STORY: The newly-elected head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association stood before a throng of reporters on Wednesday to say she had been fired from her job at the Wall Street Journal after she refused demands from her boss at the paper to not run for the leadership post and to not advocate for media freedoms.
“At that time, he demanded that I resign from my position on the executive committee of the journalists’ association. I told him that day that I refused, but he said the position in the journalists’ association was incompatible with my position at The Wall Street Journal. He said that employees of The Wall Street Journal should not be promoting press freedom in places like Hong Kong. He said this place is not like some Western countries where press freedom has already been established.“
Selina Cheng – who covered China’s automobile sector for the Journal – was elected in June to be the trade union’s new chairperson at a time of mounting pressure by authorities under a national security crackdown that has seen reporters arrested and liberal media outlets closed.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said in a statement that by pressuring employees not to take part in the trade union, the Journal “risks hastening the decline of what space for independent journalism remains.”
A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company, told Reuters it had made some personnel changes and restructuring decisions on Wednesday but would not comment on specific individuals.
Source Agencies
