HONG KONG – After more than 200 police officers raided the newsroom of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy, Apple Daily, a staff reporter reported to the editor – in – chief: Should I still go to work?
“You decide,” replied the editor-in-chief, Ryan Law. “This is the biggest news story in the world.”
The reporter rushed to the office. Monday’s robbery allowed reporters and editors to produce livestreams and more than two dozen articles that day about the whip of the police. They detailed the arrest of the newspaper’s founder, Jimmy Lai, analyzed the legal implications of the collapse, and dealt with the international disaster it caused.
“Apple will certainly continue to fight,” a brave red banner head wrote in Tuesday’s edition.
Apple Daily is a tabloid with an agenda, known for both juicy murders of celebrity accidents and hard-hitting investigations into wrong cases of government. It has become more than anything known for its unabashed support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement – printing inserts for use as protest posters and critically reporting on Hong Kong leaders, the police and the Chinese Communist Party.
Now the paper, which is perhaps breaking some of the biggest news in Hong Kong, has become one of the city’s biggest stories itself.
Mr Lai, 72, along with his two sons and four executives of Apple Daily and its parent company, Next Digital, are facing possible charges of collusion with a foreign country or external elements under the new national security law. The newspaper’s headquarters were searched and more than 30 boxes of documents were seized from their company offices.
Reporters are concerned that sources may have difficulty talking to them. The Security Act sets out everything they do, and poses new risks of serious legal fines for what they publish.
“I worry that I may not be able to protect my resources under certain circumstances,” said Icy Chung, a general commissioned reporter. “I’m worried that there will come a day when we have to choose between turning ourselves in and turning on our resources.”
In Hong Kong’s newly restricted environment, publication for freewheeling is both a goal and a test case for the government’s authority over the media.
Before Beijing imposed the National Security Act on Hong Kong on June 30, the newspaper had tried to advise it on the possibility that it would one day be pursued by the authorities. Editors discussed whether they should destroy their report notes after the publication of a sensitive article. They discussed the kinds of advice pieces that might put them in legal danger. They stop using bylines on many stories to protect reporters.
Some reporters are now worried about the newspaper’s continued existence, said Alex Lam, the newspaper’s spokesman and a reporter in the investigation team.
“We have a culture of instinctively wanting to help the company when it’s in trouble,” he said. “The attitude is now one of putting challenges together.”
The company organized legal information on how to respond when police raid the newsroom. On Monday night, hours after the robbery, the company had sent a message to all employees with the phone numbers of its lawyers, and guidelines on what information they are not required to provide to the police: their home addresses and passwords to their electronic devices.
Mr. Law said he wanted the newsroom to continue the news – Apple Daily is one of the fastest at posting breaking news in Hong Kong – despite the stress of coming under such scrutiny.
“No matter what the circumstances and in what environment, please do your job,” he said. “We need to be able to publish the news.”
The day after the robbery, the newspaper’s investigation team agreed to carry out projects that were close to completion, even though the government confirmed the company’s finances and they were no longer paid, said Kaman Cheung, an editor who ‘ t the team leads.
“What I can guarantee is that the work that our reporters do, we will publish and we will not be afraid,” Ms. Cheung said. Sensitive reporting material had already been uploaded to private servers abroad before passing national security law, she said.
Ms. Chung, the general commission’s rapporteur, said she had also deleted auto-stored passwords on her work desk, and turned off face recognition features on her phone before passing the security law. She had even deleted the contact details of people she had interviewed last year from legally authorized protests.
Since the raid, Hong Kong residents have been showering Apple Daily with support showers early Tuesday to buy hard copies. The newspaper said it printed 550,000 copies of its Tuesday paper, compared to a normal run of about 70,000.
“I myself and many other people in Hong Kong tried to get a copy from Apple Daily to support the media and show our solidarity with Jimmy Lai,” said Joey Siu, an activist posted a photo of herself with the paper she bought. “Obviously we have differences in our political views, but they are on the side of pro-democracy and we will defend our right to choose which media we want.”
Apple Daily has long challenges. As with traditional news outlets worldwide, the decline in print advertising and the rise of new online competition is its bottom line erode. For the fiscal year that ended in March, Next Digital, parent company Apple Daily, said its revenue had dropped by 11 percent while its net loss grew by nearly 23 percent. Last year, it established a paywall for its online content from Apple Daily and its sister paper in Taiwan.
Political pressure has compounded the difficulties. Big advertisers are disappearing for fear of business repercussions on mainland China. The newspapers were stolen and burned. Mr. Lai was the target of a murder plot in 2009 and had rattled the gates to his house in 2013. In 2015, firebombs were dropped on Mr Lai’s home and Next’s headquarters.
With major companies avoiding the paper, the sites now have ads from local supporters. A Thai product store put a beer ad on the front page on Wednesday. “Alcohol is good to drink,” it said. “This paper is easy to read.” Another, from a store for adult products, used suggestive language to compliment Hong Kongers on their enthusiasm.
In addition to buying copies of the paper, many in Hong Kong bought Next Digital stock market after the police raid, and the price went up by more than 1,100 percent from Monday to Tuesday, making it the Hong Kong’s most valuable media outlet. holding made.
“The people of Hong Kong will usually stand to buy copies of the paper, they will buy the scholarship,” said Victoria Tin-bor Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “It’s a daily form of resistance when you can no longer protest.”
On Wednesday, Apple Daily staff took a brief moment to celebrate the return of Mr. Lai, its embattled owner, after he was released on bail.
Mr Lai, who was marching in handcuffs through his newspaper while police conducted the search on Monday, received a heroic welcome. He bowed and waved as staff applauded and handed him a bouquet of flowers. Cheung Kim-hung, the next director of Digital Digital who was also arrested, gave him a hug.
“We will keep going and just keep going,” Mr Lai told the team. “The media business is getting harder and harder. Let’s climb the mountain. ”
