Press self-censorship a myth in Hong Kong

Analysis

By Arnold Zeitlin
freedomforum.org

04.30.01

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Willy Wo-lap Lam

HONG KONG — The Hong Kong press has taken a bad rap for self-censorship since the territory reverted to Chinese sovereignty almost four years ago.

The elusive topic of self-censorship has become an urban myth — much like the undying myth that Hong Kong is a shopper's paradise (which is true only if you're from price-inflated Japan).

Almost inevitably, the first question asked by visitors interested in the news media in Hong Kong is the extent of self-censorship. They seem to take for granted that it is widely practiced.

The latest to perpetuate the myth was the U.S. State Department, which cited the issue of self-censorship several times in its latest human rights report on Hong Kong.

"There is a widespread impression among both journalists and the public that it is prudent for the press to engage in a degree of self-censorship. The pressures ... are subtle and indirect," stated the report, which was issued in February.

It also said:

"Some journalists and news media continue to practice a degree of self-censorship, particularly in mainland-related reporting."

Strikingly, however, the report offered no persuasive evidence to support its claims. Had a newspaper published a story on the basis of such slim documentation, it would risk being condemned for poor journalism.

The State Department report, moreover, manages to give the topic a sinister twist by stating:

"Chinese-language journalists report a pervasive, if tacit, understanding that editors expect those reporting on China to be particularly certain of their facts and careful in their wording."

How about that? While the mood of this portion of the report is grim, to say the least, the statement really should be grounds for celebration.

Imagine: Editors in Hong Kong actually expect their writers to have the facts and write about them carefully.

That's hardly self-censorship.

The State Department does cite the widely publicized case late last year of Willy Wo-lap Lam, who was then the China editor for the South China Morning Post. Lam was dismissed from that position and later quit the newspaper after the Post's majority shareholder criticized his reporting.

Lam spoke afterward of "disturbing signs" that Beijing was intensifying efforts to intimidate Hong Kong reporters.

But he also said:

"In spite of the psychological warfare and intimidation tactics, I think Hong Kong reporters will remain quite defiant."

That they have.

Under its American editor, Robert Keatley, the South China Morning Post continues to report news about China openly and with balance.

The notion that self-censorship exists and must be commonplace probably is derived from the assumption that there ought to be self-censorship, given the peculiar and delicate situation in which Hong Kong's freewheeling press finds itself.

But the assumption is contradicted by reality — or, at least, by a preponderance of evidence.

Whenever a major story, particularly one about China, lands on the front pages in Hong Kong, the Freedom Forum Asian Center & Library routinely checks the seven or eight English-language and Chinese dailies that comprise the territory's independent press. (We eschew the three or four newspapers that reflect the views of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese central government).

Never have we seen any evidence that on these issues the English-language and independent Chinese-language press pull punches in a way that could be interpreted as self-censorship.

Coverage in the Hong Kong press has appeared unrestrained in all sorts of stories: the forced landing of a U.S. surveillance plane, tensions over Taiwan, crackdowns against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, repression in Tibet, arrests of Chinese dissidents, protests and violent demonstration in rural China, and harsh words from the Chinese leadership, including President Jiang Zemin, who has pointedly assailed the Hong Kong press.

News reports about such matters are played on page one, often above the fold. And they are the basis for commentary and editorials that often criticize Chinese policy.

Hong Kong's press deserves credit for its balanced reporting of sensitive issues — coverage that continues despite stepped-up criticism over the past 12 months from mainland sources about coverage of China, Taiwan and related subjects.

But the fact is that the Hong Kong press has covered Taiwan and other sensitive topics in a balanced manner.

The latest example was a lead story about Beijing's demands that the United States deny a visa to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who plans to stop in the United States next month on his way to Latin America.

Self-censorship, to be sure, is almost impossible to document unless the perpetrator speaks out.

When the Hong Kong news media miss stories, the explanation is generally rooted in journalistic inexperience and incompetence, rather than the urge or compulsion to censor oneself.

A story not seen in Hong Kong is the working of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong since July 1997. But even the U.S. consul general has characterized this subject as not a significant development.

There is no reporting in any concentrated way of the Chinese government's moves in central Asia to suppress Muslim insurgency in Xinjiang. But you don't see that kind of story in the Western press, either.

However, stories do appear in the Hong Kong press about Tibet and the Dalai Lama — which are touchy topics for Beijing.

Much of the reporting of dissidents and protests in China is left to a human rights group organized by a former mainlander, Frank Lu. Lu has developed a wide network of China contacts who report to him at his Hong Kong base, and local and international news organizations based in Hong Kong routinely cite his information.

The Hong Kong news media have their problems, to be sure. Self-censorship may be one of them. But no one, certainly not the U.S. State Department, has demonstrated that self-censorship is widely practiced, systemic and harmful to coverage.

Related

Journalist group gives Hong Kong press mixed reviews
News media sometimes seem more like cheerleaders than critical observers, Hong Kong Journalists Association says.  08.08.01