On 20 March, the FCC wrote to the Hon Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the then Director of Immigration, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, requesting answers to questions around the expulsion of some U.S. journalists from China and their visa status in Hong Kong. This has serious implications for press freedom in the city. On 17 April, following the government’s 27 March response, we made a further request for urgent clarification via a second letter. Today we publish the government’s latest response.
We must not allow coronavirus to infect democracy, warned the founder of a Philippines news website the day after the country’s biggest broadcaster was forced off air by President Duterte.
Maria Ressa, founder and CEO of Rappler.com, was speaking as part of an FCC panel exploring the stifling of press freedom in some regions under the guise of the fight against COVID-19. ABS-CBN, which has been critical of Duterte in the past, was shut down on May 5 by the country’s media regulator. Ressa headed the broadcaster’s news division between 2004 and 2010.
“We have to make sure that we don’t let the virus infect democracy, and journalism is the first line of defence to shine the light,” said Ressa during the Zoom broadcast.
Pakistani journalist and author Mohammed Hanif, and Turkey-based video journalist Helene Franchineau, both gave examples of journalists who had been jailed since the COVID-19 outbreak began in their respective countries. And with many courts closed, the likelihood of justice was small. In Pakistan, President Arif Alvi has appointed a media adviser which Hanif said he feared would lead to a renewed war on the media in the country.
Franchineau said Turkish journalists who had been critical of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis were being targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Among them, Fox TV Turkey news anchor Fatih Portakal, who faces imprisonment for a social media post critical of the government’s COVID-19 response.
You can watch the full panel discussion here.
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FCC Announces Revised Hours, Policies as Government Lifts Some Restrictions
As the Hong Kong government begins easing restrictions on Friday 8 May related to combating the coronavirus outbreak, the FCC will reopen some parts of the club and make other relevant changes. Yet the government’s rules and our priority to the health and safety of our staff and members means that we will continue to employ social distancing throughout the club. The changes include:
The club’s hours will be restored starting Friday. As noted when these measures were implemented on 27 March, the club took actions to allow us to meet the government requirements yet remain open and continue to serve our members. This is key as we are a professional club that supports working journalists. Throughout this period, we have adopted measures that go beyond the government requirements and allow us to protect the health and safety of our staff, members and guests. That will continue to be our priority. If the government rules ease further, we hope to again offer banqueting and club events, and to ease the rules in the gym. Thank you. 7 May 2020
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| PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release People’s Choice Photo Award Winning Photo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nFjg4DN2qk6pqgntz-EitNLu2_Nfs5Pi |
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WINNERS OF 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS PRESS AWARDS ANNOUNCED
A deep dive by The Washington Post into police conduct during Hong Kong’s months-long demonstrations, titled “In Hong Kong Crackdown, Police Repeatedly Broke Their Own Rules — and Faced No Consequences”, won the English-language Investigative Feature Writing award. “This is arguably, from a human rights perspective, one of the most important journalistic pieces to come out of the protests,” the panel of judges said of the multimedia story. Stand News was awarded the best Explanatory Chinese Feature Writing for its micro analysis of the clash between police and protesters on June 12, 2019. The clash is considered a watershed of the anti-extradition bill movement. In recommending this article, the judge panel said: “This montage of facts goes beyond a reconstruction of the important day. It tells the inevitability and accidentality of history.” View the full list of winners and runners-up here Now in the 24th year, the HRPA is Asia’s most prestigious celebration of journalism that raises awareness of human rights issues and shines a light on threats to freedom. There were a record 488 submissions in all formats, driven by a big jump in the number of photographic entries, which more than doubled in the past year. The winning entries included The Guardian’s on-the-ground video coverage from Kashmir and a BBC documentary, “Inside China’s Camps”, providing a powerful