HONG KONG – Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news outlets in the city willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good.
Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she's gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair.
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Four years into a crackdown on dissent that's swept up democracy-leaning journalists, activists and politicians in this autonomously-governed Chinese city, a lot of people are tuning out the news. It's a striking sign of change in a city that used to pulse with talk, from morning conversations over newspapers in bustling dim sum restaurants, to lively debates on social media throughout the day, to evening discussions at dinner tables.
Wong says it's too hard to read the headlines, but avoiding them left her feeling more disconnected. “There's a loss of the sense of belonging to this place."
Since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, press freedom has narrowed.
In 2021, Apple Daily and Stand News closed down after the arrests of their top management. Hong Kong was ranked 135 out of 180 territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.
On Thursday, two former editors of Stand News were convicted in the first sedition case involving media since the former British colony returned to China’s rule in 1997. The judge said their outlet became a tool for smearing the Beijing and Hong Kong governments during the huge anti-government protests in 2019.
After the verdict, the Hong Kong government said that when journalists base their reporting on facts, there are no restrictions on press freedom.
The city's politics are one factor driving news avoidance, said Francis Lee, a journalism and communication professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In early 2023, a survey conducted by Lee's team at the Center for Communication and Public Opinion Survey found that about 4 in 10 Cantonese-speaking adults in Hong Kong agreed or strongly agreed that they sometimes want to avoid news about the changing social or political environment in Hong Kong.
Lee said people who don't trust the government are more likely to tune out the news, such as democracy supporters who tend to view the city’s recent changes negatively. When people perceive the outlets as unable to perform, they are also more inclined to avoid news, he said.
Residents like Wong said the remaining media now largely echoes government narratives.
Iris Ng, another former reader of Apple Daily and Stand News, said she's reading more about livelihood issues and softer features but less about politics, finance and policy.
The 34-year-old photographer said she wanted to avoid the officials' “farce” because it makes her feel angry and helpless.
“It doesn’t matter if you read the news every day or catch up 10 days later because you don’t have a choice or a voice anyway,” she said.
A public increasingly checking out means the city’s remaining civil society is finding it more challenging to amplify the impact of their work.
Chan Kim-ching, who conducts independent research on the city's land and development issues at the Liber Research Community, said the organization's work used to drive public conversations that could last for two to three days when it made headlines. Chan would hear people talking about it in diner-like cha chaan teng restaurants. The government, facing pressure, might respond.
But this year, even when the organization made it to the front page, Chan says that social media shifted to other topics within hours.
While the impact on his group is not severe, they feel their “efforts are twice as hard but only half as effective” when attempting to engage the public with some very important issues, he said.
People still talked about their reports when they covered topics like animal rights, he added.
Julian Ng said there's little room left to make a difference and, under the security law, he no longer dared to share news reports or his comments online. He's prioritized his personal goals after the challenging years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It turns out this lifestyle is quite happy," he said.
But even as political discussion goes quiet, many said it shouldn't be mistaken for apathy.
Wong took note of the verdict in the Stand News sedition case, even though it made her feel that “there wasn't even a 0.001% hope" as qualities that made her proud of Hong Kong are lost.
Others are still trying to keep them alive. Veteran journalist Catherine Chan co-founded The Witness, a new outlet that focuses on court reporting, in 2022.
Chan said people might not want to read the news every day, but that doesn't mean they don't care. To cater to those readers, Chan’s team produces podcasts with weekly updates and summaries of long trials.
She said there's still demand for court news. She said the value of their reports is not just that they can be read now, but also that they provide a comprehensive record of the cases for the future.
“If it’s worth doing, I’ll do it, even if only one person is reading it,” she said.