Hong Kong's free press under threat
A popular slogan since the attack on Lau: "They can't kill us all"
Earlier this week former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau was brutally attacked by a man wielding a cleaver. He survived, just. Ming Pao is renowned for its investigative journalism, especially on mainland Chinese matters.
No-one knows yet why Lau was attacked. But the effect has nonetheless been chilling. Journalists, especially locals, feel like Hong Kong's reputation as a bastion of free speech within China is under threat like never before. Media organisations critical of Beijing have faced advertising boycotts, influential editors and journalists have been sacked or sidelined and most writers admit self-censorship is now commonplace.
But the attack on Lau has sparked a fight back.
Hong Kong's free press under threat
A popular slogan since the attack on Lau: "They can't kill us all"
Earlier this week former Ming Pao editor Kevin Lau was brutally attacked by a man wielding a cleaver. He survived, just. Ming Pao is renowned for its investigative journalism, especially on mainland Chinese matters.
No-one knows yet why Lau was attacked. But the effect has nonetheless been chilling. Journalists, especially locals, feel like Hong Kong's reputation as a bastion of free speech within China is under threat like never before. Media organisations critical of Beijing have faced advertising boycotts, influential editors and journalists have been sacked or sidelined and most writers admit self-censorship is now commonplace.
But the attack on Lau has sparked a fight back.