account of the situation in Xinjiang, where journalists’ work is often impeded by authorities. Reports on overcrowding in Philippine jails, India’s citizenship drive in Assam and an interview with the wife of Chinese rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong were among the winners and runners-up in 22 categories. A team of nine reporters from the Wall Street Journal won the Breaking News Writing award for what the judges called their “comprehensive and sweeping narrative” of the events of October 1 in the Hong Kong protests. The Chinese-language winners also featured dynamic storytelling from the most dramatic moments of the protests. RTHK’s radio report on “The Exodus from Polytechnic University” took the Audio prize and Stand News won the Breaking News Writing award for its account of the Yuen Long mob attack. The People’s Choice Award received an astounding 47,451 online votes, with the public choosing their favorite photo from a selection of six outstanding images. The winning shot, by Lai Chun Kit for Ming Pao, showed a protester using a mattress from a dormitory to shield himself during clashes with police at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. HRPA is organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong, Amnesty International Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The 2020 awards ceremony has been postponed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. All the prize-winning photographs, including runners-up, will be displayed at the Hong Kong FCC and are open to public viewing. Please follow us on:
Breaking News Writing (English)
Winner A Day of Violence Merit Kashmir Lockdown Coverage Investigative Feature Writing (English)
Winner In Hong Kong Crackdown, Police Repeatedly Broke Their Own Rules — and Faced No Consequences Merit Amazon’s Troubled Asian Supply Chain Abortions, IUDs and Sexual Humiliation: Muslim Women Who Fled China for Kazakhstan Recount Ordeals Explanatory Feature Writing (English)
Winner The People of Hong Kong Merit Abandoned in Assam: India Creates Its Own Rohingya, and Calls Them ‘Bangladeshi’ Where 518 Inmates Sleep in Space for 170, and Gangs Hold It Together Commentary Writing (English)
Merit The Crackdown Has Begun: Holding Power to Account in Hong Kong Born Illegal: Detained Rohingya Children Are Victims, Not Criminals Short Video (English)
Winner Defending Kashmir: Anchar’s Last Stand Against India’s Control Merit Hong Kong Protesters: ‘If We Burn, You Burn with Us’ Documentary Video (English)
Winner Inside China’s Camps Merit In the Prisons that Don’t Exist The War on Afghan Women Multimedia (English)
Winner Xinjiang: China’s Drive for Control Tertiary Student Writing (English)
Winner Gender-based Violence against Journalists in Hong Kong Merit In a Leaderless Movement, Hong Kong’s Student Activists Face Local and International Threats Social Workers Hopeful Looking at the Future of Ethnic Minorities Breaking News Writing (Chinese)
Winner Fiendish Mob Beat People with Wooden Sticks: Stand News Reporter and Civilians Injured and Police Absent for the First 30 Minutes Merit Explosions in Jiangsu’s Xiangshui Series After Effects of Tear Gas Grenades in the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement Series Investigative Feature Writing (Chinese)
Winner Hidden Victims — Drug Mules: Investigation of Cross Border Human Trafficking Merit Silent Extinction: Concentration Camps in Xinjiang, China Fact Check: 831 Police Violence in Prince Edward MTR Station Explanatory Feature Writing (Chinese)
Winner Revisiting 612: What Happened? Merit 3 Barristers Cite European Cases: STS (Special Tactical Squad) Uniforms Not Showing Police Numbers Unconstitutional Maritime Idyll of Stateless Bajau Laut: Our Border is Where Boats Could Reach Commentary Writing (Chinese)
Winner Tip-offs, Pink Terror and Non-establishment Totalitarianism Short Video (Chinese)
Winner 721 White-clad Mob Attacks in Yuen Long, and Attack on Stand News Reporter Merit The Truth: 811 Police Violence Express Delivery Company Embargoed Documentary Video (Chinese)
Winner Hong Kong Connection: Anti-Extradition Bill Movement Series Merit “This Week” — Black Mirror: Social Credit System and Big Data Life in China, 64.30 : Revelation to Asia Audio (Chinese)
Winner The Exodus from Polytechnic University Merit Testimonies: Abuses in the Concentration Camps in Xinjiang No Place to Call Home Multimedia (Chinese)
Winner Land of Prisons Merit Interactive Page on 721 Yuen Long Terrorist Attack 9 Memories of the Tiananmen Square: Workers, Teachers, Students, Mothers, Reporters Tertiary Student Writing (Chinese)
Winner Unspoken Wounds: Secret Treatments of Volunteer Doctors Merit Love and Hate on the Other Shore: Interview of Jin Bianling, Wife of 709 Rights Lawyer Jiang Tianyong Defending Rights in the Dark: Volunteer Lawyers in the Anti-Extradition Movement
Tertiary Student Video & Audio (Chinese)
Winner Unconscious Woman Dragged by Police Merit Is Being Young a Crime? Where Have All the Helpers Gone?
