The two veterans of Hong Kong’s long boisterous news media scene didn’t shy away from publishing pro-democracy voices on their Stand News site, even as China cranked up its national security clampdown to silence critics in the city.
Then the police came knocking and, more than 2½ years later, a judge Thursday convicted the two journalists — the former editor-in-chief of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen, and his successor, Patrick Lam — of conspiring to publish seditious materials on the now-defunct liberal news outlet. Both face potential prison sentences.
The landmark ruling highlighted how far press freedom has shrunk in the city, where local news outlets already self-censor to survive and some foreign news organizations have left or moved out staff amid increasing scrutiny from authorities.
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