newspaper's pro-government stance.

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