'A point of no return': the fall of Stand News, Hong Kong's once leading online media outlet

Hong Kong: After Hong Kong police raided Stand News and arrested two editors, its staff decided that to avoid more arrests they had to shut down the online media outlet, whose hard-hitting reports of the 2019 pro-democracy protests saw its readership surge.

Later that day, December 29, 2021, a group of staffers gathered around a single computer to wipe their archives in a newsroom stripped mostly bare of terminals and equipment by police.

"It's very depressing that all our hard work was gone in one night," said Louise, a former video journalist at Stand News.

On Thursday, a Hong Kong court found former Stand News chief editor Chung Pui-kuen, 54, guilty of conspiring to publish seditious publications. Another editor, Patrick Lam, 36, was also convicted.

The case is the first sedition conviction of journalists since Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997, and critics, which include the US government, say it reflects deteriorating media freedoms under a years-long security crackdown in the China-ruled city.

Stand News started off as a struggling non-profit in 2014, with a skeleton staff heavily reliant on public donations.

During Hong Kong's months-long pro-democracy protests in 2019 the outlet's popularity skyrocketed given its hours-long Facebook live streams, in-depth features and investigative reports, with more than 20 million page views per month.

The liberal tone of Stand News reportage helped it attract fresh readers, as people sought more freedom and democracy amid China's tightening control over the city. A flood of fresh donations saw the newsroom nearly triple to over 60 staff.

Six former staffers said Chung, the founding editor, was committed to hard-hitting reports, using text, graphics and visuals, to hold authorities to account. This was at a time when risks were growing with the closure of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper and a spate of arrests, they said.

"He was really willing to invest in stories that he thought were worth doing," said Athanasia, a former reporter who declined to give her full name given the sensitivity of the topic.

And Chung's dedication to getting the news out was reflected by Stand News staff.

On the night of the police raid, one Stand News journalist kept editing a story until police took away his earphones, said former video journalist Louise.

"He really worked till the end," she said.

Louise said the feeling of "heart break" over the closure of Stand News had never left her.

"It's like a beautiful scar," she said.

Nearly three years later and despite the conviction of two editors, former Stand News staffers stand by their work in what they say is shrinking independent reporting in Hong Kong.

"I think of Stand News as a point of no return because it was very free, and with great ideals," said Louise, now a freelance video journalist and documentary director.