China tightens control of Hong Kong media

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the only publicly funded media group on Chinese soil. Founded in 1928, it has often been referred to as the BBC of Hong Kong. Beijing has reportedly issued a detailed document to the station’s staff stressing that under no circumstances should its reporting “provide a platform to encourage, incite, promote, glorify, endorse or sympathize with any act or activity endangering national security or otherwise contain any contents which are contrary to the interests of national security.”

Why the crackdown? RTHK angered the Chinese government with its coverage of pro-democracy demonstrations in protest of Hong Kong’s sweeping new “national security law.” That law has erased many liberties in the semi-independent territory. China has used it to jail protesters and seize the assets of pro-democracy activists.

Dig deeper: Read Erica Kwong’s report on a Christian filmmaker who documented the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.