No News is Bad News

Oct 7 2019

Journalists have played a vital role in the mvmt. They’re not ‘of’ the mvmt, but their neutrality & determination to shine light on truth will forever be appreciated. HKers’ fight for freedom is a fight for theirs too.

The press is part of the fabric of HK society. They feature in every family picture since June - cameras out, high-vis vests on, standing just behind the frontline. They’re on no one’s ‘side’ per se, but since part of our fight is against rampant disinformation, reporters …

documenting the truth are welcomed as heroes. Here, they are posed like our frontliners - heroes working in a cloud of tg, fearless & undeterred. No umbrellas or kickboards for them - reporters’ cameras are their weapons & their shields, in pursuit & defence of the truth.

Sometimes the truth is ugly. Journalists hv borne witness to extreme police brutality in HK. They’ve watched us get beaten bloody, seen our kids get arrested. And they’ve documented moments when our emotions got the better of us & we acted out rashly. They never looked away.

For that we’re grateful. We want the world to see the truth of what’s going on in HK, warts & all. That’s why despite how we may hv small quibbles with coverage now and then, the mvmt has made it clear from the start - we do what we can to help & protect reporters.

Easier said than done when it’s becoming increasingly clear HKPF is actively targeting & suppressing the press. They obstruct journalists’ views w/ strobe lights and brute force. They ‘smurf’ reporters w/ water cannons. They aim teargas and rubber bullets at journo’s heads.

HKers are fighting for democracy. But we understand that that new world can only work if we’ve a free & independent press. So we fight agst HKPF which aims to blind & choke journalists. We fight agst a govt that takes away reporters’ masks & suffocate them with putrid airs.

In our protest art, journalists are shown to be part of our new world. On left, the press is one of the first to follow Liberty’s way towards democracy. On the right, the promise that we all meet under Lego maskless & free when all is over extends to journalists too.

Every iconic picture/video you’ve seen of the HK mvmt likely came from a journo - local, part of the intl corp, or a student. Reporters on the frontline hv ate teargas alongside us, got burnt w/ us, got hurt w/ us.

All so that our story can be heard.

From all HKers, thank you!

Update, May 13, 2020

HKPF’s dialling up of violence on reporters in recent wks have inspired wave of art.

On left “HK journos risk their lives reporting the news”, and on right, we see exactly who is putting their lives at risk- paw of a 🐶, slang for the police.

We also have these clever word art. What word do you think of when you hear the word ‘press’? To the HKPF, it would seem it’s “prey” and “oppress” 😩