Hong Kong continues to languish near the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders press freedom ranking released on Wednesday’s World Press Freedom Day.
“The slight rise in the index this year is mostly due to the fact of adjustment in the index after [a] sharp drop of 68 places last year – at the same time, Hong Kong has scored lower or the same as last year in three for five indicators and the most notably the lowest in the legal factor,” CĂ©dric Alviani, East Asia bureau director of RSF, told HKFP. The bureau director said that the legal factor “Should not come by surprise,” citing the trials against top editors of defunct media outlets Apple Daily and Stand News.
