Wall Street Journal reporter says she was fired for advocating for press freedom in Hong Kong

As it happens7:14Wall Street Journal reporter says she was fired for advocating for press freedom in Hong Kong

When Selina Cheng was elected head of a press freedom organization in Hong Kong, she didn’t expect her very first press conference to be about her firing from her own job.

Cheng says she was fired as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal after she refused to sever ties with the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA).

“It was really a big shock for me,” Cheng said As it happens host Nil Köksal. “I never thought that my own employment would be questioned.”

The Wall Street Journal declined to comment on Cheng’s case, citing privacy concerns, but did confirm that the newspaper had recently “made some personnel changes.”

“The Wall Street Journal has been and continues to be a staunch and outspoken advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and around the world,” a spokesperson for the Journal told CBC in an emailed statement issued through its parent company, Dow Jones.

Cheng’s departure comes amid a clampdown on press freedom in Hong Kong, which has seen journalists arrested and media outlets shut down. a controversial natural security law that came into effect in March.

Magazine blames restructuring, says Cheng

Cheng, who worked in the Journal’s Hong Kong bureau, was elected president of the HKJA on June 22. The organization describes itself as a union for journalists that monitors and advocates for press freedom in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China.

When she told her bosses at the Journal that she was running for the job, she said, “The initial reaction was that it was problematic.”

Cheng says her supervisor told her that her cooperation with HKJA put her in a conflict of interest and “very directly asked me to withdraw from the election.”

“I finally decided to refuse that request. And they told me right after that that would be incompatible with my job,” she said. “That’s when I knew that layoff was coming very soon.”

A copy of the Wall Street Journal with the headline 'Fed Holds Ground, But Keeps Hike In Place'
Copies of The Wall Street Journal newspaper are for sale at a kiosk in a New York train station. (Bing Guan/Reuters)

She says the firing took place on Wednesday, when the newspaper’s head of international reporting personally fired her and told her it was part of a restructuring within the company.

Cheng says she doesn’t believe the claim that she was fired because of a restructuring. She says the company has already restructured its Hong Kong office twice, once last year and again in May, but her position has not been eliminated.

“My department was highlighted as something to focus on. And at that time there was no discussion about moving to other agencies or eliminating my role … so I don’t believe my role was part of any actual restructuring,” she said.

“I was very disappointed that this came from an editor who is supposed to be the guardian of the integrity of journalistic reporting.”

Wall Street Journal union backs Cheng

Cheng says she believes the company framed her dismissal in this way because her right to participate in union activities is enshrined in the Hong Kong Constitution.

The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE), which represents Wall Street Journal reporters in the US and Canada, called on the newspaper to reinstate Cheng’s job and provide “a full explanation” for her firing.

“The union is always concerned when Dow Jones decides to terminate the employment of colleagues, regardless of where they are based. We were very saddened to hear this news from Selina,” the IAPE said in a press release.

A man wearing glasses and a surgical mask is flanked by two police officers.
Stand News editor-in-chief Ronson Chan (center), then head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, is arrested by police officers in Hong Kong on December 29, 2021. Cheng has been actively involved in reporting on threats to press freedom in Hong Kong. (The Associated Press)

The HKJA said in a statement that it was “disappointed and outraged” by the newspaper’s decision, saying that by pressuring employees not to join the HKJA, the newspaper risks “accelerating the loss of the space that still exists for independent journalism.”

State newspaper criticizes Cheng and HKJA

Cheng says her supervisor told her that Journal employees should not be seen as advocates for press freedom in Hong Kong, an issue that has been a hot potato in the region. and which Cheng personally reported on.

It is common for newsrooms to have policies that prohibit reporters from engaging in activities that could cause them to be seen as biased or in a conflict of interest. For example, editors at CBC are expected to follow company guidelines Journalistic standards and practices.

Shortly after Cheng was elected chairman of the HKJA in June, The Global Times, a Chinese state-owned newspaper, published an article He called the organization “a base for anti-China separatist forces to disrupt Hong Kong.”

The newspaper accused Cheng of writing articles attacking Hong Kong’s national security law, which prohibits, among other things, subversion against the government, promoting succession by China and collaborating with foreign entities.

Several journalists and prominent activists have been arrested under the law, which builds on controversial security legislation Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.

Cheng says she stands by her reporting and does not believe her role at HKJA compromises her impartiality as a journalist.

“Everything I’ve written [is] “Justified by facts,” she said.

She noted that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was just sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for espionage. Russia, like Hong Kong, has cracked down on journalists critical of the government, particularly those with ties to international media.

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage in Russia on Friday and sentenced to 16 years in prison. U.S. officials say they are trying to secure his release, along with detained Canadian citizen and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.

According to her, cases like Gershkovich’s entail financial costs for the newspaper.

“I think as a profitable company, the Journal wants to mitigate any risk it can,” she said.

She says she has no plans to step down as chair of HKJA and is looking for a new job in journalism.

“I am open to any opportunity. I believe I am a versatile reporter. I am confident in my abilities in this profession,” she said. “I am optimistic that I can land on my feet.”

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