Third pro-democracy news outlet to close in Hong Kong during security law fears

Bloomberg

A third Hong Kong news outlet announced it would shut as the city installed a legislature vetted for loyalty to the Communist Party, in a stark illustration of Beijing’s success in silencing the local opposition.
The milestones unfolded in dramatic split screen as Citizen News briefed reporters on its decision to close at midnight at the same time as dozens of pro-establishment lawmakers were sworn-in one by one in front of the red and gold Chinese national flag. It’s the third independent publication to close in six months as national security police probe journalists in the former British colony, which once enjoyed one of Asia’s freest media environments.
“The indications are clear that overall the media is facing an increasingly tough environment. Those seen as critical or troublemakers are more vulnerable,” Chris Yeung, chief writer at Citizen News, said at a Monday press conference.
“In the midst of those uncertainties, we’re not able to get a clear, reassuring picture. So we’ve decided not to operate,” he added, elaborating on plans the outlet had announced in a statement late Sunday.
Citizen News is the third independent publication to close in six months as national security police probe journalists in the former British colony that once enjoyed one of Asia’s freest media environments. Days earlier, Stand News collapsed under a security investigation that saw seven arrested, while in July the city’s largest independent news source, Apple Daily, shut under intense police pressure that left it unable to pay staff.
Dozens of activists and media professionals have been arrested under the national security law Beijing imposed in June 2020, and authorities have begun charging journalists under a colonial-era sedition law that can jail a writer for as many as two years.
Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s electoral system last year to reduce the number of directly elected lawmakers, as part of its clampdown on dissent in the wake of 2019’s anti-government unrest. It also gave national security officials power to vet candidates for their respect of the Communist Party.
The first lawmakers sworn in under that system Monday won their seats in a vote last month that drew the city’s lowest ever turn out in legislative elections. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who presided over the ceremony, is expected to ask the new legislature to consider proposals for more national security legislation.