HK police adopt new media policy to assist frontline policing

Hong Kong police said on Tuesday that they have adopted a new definition of "media representatives" under the Police General Orders, an amendment they regard as necessary to assist frontline policing.

In effect from Wednesday, the new policy will limit access to press briefings and restricted areas to only journalists from news outlets that have subscribed for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government News and Media Information System; or internationally recognized, well-known non-local media organizations, according to a letter to several journalists' groups from the police on Tuesday.

People who merely possess a membership card issued by the Hong Kong Journalists Association or the Hong Kong Press Photographers Association will no longer conform to the definition of "media representatives."

The police stressed that the new policy will allow frontline officers to identify media representatives more effectively and quickly, so that they can facilitate media reporting as much as possible under the condition that the efficiency of police operation is not affected.

In an interview with South China Morning Post, a senior police officer said the emergence over the past year of many different types of journalists, such as campus reporters, civic reporters or self-proclaimed reporters with no outlet employing them, had obstructed the work of the traditional media as well as officers on the ground.

"If someone claims to be a reporter but I do not know about the background, or if they are doing genuine reporting work, won't they pose a danger to our officers or obstruct our work?" the officer said.

In HKSAR, people with a membership card of a journalists association can claim themselves as journalists. The Hong Kong Journalists Association, established in 1968, issues membership cards to full-time reporters and accepts membership applications from people whose main source of income is not from journalism, including students.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the HKSAR urged the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Hong Kong to immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs under the pretext of the freedom of the press.

The commissioner's office spokesperson expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to FCC's claims against the new definition of "media representatives" adopted by Hong Kong police.