Verdict expected in sedition trial of two Hong Kong journalists
NBCAug 19
Hong Kong: Stand News Editors Found Guilty of Sedition
Above: Chung Pui-kuen leaves the District Court in Wan Chai. Image copyright: Wikimedia Commons
The Facts
A Hong Kong court on Thursday found Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, former chief editors of the now-defunct media outlet Stand News, guilty of sedition.
Both journalists, arrested in 2021, were charged under the colonial-era sedition law — instead of the 2020 national security law — for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious materials.
The Spin
Anti-China narrative
This verdict is another nail in the coffin for press freedom and free speech in Hong Kong. Pui-kuen and Lam had been operating within journalistic principles to deliver unbiased, uninfluenced news stories for the marginalized and the minority. Their conviction is unfair, undermines Hong Kong's self-portrayal as a bastion of free press in Asia, and risks descending the city further into authoritarianism.
Pro-China narrative
Pui-kuen and Lam distorted facts, attacked criminal procedures and law enforcement officials, and undermined the government's authority with fake news on public security and stability. The fact that their trial was Hong Kong's first involving media since 1997 and they weren't charged under national security law — which carries penalties up to life in prison — shows that the verdict is fair.