Press freedom in HK hits 11-year low as journalists fear Article 23 restrictions

Press freedom in Hong Kong has continued its downward slide and hit an 11-year low, with many journalists fearing further restrictions due to the Article 23 national security legislation, according to an annual survey by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). 

Carried out in partnership with the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), the press freedom index is based on around 1,000 phone interviews with randomly selected members of the public and surveys of 251 working journalists, between March and May 2024, asking their opinions about the state of press freedom and the effect of specific incidents within the past year. 

In the latest press freedom index, journalists gave the city a score of 25 out of 100 for press freedom, a decline of 0.7 points from the year before and a record low for the index since it was established in 2013. The public score continued to hover around 42, which it has done since 2019, with a 0.8 increase to 42.2 in the latest survey. 

However, more than half (53%) of the public said press freedom had declined in the past year, while only 13% said matters had improved, compared to 46% and 19% respectively in the previous survey. For the fifth year in a row, more than 90% of journalist respondents said press freedom had declined. 

Since the Press Freedom Index was founded in 2013, there has been a clear downward trend in the ratings of both the public and journalists. The latter has dropped sharply from 42 to 25 in the past decade, while the public score fell from 49.4 to 42.2. In neither case has the index ever gone above 50. 

When asked about the views on Article 23 national security legislation introduced in March, 90% of journalist respondents said this would significantly impact press freedom in the city.    

Members of the public were less worried about Article 23, with 39% saying it would impact press freedom. Compared to the index in 2020, 52% of the public believe National Security Law legislation would impact press freedom.   

This discrepancy may be explained by the relatively less heated discussion around Article 23 compared to the 2020 National Security Law, and perceptions that the press was already restricted by that earlier legislation, said the survey.  

Meanwhile, journalists are more cognizant of potentially running afoul of the new crimes created by Article 23 when reporting, such as offences related to state secrets.

In tabulating the press freedom index, PORI draws on a number of factors. The main issues driving down the score given by journalists were increased reticence of the media to criticise the Hong Kong government (-0.4 points), the failure of the law to uphold access to information (-0.3 points), and a drop in watchdog function of the media (-0.2 points).

The increase in the overall public score was driven by a perception of fewer physical threats towards journalists (+0.3 points), that the media had less scruples about criticising the central government (+0.2 points), criticising large corporations (+0.2 points) , and, contrary to journalists’ own experience, a perception that access to information had improved (+0.2 points). The public also perceived a drop in the diversity of news, with a 0.2 point decrease on the previous year.

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