Jailing of Hong Kong journalists for sedition will have chilling effect on media, experts say

But Stand News case is unlikely to have significant impact on industry given increased caution journalists now take in doing their jobs, they say

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Patrick Lam, Stand News ex-acting editor-in-chief, leaves the District Court on Thursday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 8:30am, 27 Sep 2024Updated: 3:32pm, 27 Sep 2024

The jailing of two Hong Kong journalists under the colonial-era sedition law will reinforce a “chilling effect” on the media but will not have a significant immediate impact on news outlets, which have already become more cautious in recent years, observers and academics have said.

They also said the case reflected the “real dangers” journalists in Hong Kong were facing while performing their duties.

But a government adviser insisted that the ruling would not have any deterrent effect on the industry while offering reassurances press freedoms remained intact.

On Thursday, District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin sentenced former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and ex-acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam Shiu-tung. The judge imposed a jail term of 21 months on Chung and set a starting point of 14 months for Lam before reducing it by three months due to his medical condition.

Lam was released after taking into account his time already spent in custody and consideration of the treatment he needed for a rare disease.

The sentence was handed down after Kwok ruled earlier that Stand News had offered a platform for fostering hatred against Beijing and city authorities with the publication of 11 articles between July 2020 and December 2021.