Taipei, Taiwan – The Wall Street Journal is involved in a debate over press liberty after one of its pressreporters stated she was fired for taking a management function in Hong Kong’s greatest media union amidst degrading civil liberties in the Chinese area.
Selina Cheng, who till this week covered China’s electrical car market for the UnitedStates paper, stated she was let go on Wednesday after being notified that her function was being made redundant due to restructuring.
Cheng stated she thinks the genuine factor she was fired was since she was chose president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association last month versus the wants of Wall Street Journal management.
Cheng stated her editor asked her to withdraw from factortoconsider soon inthepast the vote as the post would be “incompatible with her task”.
“The editor stated workers of the Journal oughtto not be seen as promoting for press liberty in a location like Hong Kong, even however they can in Western nations, where it is currently developed,” Cheng stated in a declaration on Wednesday.
“She acknowledged that Hong Kong’s press flexibility is coming under extreme obstacles. She stated the Journal continues to report on occurrences associated to press liberty in the city, such as trials versus the press, so having its staffmembers promoting for it would produce a dispute,” Cheng stated.
Cheng stated the paper’s position on Hong Kong contrasted with its actions somewhereelse in the world, consistingof Russia, where its pressreporter Evan Gershkovich hasactually been apprehended consideringthat March 2023 on what his company states are trumped-up charges.
Since Gershkovich’s arrest, the paper has strongly promoted on his behalf and criticised risks to press liberty in Russia.
In a letter to the public in January, Editor in Chief Emma Tucker keptinmind how the “Kremlin hasactually secured down badly on independent reporting, successfully turning journalism into a criminalactivity”.
The paper’s termination of Cheng hasactually drawn criticism from reporters and rights activists.
“Words cannot explain how twisted & abhorrent this is, at a time when reporters around the world are being daunted, apprehended & eliminated into silence. In wonder of Selina’s bravery, strength & management,” Karen Hao, a previous Wall Street Journal associate of Cheng’s, stated in a post on X.
Melissa Korn, who covers greater education for the Journal, stated on X that