The Hong Kong Journalists Association issued a statement yesterday (22/4) to clarify the fact that the “Ta Kung Pao” discredited the documentary screenings planned by the Association as an “underground event” and falsely claimed that they had checked with the Association and did not receive a reply. Ta Kung Pao published a screenshot of an email today, claiming to have enquired with the Association on 20th of this month. We have repeatedly checked the records and confirmed that we had not received any e-mail, letter, fax or telephone enquiries from Ta Kung Pao in the past three days. We hereby strictly deny the unreasonable allegations made by the newspaper and invite the public to judge the credibility of the reports.

According to the screenshot of the email published by Ta Kung Pao, the sender’s email address is a free mailbox that can be registered by the general public, not the corporate email address of Ta Kung Pao; the name and phone number of the contact person are not included in the email. According to normal working procedures, the media should call the interviewee to confirm that it has received the enquiry after sending email. However, HKJA has not received any e-mail from Ta Kung Pao in recent days, nor has it received a call from a reporter of that newspaper.

During this difficult time, HKJA hopes that all journalists will uphold professional ethics, protect the remaining freedom of the press in Hong Kong, and stop unreasonable attacks and abuses immediately.

Hong Kong Journalists Association

22 Apr 2021