Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #standnews

Most recents (7)

#CONTINUE Chung Pui-kuen is on the witness stand for the 3rd day. Today defense counsel Audrey Eu began to ask Chung questions about how the prosecution described what happened in Hong Kong in 2019 and after #NSL came in force and the 17 "seditious" articles.
For background this is an old thread about the prosecution's case against #StandNews and what "judicial notice" they wanted the court to take in order to determine the nature of the offence:
The prosecution cited the opening paragraph describing HK's situation since the protests in 2019 in a resolution by the NPCSC on May 28, 2020 to enact an #NSL for Hong Kong. The paragraph said since the #antiELAB protests in 2019, "anti-China destabilising forces in Hong Kong"...
Read 38 tweets
#CONTINUE #StandNews founding chief editor Chung Pui-kuen began this morning his second day on witness stand. The first QA session with his defense counsel lasted 1.5 hours and ended when Chung choked in tears as he spoked about the last day of #AppleDaily in June 2021.
* Chung told the court that after #NSL came in force, he decided to stop publishing any commentary that advocated for independence and separation of any part of China, however, he did not set such a red line for #StandNews reporting.
* "If a political figure with public attention indeed raised such a proposition, we believed we should still let our readers know instead of filtering it out, otherwise, some readers might believe that person was rather moderate and trust-worthy."
Read 26 tweets
#DEVELOPING Chung Pui-kuen, founding chief editor of #StandNews began to take the witness stand this morning as defense started their case.

A few points from Chung's account:
* The 3 founders of #StandNews chose to surrender their rights to benefits and to sell the company shares to a trust fund in order to minimize impacts on the news company in case any of them were under threats or pressure - a lesson learned from the shuttering of House News.
* #StandNews registered with the regulator of newspapers and magazines the day after HK gov announced to allow online media to join official pressers etc in 2017 because #StandNews wanted to provide more comprehensive coverage and better discharge duty to supervise the authority.
Read 25 tweets
#Thread about HK prosecution's opening statement on the #StandNews "conspiracy to publish seditious publications" case.

In the 53-page document, the prosecutor wrote 3 times that the seditious intent in the articles were "self-evident" 不言而喻/不宣而告.
The prosecution said the crux of their case is not about the defendants, namely Best Pencil Ltd, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam "taking actual actions in accordance with their unlawful agreement", but that they "had reached an unlawful agreement to publish seditious publications"
As said on the first day, the prosecution said they do not have to prove the seditious intent in the defendants; they only have to prove that the defendants were aware of the seditious intent in the articles.
Read 10 tweets
This #thread is about the first day of the trial of #StandNews and its two former chief editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, a case as my colleague @holmeschan_ described that "literally put press freedom on trial".

@AFP report up-picked by VOA: voanews.com/a/hong-kong-jo…
The 3 defendants, Best Pencil Ltd (#StandNews parent company) , Chung and Lam, were charged of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications", a British colonial offense the carries up to 24 months in jail.

But Chung and Lam has been in pre-trial detention for 10 months because
...sedition is now treated as a national security crime that's not in the #NSL Beijing imposed on HK in mid-2020 and hence bail is usually denied.

Both Chung and Lam have pleaded not guilty to the charge so they won't have 1/3 discount if they are convicted and facing sentence.
Read 21 tweets
After @ASU's @Cronkite_ASU announced the plan to take over the administration of @HRPressAwards starting 2023, some supposed winners from this year's award, which was suspended, said they are not sure if they would enter the contest again in the future. rfa.org/mandarin/yatai…
One former journalist from the disbanded #StandNews in #HongKong told @RFA_Chinese that the most important things for journalists are resources and risk assessment. After Stand News was forced to shut down at the end of last year, ...
... Ms. Chan said she has lost a platform to report. She can't guarantee whether she could enter the contest as an individual, and she also needs to assess the risk of entering journalism awards abroad.
Read 7 tweets
On Monday, the Chief Editor and Chief Writer of @hkcnews_com said their decision to close is due to the closure of #StandNews. "We could not rule out that [...] we might be exposed to some risks," said Chris Yeung. My latest with colleagues: dw.com/en/hong-kong-s…
"The decision was made within a short period of time. The trigger point was the fate of Stand News. We could not rule out that [...] we might be exposed to some risks," said Chris Yeung, CitizenNews' chief writer and former president of HKJA.
Established in 2017, Citizen News described itself as independent, with no party affiliation and promoting freedom, openness, diversity and inclusion. It had 40 employees.
Read 6 tweets

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