Overseas groups step up support for Hong Kong’s Selina Cheng over Wall Street Journal sacking

Asia Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association latest to support reporter who says newspaper fired her over press freedom role

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Selina Cheng was voted chairwoman of Hong Kong’s largest press union on June 22. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 12:57pm, 19 Jul 2024Updated: 3:01pm, 19 Jul 2024

International press organisations and a top US congressional panel are leading a growing chorus of support for Hong Kong Journalists Association chairwoman Selina Cheng, who said she was fired by The Wall Street Journal for assuming her leadership role in the union.

The Asia Chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association said it “stands in support” with Cheng, a member of the group, while calling on all news organisations to allow their journalists’ advocacy for press freedom.

“Journalists must be able join and lead press organisations that are committed to defending media freedom without facing intimidation or retaliation,” the group said in a statement shared on social media on Friday.

Other press groups that have expressed support for Cheng include the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, Reporters Without Borders, the US-based Society of Professional Journalists, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Canada-based Media Action Plan and Women Press Freedom.

In a social media post on Thursday, the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China said it was “tracking concerns” about Cheng’s firing “and the disturbing questions about whether [the Journal] is abetting the erosion of press freedoms” in the city.

Hong Kong ranked 135 out of 180 jurisdictions in the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, up from its low of 148 in 2022. The city ranked 18th when the annual report was first launched in 2002.

The latest outpouring of support followed similar statements issued by Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, NewsGuild – North America’s largest trade union of journalists, media workers and activists – and The Wall Street Journal’s US-based union, The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees.