"11.1 Despite Hong Kong's handover to China, access by Hong Kong journalists to the mainland remains restricted. Following the crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989, a set of seven regulations was introduced to screen and control those media organizations and journalists wishing to report on the mainland. The most important restrictions remain in place. This means, to give one example, that journalists from Apple Daily and its sister publication Next Magazine, which Beijing considers to be 'unfriendly' media organizations, are denied entry to mainland China. Further, journalists who are permitted to work in China face surveillance from the authorities, at times harassment and even detention.
"11.2 In addition to controlling who and which organizations work in China, the system also provides an effective mechanism for the authorities to penalize journalists or media organizations that are seen as having transgressed in one way or another, or which China regards as unfriendly. The system works in tandem with a blacklist of 'active' local journalists which is kept by Xinhua, and which is used to isolate and punish those in the media deemed 'enemies'.
A joint statement of The Hong Kong Journalists Association in June 1998 said: "For all these welcome signs that freedom of the press retains much of its previous character one year after July 1, 1997, we must once again-as with our broader concerns for the worsened legal and political environment for freedom of expression, introduce a serious note of caution and concern."
To begin with, self-censorship has not miraculously disappeared. It may seem to have abated a little, at least anecdotally, but it remains a serious structural problem. This is particularly - though not exclusively - the case among media organizations owned by those with wide-ranging economic interests in China, as we have noted in previous reports. The manner in which TVB played down an incident, in which one of its news reporters was berated by a senior mainland diplomat for asking "inappropriate" questions of Premier Zhu Rongji, is a notable example. If other journalists had not brought pressure to wear, TVB might well not have reported the incident in its own news (it made the headlines elsewhere) nor have made any official protest to the Chinese authorities.
