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Hong Kong’s ‘loyal critic’ faces tough test as Beijing targets media

In a paper revealed in 2013 simply after Xi Jinping took energy, Hong Kong media tycoon Yu Pun-hoi wrote optimistically about how the brand new Chinese language president wanted to take an “unambiguous stand towards dictatorship” and guarantee “free speech”.

Eight years later, issues couldn’t have panned out extra otherwise, particularly for Hong Kong’s as soon as vibrant media. Yu’s fundamental rival, pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, is behind bars and his widespread Apple Daily tabloid newspaper has been shuttered. Each have been high-profile targets of Xi’s crackdown on civil freedoms after anti-government protests shook Hong Kong in 2019.

Yu, 63, a profitable entrepreneur expert at strolling the road between being a pro-Beijing loyalist and infrequently criticising the native Hong Kong authorities, has immediately discovered himself uncomfortably near the firing line. With the removing of Apple Each day, his irreverent web site HK01, with its heady mixture of crime and leisure, is now town’s hottest information portal.

“The fashion he presents as a media proprietor isn’t like Jimmy Lai,” stated Grace Leung, a journalism lecturer on the Chinese language college of Hong Kong. “He’s extra like the normal Chinese language [elite businessman] . . . HK01 has tried to place itself as pro-China however at the very least seem like a bit extra impartial.”

Hong Kong’s aggressive media was historically seen as a part of its enchantment as an international financial centre, capable of maintain the federal government to account in a approach that was unimaginable in mainland China.

However for the reason that protests and the introduction of a nationwide safety legislation final yr, the federal government has clamped down on the press. Other than arresting Lai, it has focused public broadcaster RTHK, outstanding journalists have fled the city, citing “white terror”, though the federal government argues press freedoms have been preserved. White terror refers back to the a long time of authoritarian rule in Taiwan when tons of of dissidents have been jailed. Hong Kong protesters have used the time period to characterise their worry of retribution after the 2019 protests.

From its founding in 2016, HK01 has attracted readers by mixing salacious celeb gossip and criticism of the native Hong Kong authorities with help for Beijing’s rule, reflecting the leanings of the coterie of independent-minded however in the end pro-China businesspeople who’ve lengthy dominated town.

However within the wake of the safety legislation, Beijing is listening much less to town’s conventional elites, partly blaming them for the protests. On this new Hong Kong, analysts marvel if HK01 can proceed with its “loyalist criticism”, or if the trace of dissent that helped drive readership will likely be stamped out.

Yu burst on to the Hong Kong media scene within the early Nineteen Nineties at age 33, taking on Chinese language language newspaper Mingpao after a failed bid from Rupert Murdoch. He bought the paper after a scandal during which the Hong Kong media revealed he had been jailed for a couple of months in his youth when learning in Canada.

He developed property, cinema and IT companies in mainland China earlier than launching HK01’s web site in 2016. The outlet, which unleashed a few of Hong Kong’s greatest journalists on delicate matters and on town’s strongest folks, developed a repute for scoops.

“We knew that our boss had his private opinions however he seldom interrupted our protection,” one worker advised the Monetary Instances, describing this era as HK01’s “golden time”.

Yu’s curiosity within the media additionally arose from a want to affect public coverage, analysts stated. He’s the chair of educational institutes at China’s Tsinghua and Peking universities and purchased Duowei in 2009, one of many largest political information web sites concentrating on the Chinese language diaspora.

“Yu doesn’t completely take heed to the central authorities . . . He’s a businessman along with his personal concepts on politics, he’s not completely crimson,” one other former editorial staffer stated.

Yu first revealed his twin method to Beijing whereas at Mingpao, when one in all his reporters was arrested in China in 1993. Whereas his paper lobbied for the journalist’s launch, Yu apologised to Chinese language authorities and stated he had purpose to imagine the journalist was responsible.

However the large check for Yu’s method got here in 2019 in the course of the anti-government protests. Yu, who’s now additionally chief editor of HK01, editorialised towards violence by the pro-democracy camp, upsetting frontline reporters who complained that democrats have been refusing to be interviewed by them.

“The highest administration could be very pro-establishment however some reporters and editors are very pro-democrat, so there may be at all times a pressure there,” stated Rose Luqiu, a former Chinese language journalist now at Hong Kong Baptist College.

The introduction of the nationwide safety legislation has led to even tighter editorial management than the pressures that appeared in the course of the protests, two workers stated. “Typically our editors will ban our tales. Editors say it’s too delicate . . . change the angle,” a present workers member stated.

“There’s hardly any criticism of the central authorities,” one other added.

A HK01 senior editor rejected the criticism and stated the outlet “by no means hesitated to dive proper into” delicate matters or cowl politics earlier than or after the introduction of the safety legislation.

One particular person near the corporate stated it additionally didn’t need to be outlined by political information. The enterprise mannequin has advanced in recent times to incorporate ecommerce. “HK01 isn’t solely a media outlet, however an web firm,” the editor stated.

However for Yu and HK01, strolling the tightrope of “loyal criticism” guarantees to solely get harder. If its information turns into perceived as too pro-Beijing in a metropolis whose residents are inclined to lean away from the federal government, HK01 will lose readers.

“After which the advertisers may even abandon you,” Luqiu stated.

However turning into too pro-democrat will entice the opprobrium of nationalists. In latest months, the web site has been focused by Stanley Ng, a pro-Beijing politician who depicted HK01 as belonging in the identical “garbage bin” as Apple Each day.

Extra reporting by Nicolle Liu in Hong Kong

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