Chair of Hong Kong press union Selina Cheng fired by Wall Street Journal

Many media organizations are distancing themselves from journalist advocacy

Originally published on Global Voices

This report was originally published in Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) on July 17, 2024. An edited version is published below as part of a content partnership agreement.

A famed US newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, has fired Hong Kong-based reporter Selina Cheng weeks after she was elected chair of the city’s embattled Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), which has met with increasing pressure from authorities.

Addressing reporters outside Central Plaza, where The Wall Street Journal office in Hong Kong is based, Cheng said she was “appalled” that her first press conference as head of the HKJA was one to announce that she “was fired for taking up this position in a press union.”

Around three weeks ago, after senior editors at the newspaper found out I was running to be HKJA’s chairperson, my supervisor in the UK directed me to withdraw from the election. She also asked me to quit the board, which I have served on since 2021, even though The Wall Street Journal approved this when I was hired.

Cheng said she “declined” the request, after which she was told that her role with the HKJA would be “incompatible” with her job as a reporter covering China’s automobile and energy sectors for the newspaper.

She said the company had told her that employees of The Wall Street Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom “in a place like Hong Kong,” even though they “can in Western countries where it is already established.” Cheng said:

It is obvious to me that the fear and unease the press in Hong Kong have been facing for years now has equally affected the Journal’s management, even though they are far away and in different continents.

She added that she had proof of senior editors’ pressuring her regarding her role at the HKJA.

Cheng’s position was terminated effective immediately on the morning of July 17 after the UK-based editor Gordon Fairclough flew to Hong Kong to deliver the message in person. While Cheng was told that her job was “eliminated due to restructuring,” she said the editor-in-chief had earlier highlighted that Chinese electric vehicles were among the most important stories for the paper in Asia.

The newspaper announced in early May that it planned to move its Asia headquarters to Singapore, with some staff in Hong Kong laid off.

Responding to enquiries from HKFP, a spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal’s parent company, Dow Jones, said:

While we can confirm that we made some personnel changes today, we don’t comment on specific individuals.

They added that The Wall Street Journal “has been and continues to be a fierce and vocal advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and around the world.”

Cheng noted The Wall Street Journal’s solidarity with her colleague, reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for over a year on espionage charges. She said she commended its “continued efforts to support him and secure his release in a hostile environment.”

This is why I am deeply shocked that senior editors at the paper would actively violate their employees’ human rights by preventing them from advocating for press freedom that journalists rely on to work in a place where journalists and their rights are under threat. […] The right for reporters to work without fear must not just be protected by the law, but more crucially, by ourselves – reporters, editors and publishers.

‘Disappointed and outraged’

The HKJA said in a statement on the afternoon of July 17 that it was “disappointed and outraged” by The Wall Street Journal’s decision to terminate Cheng:

The HKJA and Ms Cheng are currently consulting lawyers about the paper’s potential breach of Hong Kong labour law in dismissing Ms Cheng.

According to Hong Kong’s Employment Ordinance, employees cannot be dismissed for trade union membership and activities.

The association said that The Wall Street Journal was “not alone in taking this stance,” adding that other board members had been pressured by their employers to stand down, while candidates for board positions at both the HKJA and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club had been warned that their jobs were at risk if they stood for election.

The association urged newsrooms to allow their employees to advocate for press freedom in their written statement:

The HKJA calls on all media organizations… to allow their employees to freely advocate for press freedom and better working conditions in solidarity with fellow journalists in Hong Kong and China.

HKFP has reached out to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

HKJA chair

Cheng was elected chairperson of the HKJA at the association’s Annual General Meeting on June 22, with 100 votes in favour of her candidacy and two against it. A new Executive Committee was also elected at the meeting.

The 56-year-old press group has come under fire from Hong Kong authorities and state-backed media since the city was wracked by months-long protests and unrest in 2019. The HKJA has been accused of smearing the police force, allowing “fake journalists” to join, and protecting protesters.

On June 21, Secretary for Security Chris Tang claimed the HKJA – the city’s largest press group – did not represent the news media industry as it lacked candidates from local mainstream media. Tang said in Cantonese:

Looking at [the list of candidates], it looks more like a foreign journalists’ association to me. Most of them are journalists from foreign media, some are freelancers, some are not even journalists, and their organisations have engaged in political activities.

He appeared to be referring to the Justice Centre candidate Preston Cheung, and Chinese state-funded media outlets reported that it had in the past received foreign funding.

Cheung and the BBC’s Danny Vincent said they wanted to drop out of the race for executive committee seats, but the union said there was no mechanism for them to withdraw. HKJA issued a statement on the evening of June 22 stating that Cheung and Vincent had resigned after the election.

Declining press freedom in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the National Security Law (NSL). Watchdogs cite the arrest of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets, including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News. Over 1,000 journalists have lost their jobs, whilst many have emigrated. Meanwhile, the city’s government-funded broadcaster RTHK has adopted new editorial guidelines, purged its archives and axed news and satirical shows.

In 2022, Chief Executive John Lee said press freedom was “in the pocket” of Hongkongers, but “nobody is above the law”. Although he has told the press to “tell a good Hong Kong story”, government departments have been reluctant to respond to story pitches.

Disclosure: All HKFP staff are members of the HKJA, and Hans Tse is a member of the 2024–2025 Executive Committee.

Written by Hong Kong Free Press