//Hong Kong’s top court will hear an appeal by prominent investigative journalist Bao Choy that has strong implications for journalists’ access to public information on Wednesday, which is World Press Freedom Day.

In April 2021, Choy was found guilty on two counts of making false statements to obtain information and fined 6,000 Hong Kong dollars ($764) by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. Wednesday’s appeal to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal is her last chance to overturn the conviction.

...Professor Francis Lee Lap-fung, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Journalism and Communication, said Choy’s case showed how the government had tightened media access to public information in the past few years.

“This makes journalistic reporting more difficult and some Hong Kong media and journalists had virtually given up on using the various government registries and databases,” Lee said.

“It directly undermines the capability of the news media to conduct independent investigation of matters of public interest.”//

Full article：https://bit.ly/3NANMNE（Al Jazeera）