Freedom of expression in Hong Kong on decline, journalists say

Hong Kong - Freedom of expression in Hong Kong is on the decline as Beijing tightens its control over newspapers and TV stations in the former British colony, journalists warned Sunday. Unveiling its annual report, the Hong Kong Journalists Association warned that press freedom in the city of 7 million was 'fragile and weakening' and said everything must be done to preserve it. The association's chairwoman, Mak Yin-ting, said she feared that Hong Kong would soon follow the example of neighboring Macau, another former colony, and introduce national security legislation. Macau introduced the strict new legislation, which puts those seen as having an anti-China bias in danger of arrest, without opposition. Attempts to introduce similar legislation in Hong Kong in 2003 were shelved in the face of fierce opposition and mass protests. Mak pointed out that the US-based Freedom House organization recently downgraded Hong Kong's status from a 'free' to a 'partially free' region because of Beijing's growing influence on the media. She appealed to journalists to fight to preserve press freedom in Hong Kong, guaranteed under the 'one country, two systems' terms of the city's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. The debate over press freedoms in Hong Kong was recently highlighted by the decision of Hong Kong's government not to prosecute two bodyguards working for Robert Mugabe's family for an alleged assault on two press photographers. The bodyguards allegedly roughed up two photographers in February outside a house where the Zimbabwean president's daughter is living while studying at university in Hong Kong. In a separate case in January, Mugabe's wife Grace was granted diplomatic immunity after allegedly assaulting another photographer who took pictures of her shopping in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government was accused of damaging press freedoms in the city with the decision, which critics said were politically motivated because of Beijing's political and trade links to Zimbabwe.