In recent days, there have been major earthquakes in the media industry. Following the arrest of several current or former senior officials of "Stance News" earlier, and the immediate suspension of operations, Zhong Xin, which was founded by a group of veteran media professionals in 2017, also last night (2 Sunday) Announced at 9:30 a.m. that it will cease operations on January 4 (Tuesday), the website will no longer be updated, and will be closed after a period of time.
"Zhongxin" chief writer Yang Jianxing and chief editor Li Yuehua met with the media at 11 am today (3rd) to explain the suspension.
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A few days ago, at least 6 directors and senior executives of "Stance News" were arrested for "conspiracy to publish seditious publications" and immediately ceased operations. Yesterday (2nd), another online media "Zhongxin" also announced that it would stop operations tomorrow (4th). .
"Zhong News" was established in 2017 by a senior media person. Today (3rd) the editor-in-chief Li Yuehua and the chief writer Yang Jianxing met with the media.
Yang said that the suspension was a short-term decision. It was the suspension of the "Stance News" that was frankly triggered. It showed the problem of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications." Some interviews and reports were regarded as seditious publications. It is a real case," and it is a helpless decision to stop the operation for fear of breaking the law.
He continued that in the past few days the company has discussed and evaluated the current situation, but frankly: "We have not been able to grasp the boundaries of law enforcement very clearly, and we cannot work under a situation that feels safe and secure. Reporters are all People, they will have family members, and they will have friends. That is to say, in an unsafe situation, everyone will feel that it is necessary to think about this issue seriously. I believe that journalists don’t want to be in the same position because of their work. Dilemma."
"Zhongxin" chief editor Li Yuehua (left), and "Zhongxin" chief writer Yang Jianxing (right).
(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)
Li Yuehua said that "Zhongxin" has no "funding master" and no commercial pressure. It has grown from an initial team of about 10 people to more than 40 people now. It is a pity that it has been suspended.
She said that all employees will be laid off in accordance with the law, and the website will be suspended from tomorrow. It will continue to be updated today. The evening program will also be broadcast. No specific date has been set for closing the website.
In October last year, "Zhongxin" reported on "Deng Bingqiang's refusal to guarantee that Article 23 is not guilty of words". It was criticized by the Security Bureau for misleading the public. When asked whether he had received pressure from government departments, Yang Jianxing said that there was no police. The staff of the National Security Office contacted them and did not know if they had any actions behind them. However, the political environment has changed rapidly in the past two years, and the media has also been involved in politics. Reorganize objects.
He said that in the past, some people wrote articles mentioning the need to rectify the website, and the main target was the "Situation News" and "Zhongxin".
Li Yuehua, editor-in-chief of "Zhongxin" (photo by Zheng Zifeng)
Zhongxin News announced the closure news at 9:30 pm on January 2 and posted a farewell message on its social page.
Zhongxin posted a post on its Facebook page stating that yesterday, January 2, which happened to be the day after the establishment of New Year's Day in 2017, "we want to say goodbye to everyone" and "5 years, thank you everyone."
After the announcement, the public press office is still in operation.
The article mentioned that at the press conference on the day of establishment, many media "old ghosts" expressed their deep concern about the state of press freedom in Hong Kong, and hoped that the news could inherit the spirit of professional journalism, return to the original aspirations of journalism, and serve the public interest and serve the public. I hope that our small step can encourage the industry to take a small step. Each small step can form a big step in protecting freedom of the press." Then, with extremely limited resources, we will use exclusive news, data news, and personalities. Interviews, investigative reports, in-depth commentaries, court news, China News, and the Voice of the People started reporting.
"Even though our manpower is limited, the news is not enough, and the news is not fast enough, but our entire small team, the old ghosts and the younger generations, are working hard to seek truth and depth in news reports." The news reported that the team had grown from ten to dozens. The team, "From the beginning of the street people's sentence "Zhong News? Don't know you", "Today I heard people say: Everyone News? I have watched."
"Zhong News" was established under the leadership of a group of senior media professionals, and officially started operation on New Year's Day in 2017.
(Profile picture)
Zhongxin News announced that it will be suspended from January 4th: During the crisis, everyone on board must be guaranteed to be safe. Deng Bingqiang: Fake news has objective standards, ordinary people understand and criticize public news that mislead the moral issues. Please look back at the content of the question and answer "Zhong News" alleges that Deng Bingqiang refused to guarantee that Article 23 will not be guilty of words. The Security Bureau said it was misleading.