Hong Kong journalist union says press freedoms ‘in tatters’

Hong Kong's press freedoms are "in tatters" as China remoulds the once outspoken business hub in its own authoritarian image, the city's main journalist union said yesterday, adding it feared "fake news" laws were on their way. 

"The past year is definitely the worst year so far for press freedom," Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), said as the union published its annual report.

The report referenced a cascade of events impacting the press since China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong last summer to stamp out dissent after huge and often violent democracy protests the year before.

Authors pointed to the jailing of pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the freezing of his Apple Daily newspaper's assets -- a move which led to the Beijing-critical tabloid's closure.