A Hong Kong independent media outlet has said its journalists have been targeted by harassing text messages and “stalked” by unknown individuals, the latest in a series of intimidations against the city’s press since 2024 . Journalists in Hong Kong. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. InMedia said in a blog post on Friday that its reporters had received harassing text messages “in recent months” and were suspected of being followed after work by unidentified individuals “in recent days.”
“Some unknown individuals were suspected to have trailed our reporters following the public hearings by the Wang Fuk Court [fire] independent committee,” InMedia said in the Chinese-language blog post.
The public hearings into the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire began on March 19, with eight sessions held before the long weekend began on Friday. The hearings resumed on Wednesday.
InMedia said it filed two police reports regarding the suspected stalking and harassment without disclosing further details. The media outlet did not immediately respond to an HKFP request for comment.
HKFP has reached out to the police for comment.
2024 harassment against journalists
The incidents are the latest examples of a string of harassment campaigns targeting journalists in the city since September 2024, when at least 13 organisations, including media outlets and press organisations, were subject to various forms of intimidation. Selina Cheng, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, on September 13, 2024. Screenshots behind her show Facebook posts doxxing the identity of reporters. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. At that time, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), a press union, described the situation as a “systematic and organised attack .” InMedia, the HKJA, and HKFP were among the 13 organisations that faced harassment, which included online doxxing and defamatory letters sent to home addresses, workplaces and family members.
Selina Cheng, the HKJA chairperson, said at that time that it had filed a police report and two journalists had made criminal doxxing complaints to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog.
Police said in October 2024 that they were investigating the HKJA’s harassment reports . Last month, they told HKFP’s chief editor that no arrests had been made in connection with the 2024 harassment case that affected the company.
Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the 2020 and 2024 security laws . Watchdogs cite the arrest and jailing 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. See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law 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 .