Opinion | No threat to Hong Kong press freedom after court ruling on Stand News
The judgment sets out the reasons for finding the media outlet guilty of sedition, a crime in Hong Kong since colonial times
Is the press sacred and untouchable in today’s world? Some think it is. Yes, press freedom is a universal value and fundamental to a free society, but what are its limits, if any? These are pressing questions many struggle to answer.
It may be instructive to revisit a similar case in 1998. In that case, the publisher of a mainstream Chinese-language newspaper was prosecuted for criminal contempt, a common-law offence, for inciting others to disparage the judiciary in relation to a series of articles published in that paper.
There is no material difference between the two cases. Both relate to disparaging an important pillar of our society. In the 1998 case, it was the judiciary. In the case of Stand News, it was the Hong Kong government. The responsibility of the paper is the same.
It is widely accepted that the publisher and editor of a paper bear responsibility for the material the paper chooses to carry, whether they wrote it themselves or not. It is called editorial responsibility.
