A now inoperative digital news service and its two former editors have been convicted of conspiracy to publish seditious articles by a Hong Kong court four years after the city adopted the national security law.
Thursday’s District Court ruling on Stand News marked the first time a judge hand-picked by the city leader to adjudicate proceedings under the Beijing-decreed law had demarcated acceptable reporting boundaries.
Prosecutors accused former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, 54, and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung, 36, of promoting anti-government ideologies and discrediting authorities with the publication of 17 news and commentary articles between July 2020 and December 2021.
The court also recorded a not guilty plea from Best Pencil HK, Stand News’ holding company, which was unrepresented in the 55-day trial that began in November 2022.
The two editors had spent at least 11 months incarcerated before securing bail in the middle of the trial.
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Stand News is believed to be the first media outlet to be accused of sedition since the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao ran a report vilifying the British colonial government in 1952.
Curbs and threats to press freedom have continued to become a concern among the city’s journalists and observers abroad.
Authorities have made repeated assurances the law would not harm press freedom provided that practitioners abide by the law.
City leader John Lee Ka-chiu, during a press event in May, warned against “provoking quarrels” and “smearing” as he highlighted the news industry’s “heavy social responsibilities” and drew a line between “constructive” and “destructive” journalism.