Photography (Single Image)
Winner Police Shoot Pepper Spray onto Protesters in Hong Kong Merit Hong Kong Trust Crisis: Extreme Sieges at Universities The Jade Crisis Photography (Series)
Winner Hong Kong Protests 2019 Merit Anti-Extradition Bill Protests in Hong Kong Hong Kong Trust Crisis: Extreme Sieges at Universities People’s Choice Photo Award
Winner Mattress Shield |
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2020年人權新聞獎公佈結果 新聞稿
其中《華盛頓郵報》的「鎮壓：香港警察一再違規 卻毋需面對後果」的報導，在為期數月的香港示威運動中，深入探究警方的行為操守，榮獲調查專題（英文）的大獎。評審認為：「從人權角度而言，這可以說是香港示威活動中，最重要的新聞作品之一。」 《立場新聞》的「612 再定性：事件是如何發生的？」的報導，則從微觀角度，展示對香港反修例運動有根本性影響的612警民衝突之來龍去脈，榮獲解釋性特寫（中文）的大獎。評審讚賞：「以蒙太奇手法，重塑612的事發經過，讓讀者看到歷史的偶然和必然。」 人權新聞獎今年踏入第24屆，一直致力提高人們對人權及自由的關注，是亞洲享負盛名的新聞界盛事。今屆我們共收到488份參賽作品，數目為歷年之冠，當中攝影作品大幅增加，較去年增幅超過一倍。 今屆獲獎的英文作品包括來自《衛報》於喀什米爾的實地採訪報導以及由英國廣播公司製作的紀錄片《中國集中營內》。雖然傳媒工作者於新疆採訪屢遭阻撓，這輯紀錄片仍能全面且有力地揭示新疆的狀況。 今屆人權新聞獎一共22個組別，得獎作品題材廣泛，包括報導菲律賓監獄人滿為患，阿薩姆人被印度刪除國籍，以及中國維權律師江天勇妻子的專訪等。 《華爾街日報》的九人記者團隊奪得突發新聞（英文）組別的大獎。評審認為作品全面記錄去年10月1日在香港發生的衝突事件。 中文組別方面，香港電台的「出理大記」以聲音記錄香港多月示威以來最轟烈的時刻，奪得電台廣播和錄音大獎；立場新聞則以元朗白衣人襲擊報導贏得突發新聞大獎。 今年我們再度舉辦「一人一票最佳新聞圖片獎」，讓公眾從六張優秀的新聞圖片選出心頭好，投票期內一共收到47,451票，大獎最終由作品「床墊作盾」奪得。作品由《明報》的賴俊傑拍攝，相片捕捉了示威者與防暴警在香港中文大學對峙時，示威者用床墊掩護的瞬間。 人權新聞獎由香港外國記者會、國際特赦組織香港分會及香港記者協會合辦。因應新型冠狀病毒疫情持續，2020年人權新聞獎頒獎禮將延期舉行。所有獲獎攝影作品將於香港外國記者會公開展出。 突發新聞（中文） 大獎 元朗站惡煞木棒打人 《立場》記者市民被追打受傷 事發半小時未見警員執法
優異獎 江蘇響水爆炸系列 反送中運動催淚彈後遺症系列報道
調查專題（中文） 大獎 人口販賣跨國調查：毒騾——隱蔽的受害者
優異獎 無聲的滅絕：新疆「再教育營」實錄 831 太子站警暴事件 Fact Check
解釋性特寫（中文） 大獎 612 再定性：事件是如何發生的？
優異獎 三大狀引歐洲案例：速龍小隊制服沒展示警員編號疑違憲 無國籍社群「海巴瑤族」的海上牧歌：「乘船可及，才是我們的國界」
評論（中文） 優異獎 舉報、粉紅狂潮，與體制外的極權主義
短片（中文） 大獎 721 元朗站白衣人襲擊及《立場新聞》記者遇襲經過
優異獎 811警暴真相 《快遞公司禁運風波》
紀錄片（中文） 大獎 《鏗鏘集》反修例運動系列
優異獎 《視點31》中國大數據生活系列 —《天眼》、《信用管一生》、《淪落 ‧ 失信人》 六四30——亞洲啟示
電台廣播和錄音（中文） 大獎 出理大記
優異獎 羈押新疆再教育營 事主談及被虐經歷 國境漂流瓶
多媒體（中文） 大獎 囚牢之疆
優異獎 721元朗恐襲互動專頁 工人、師生、母親、記者——9個人的廣場記憶
