Image created with Canva Pro by Oiwan Lam.
The crackdown on press freedom since the enactment of the National Security Law (NSL) in Hong Kong in 2020 has led to an exodus of hundreds of media workers. Many have established independent media outlets overseas to report on politically sensitive news and connect the scattered diaspora communities. While these exile media outlets have the freedom to amplify critical voices, they are still threatened by transnational political harassment.
Exodus of Hong Kong media workers
One year after Beijing imposed the NSL in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, pro-democracy Apple Daily and Stand News were alleged to have committed the offence of foreign collusion and sedition and forced into shutdown. More than a dozen independent media outlets announced their closure.
According to a 2023 survey, “Journalists in Exile – A Survey of Media Workers in the Hong Kong Diaspora,” conducted by the Association of Overseas Hong Kong Media Professionals, hundreds of Hong Kong journalists and media workers have left the city since 2020. Largely due to language barriers in their new homes, two-thirds of the exiled journalists left the media industry altogether.
Those who continue working in the media field tend to have a strong commitment to filling the gap in heavily restricted information flows in Hong Kong under the national security regime, which has criminalised political criticisms as “inciting subversion” under the NSL or “sedition” under the domestic Article 23 security law. Among the journalist diaspora, more than half settled in local media outlets, and some re-established their careers in online media outlets founded and funded by the Hong Kong diaspora.
Many of these exiled media outlets operate on social media platforms, publishing political commentaries that are likely to be flagged as seditious in Hong Kong, as they are critical of both the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese governments. A number of them have adopted the independent media organisational model, reporting sensitive news that is suppressed in Hong Kong due to political and self-censorship practices.
Although the journalist diaspora can enjoy free press away from Hong Kong, their journalistic work is not risk-free, as overseas media outlets and outspoken journalists are also targets of China’s transnational repression.
Currently, among the 19 people wanted for national security cases related to secession and subversion, several are engaged in media-related work, including political news columnist Chung Kim-wah and veteran journalist Victor Ho Leung-mau. Due to their political work, their families in Hong Kong are now at risk of being dragged into police investigations.
Last month, the city's Security Secretary, Chris Tang, again accused Chung Kim-wah and news YouTuber Stephen Shiu Yeuk-yuen of inciting “soft resistance” in their commentaries.
However, despite the ongoing political harassment, the Hong Kong journalist diaspora continues to commit to their duty of amplifying suppressed voices. Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Global Voices is showcasing three overseas Hong Kong independent media outlets to help our readers better understand the resilience of the journalist diaspora in their struggle for press freedom.
The Chaser News (追新聞)
The Chaser News is a Chinese news outlet founded in March 2022 by several Hong Kong exiled journalists based in the UK. It addresses the context of its establishment on its website:
今日的香港，當記者被成為「罪犯」，報道新聞會觸犯國安法「重罪」，傳媒要履行第四權的天職，變得越來越危險。記者報道時擔心被亂扣「假新聞」的帽子，評論當權者的施政更隨時面臨惡法清算。
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:
《追新聞》有三大目標，包括維護新聞自由、捍衞民主人權、維繫全球港人。我們會為香港人提供最真實、不設紅線、不會經官方審查的深度報道.
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:
取名《綠豆》，寓意即使大樹倒下，甚或被連根拔起，但種子仍會散落四周；只要有水和空氣，繼續拼命呼吸，種子就會再萌芽，茁壯成長。…我們希望透過影像、聲音、圖文等不同媒介，為這個流散的年代作一點記錄，讓身處世界不同角落的香港人，能夠看見彼此。
‘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 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.
