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By Jessie Pang and James Pomfret
HONG KONG (Reuters) – After Hong Kong police raided Stand Information and arrested two editors, its employees determined that to keep away from extra arrests they needed to shut down the web media outlet, whose hard-hitting experiences of the 2019 pro-democracy protests noticed its readership surge.
Later that day, Dec. 29, 2021, a bunch of staffers gathered round a single pc to wipe their archives in a newsroom stripped largely naked of terminals and gear by police.
“It’s totally miserable that each one our arduous work was gone in a single evening,” mentioned Louise, a former video journalist at Stand Information.
On Thursday, a Hong Kong courtroom discovered former Stand Information chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, 54, responsible of conspiring to publish seditious publications. One other editor, Patrick Lam, 36, was additionally convicted.
The case is the primary sedition conviction of journalists since Hong Kong’s switch of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, and critics, which embrace the U.S. authorities, say it displays deteriorating media freedoms underneath a years-long safety crackdown within the China-ruled metropolis.
Stand Information began off as a struggling non-profit in 2014, with a skeleton employees closely reliant on public donations.
Throughout Hong Kong’s months-long pro-democracy protests in 2019 the outlet’s recognition skyrocketed given its hours-long Fb (NASDAQ:) dwell streams, in-depth options and investigative experiences, with greater than 20 million web page views monthly.
The liberal tone of Stand Information reportage helped it appeal to recent readers, as individuals sought extra freedom and democracy amid China’s tightening management over town. A flood of recent donations noticed the newsroom almost triple to over 60 employees.
Six former staffers mentioned Chung, the founding editor, was dedicated to hard-hitting experiences, utilizing textual content, graphics and visuals, to carry authorities to account. This was at a time when dangers had been rising with the closure of the pro-democracy Apple (NASDAQ:) Each day newspaper and a spate of arrests, they mentioned.
“He was actually prepared to put money into tales that he thought had been value doing,” mentioned Athanasia, a former reporter who declined to offer her full title given the sensitivity of the subject.
And Chung’s dedication to getting the information out was mirrored by Stand Information employees.
On the evening of the police raid, one Stand Information journalist stored enhancing a narrative till police took away his earphones, mentioned former video journalist Louise.
“He actually labored until the tip,” she mentioned.
Louise mentioned the sensation of “coronary heart break” over the closure of Stand Information had by no means left her.
“It is like an attractive scar,” she mentioned.
Almost three years later and regardless of the conviction of two editors, former Stand Information staffers stand by their work in what they are saying is shrinking unbiased reporting in Hong Kong.
“I consider Stand Information as a degree of no return as a result of it was very free, and with nice beliefs,” mentioned Louise, now a contract video journalist and documentary director.
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