Michael Chugani

Opinion | With the police’s redefinition of media, I am no longer a journalist

But it’s not just the media being redefined, it is also the Basic Law, liberal studies, and separation of powers as we know it. Hong Kong’s very character is being changed

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor speaks to the media last February. Are aggressive questions no longer part of media freedom? Lam refused to answer when reporters asked her recently. Photo: Felix Wong

Michael Chugani

Published: 8:45am, 1 Oct 2020Updated: 8:59am, 1 Oct 2020

Last Tuesday, I was redefined. It wasn’t my choice. The Hong Kong police did it, a redefinition backed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung.

To them, I am no longer what I have been all my working life – a journalist who has worked full-time and as a freelancer for many media outlets. I have worked as a freelancer in Hong Kong, London, Washington and Seattle.

I covered Britain’s parliament, the United States Congress, the White House, where I questioned then president Bill Clinton during photo opportunities, interviewed Senator Mitch McConnell, who gave me the exclusive on the US-Hong Kong Policy Act, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and did a television interview with former president Jimmy Carter – all as a freelancer.

I now freelance for a TV station where I do English and Chinese shows, and for three English and Chinese newspapers, including the Post. But from last Tuesday, the police and the government no longer recognise freelancers as journalists.

The police amended its rule to recognise only those working for media outlets registered with the Government News and Media Information System (GNMIS), and “internationally recognised and reputable” foreign media. I don’t qualify under GNMIS requirements.

04:52

Hong Kong journalists protest against police’s new definition of ‘media representative’

All the media outlets I freelance for are registered with GNMIS but use staff reporters for protests and press conferences, which means I can’t represent them. But as a freelancer, I need to cover protests, as I did last year, for a fuller insight for my columns and TV talk show.