學生 － 文字（中文） 大獎 不能說的傷口 義務醫師秘密療傷
優異獎 709律師家屬 在彼岸的愛與恨 專訪江天勇妻子金變玲 暗夜中守護公義 反修例運動義務律師
學生－ 電台、電視及錄像（中文） 大獎 一女失去意識 被警拖行
優異獎 年輕就是罪？ 外傭去哪兒
突發新聞（英文） 大獎 暴力的一天 優異獎 喀什米爾封城報道
調查專題（英文） 大獎 鎮壓：香港警察一再違規 卻毋需面對後果
優異獎 亞馬遜的亞洲供應鏈出了問題 墮胎、子宮環和性羞辱：逃往哈薩克斯坦的中國回教女子憶述磨難
解釋性特寫（英文） 大獎 香港人
優異獎 阿薩姆的棄民：印度的翻版羅興亞難民 當518名囚犯擠在170人的地方 只有黑社會能管得住 評論（英文） 優異獎 鎮壓已經開始 誰來香港問責 非法的生命：被困的羅興亞孩童是受害人不是罪犯
短片（英文） 大獎 捍衛喀什米爾：安查爾與印度的最後抗爭
優異獎 香港抗爭：攬炒
紀錄片（英文） 大獎 中國集中營內
優異獎 在那不存在的監獄內 對阿富汗女性的鬥爭
多媒體（英文） 大獎 新疆：國家的全力控制
學生 － 文字（英文） 大獎 香港記者面對的性別暴力
優異獎 沒有大台的運動 香港學生面對來自本地和國際的威脅 社工看到少數族裔的曙光 攝影（單幅） 大獎 警方向香港示威者施放胡椒噴霧
優異獎 香港的信任危機：大學圍城 玉礦危機
攝影（系列） 大獎 2019香港抗爭 優異獎 香港反修例運動 香港的信任危機：大學圍城
「一人一票」最佳新聞圖片 大獎 床墊作盾
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Dear Members,
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club has continued to operate in accordance with government health and social-distancing guidelines and the club’s own procedures for protecting the health of our staff, members and guests amid the coronavirus outbreak. Given the situation in Hong Kong, the Board of Governors has decided to review the minimum-spend requirements during this period when social interaction is limited. Though the Club remains open and incurs its full daily operating costs, the Board has agreed to roll over the minimum-spending requirement for the three months ending March 31 until June 30. This will allow members to make a minimum spend of HK$1,800 over six months. As with all procedures and measures being implemented at this time, the Club will review this going forward. We also will be providing information soon on enhanced takeout and delivery services for club members. Thank you, Jodi Schneider, President, FCC on behalf of the Board of Governors and Finance Committee
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