(From AFP)
Press freedom further declined in Hong Kong in 2015, driven by growing self-censorship and government interference as Beijing expands its influence over the city’s boisterous media, a new report said Saturday.
The southern Chinese city prides itself on having relative freedom of expression compared with severely restricted reporting in mainland China, a legacy of Britain’s handover of power in 1997.
“Press freedom in China, Hong Kong and Macau deteriorated further in 2015, as the Communist Party of China used every means at its disposal to control the media,” the International Federation of Journalists’ China Press Freedom Report said.
The report comes at a time when the fate of five booksellers, feared to have been detained in mainland China after disappearing late last year, have put residents on edge with concerns the semi-autonomous city’s freedom is being eroded. Read More