The New York Times said Tuesday it would move its Hong Kong-based digital news operation to Seoul, South Korea, a significant change by an American news organization, as China has stepped up its efforts to prevent the issues of the Asian metropolis.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has served for decades as an Asian headquarters for the English-language media, lured by the city’s openness to foreign companies, proximity to the Chinese mainland and rich tradition of a free press.
But a comprehensive national security law passed by China in June, aimed at hampering opposition and pro-democracy forces in Hong Kong, has disrupted news organizations and created uncertainty about the city’s prospects as a center for journalism in Asia. .
Some Times employees in Hong Kong have faced challenges in obtaining work permits, obstacles that are common in China but were rarely a problem in the former colony. With the city facing a new era under strict Chinese rule, the Times’ editors determined they needed an additional base of operations in the region.
“China’s new national security law in Hong Kong has created a lot of uncertainty about what the new rules will mean for our operation and our journalism,” Times editors and executives who oversee coverage and reporting wrote in a memo to staff. international operations of the newspaper. Tuesday. “We believe it is prudent to make contingency plans and start diversifying our publishing staff across the region.”
In addition to serving as a base for reporters and editors covering Asia, The Times’ Hong Kong office has become an integral part of the newspaper’s 24/7 digital operation in recent years. Editors there oversee The Times’ online report when staff members in New York and London, the newspaper’s other two global headquarters, say goodbye.
The Times said it would move that digital team of journalists, about a third of its Hong Kong staff, to Seoul over the course of next year. The correspondents will remain in Hong Kong to cover the city and the region. “We fully intend to maintain and even increase our coverage of the transformation of the city, as well as to use it as a window to China,” the memo says.
Hong Kong also houses the print production team for The International New York Times, the European and Asian edition of the newspaper, and those staff members will remain. Advertising and marketing staff are also expected to stay.
Western companies, including banks, technology companies and major news organizations, have weighed their presence in Hong Kong as China has moved to consolidate power in the former colony. There is concern about the ease of obtaining future work permits, a quality that made Hong Kong particularly desirable for foreign companies.
Some journalists also worry that Beijing will crack down on activism and speech more similarly to the way the media is treated in mainland China. The United States and China have been involved in a diplomatic showdown over media organizations since February, when China ousted three reporters for The Wall Street Journal.
“Hong Kong has been a leader in supporting the rights of a free press in Asia for decades, and it is essential that it continue to do so,” Times spokeswoman Ari Isaacman Bevacqua said Tuesday.
With the full impact of China’s new security law still unclear, some media say they are standing still for now. Bloomberg News and CNN, which maintain large teams in Hong Kong, have no current plans to leave the city, according to people familiar with the internal discussions.
The Times, looking for a suitable location outside of Hong Kong, considered Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. South Korea proved attractive, among other reasons, for its friendship with foreign business, the independent press, and its central role in several important Asian news.
In Tuesday’s memo, The Times leaders said they “would remain deeply invested in Hong Kong, as a focus of our journalism and as a place to do business.”
But uncertainties, they wrote, required action. “Any disruption to the operation has the potential to undermine our journalism, which is now more important than ever,” says the memo.
