by Angelique Chen Sitting at a desk in the office of Hongkongers in Taiwan Fellowship, the former Hong Kong activist and journalist Timothy Lee said with his observant, nonchalant professional tone: “There’s no room for change in the Hong Kong media anymore. Journalists are fleeing overseas, and many have come to Taiwan.”
In 2019 alone, a record high 5,858 Hongkongers received a resident certificate in Taiwan, marking a 41% increase compared to the previous year. And on May 21, 2020, the day the Chinese National People’s Congress announced its plan to execute a new national security law in Hong Kong, Google searches for “Immigrate to Taiwan” rose tenfold. Moreover, on August 23, 2020, twelve Hong Kong youths tried to sneak into Kaohsiung, a city in southern Taiwan, but were intercepted and extradited to China. All these events indicated that anxious Hongkongers now desire to move to Taiwan as they experience increased oppression from the Chinese Communist Party. “A big portion of journalists are planning to leave,” Timothy said, one example being Simon Shen Xu-hui, a Hong Kong Scholar who taught international relations at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and is a well-known columnist. Shen is one of many journalists who moved to Taiwan last year, and Timothy added that he also regularly interviews other immigrants on Youtube to promote his choice. Timothy himself took action even earlier. Once the president of the student council at City University of Hong Kong and an activist in the 2014 Umbrella Revolution, he ventured to move to Taiwan soon after the movement. “I wanted to escape the less free environment and broaden my horizon somewhere with universal suffrage,” Timothy explained. “And I wanted to experience the unqualified culture here.” Such motivation was intensified by his observations of the Hong Kong media industry and his understanding of how to impact society with words. As the creator of the slogan for the Umbrella Revolution, “Hope resides in the people; Change stems from protest,” he believes that written words can persist despite the test of time. He pointed out that popular media prone to the yellow camp and political parties against the government were either being closed down or seized by the government. For example, Apple Daily was the only newspaper that sided with the protesters in the summer of 2019 and reported the conflict of July 21 on its front page. Its founder, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, was later arrested and the paper’s offices were searched by the police without prior notice. Cable networks such as i-CABLE Communications Limited were purchased by pro-PRC entities and soon ordered massive layoffs so they could hire pro-government personnel. Besides, unlike the astonishing number of news channels in Taiwan, there are only a limited number of TV networks in Hong Kong, all controlled by the government, so no different voices are allowed. “Most media have a good relationship with the government and are funded by business conglomerates,” Timothy said. “They are not functioning properly as the fourth estate.” In comparison, Timothy emphasized that Taiwanese media has much stronger power in supervising the government. In Timothy’s view, another worrisome factor in the Hong Kong media is that political parties get little coverage, whereas media in Taiwan are commonly used by political figures to promote themselves and to communicate with the public. With insufficient media exposure, Hong Kong representatives find it hard to reach the people. “There is little hope for Hong Kong under the National Security Law,” Timothy said. “The chilling effect is already in place. Journalists can only give in and self-censor their reports or simply avoid reporting on politics.” The only way out, Timothy said, was to leave and count on the international media for the truth. Fortunately, due to Hong Kong’s special historical background, it had always been under the spotlight in the Western media. This, he specified, was what Taiwan needed the most. Experienced Hong Kong journalists moving to Taiwan can be of help in the effort to market Taiwan. Timothy learned about the Taiwanese media’s obsession with trivialities and lack of internationalism when he worked as a journalist and director at Awakening News Networks in Taipei. Nevertheless, he considers these as solvable problems. “I can see things are heading toward the right direction, especially during the pandemic,” Timothy said. “Taiwan has attempted to advertise itself through slogans like ‘Taiwan can help,’ and the new media producers, like Youtubers and podcasters, are also doing a great job in promoting Taiwan.” There is surely a need for journalists from Hong Kong on our island of freedom. Two of Timothy’s friends from the Hongkongers in Taiwan Fellowship also expressed their opinions on how Taiwanese media can improve. Roxane Lee, a graduate student studying communication at Shih Hsin University, thought many Taiwanese news outlets were simply “making a fuss” about unimportant matters. She came to this conclusion as she watched local news throughout her quarantine period back in September 2020. She also thought that the seriousness of the Hong Kong media is something that Taiwanese should follow. Keith, an office worker, came to Taiwan seven years ago as an undergraduate. He thought Taiwanese news was repetitive and exaggerated, giving the audience an impression that they were TV dramas instead of news. He thought that if Taiwanese media hoped to lift itself to the international stage, it should rid itself of its ridiculous content first. Despite the underperformance in Taiwanese media, Roxane and Keith agreed that the media in Hong Kong were in a grimmer situation. Both of them said they no longer watched traditional Hong Kong cable news and preferred smaller, self-produced online media such as Stand News HK. “Online media produce news with more comprehensive perspectives,” Roxane said, “while the traditional media only present to you a certain picture they want you to see.” As such, while Taiwan is an ideal hub for Hong Kong journalists, their talents can also bring positive impacts to the Taiwan media ecosystem. Recalling the many Hong Kong protests in the past few years, Timothy said that while some previous movements such as the 2003 First of July Marches and the 2012 Anti-Propaganda Education Protest were basically successful, the government stopped listening and things became non negotiable ever since the 2014 Umbrella Revolution. Recognizing the sad fact that there will not be a turn for the better in terms of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong in the near future, Timothy said with a weak smile: “I am grateful that many of my fellow Hongkongers and I are now having a new home in Taiwan. As for Hong Kong, I can only pray for it and hope for the best.”
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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