‘Chilling time to be a journalist in Hong Kong’ as pro-democracy paper is threatened

The future of pro-democracy media outlet The Apple Daily is at risk and there are fears more media outlets could close in Hong Kong. The newspaper and its website will likely shut by this weekend if not earlier after a ruthless campaign led by Chinese President Xi Jinping's national security agents which saw assets frozen and executives arrested, according to Asia correspondent Adrian Brown. “It seems that the final nail in the coffin for The Apple Daily is about to be applied, the board of directors for Next Digital, which owns The Apple Daily, are going to have a meeting on Friday,” he told Sky News. “Unless, they say, the security bureau here in Hong Kong rescinds the decision to freeze the assets of The Apple Daily then it will have no option but to shut down the newspaper.” Mr Brown said the Secretary of State for Hong Kong John Lee said “journalists in Hong Kong should separate themselves from The Apple Daily”. “Certainly the actions that we’ve seen against The Apple Daily amount to, in the eyes of many, intimidation.” Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au