Media Self-Censorship in a Self-Censoring Society: Transformation of Journalist-Source Relationships in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

In authoritarian or semi-authoritarian countries where the news media and the society are under tight political control, media self-censorship cannot be understood in isolation from society-wide self-censorship. Based on this premise, this article examines the problematic of media self-censorship by focusing on journalist-source interaction and the media-and-civil-society nexus. The empirical study focuses on Hong Kong after the establishment of the National Security Law in 2020, which ushered in an era of legalization of political and press control. Drawing on 47 in-depth interviews with journalists, this article illustrates how the political environment led to the disappearance of news sources and how media and societal self-censorship were intertwined, creating the friction and frustration that hampered the publication and circulation of critical information and viewpoints. The analysis also noted the unevenness of societal self-censorship and its implications, as well as journalistic responses to the situation. General theoretical implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-censorship
• journalist-source relationship
• civil society
• democratic backsliding
• journalistic practices
• Hong Kong

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Direct Grant (no. 4052281) offered by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.