Universities Slam Police Ban On Student Reporters

Local journalism schools linked to major universities in Hong Kong said on Wednesday that it's unacceptable that their students will be barred from covering newsworthy events simply because they aren't registered with the Information Services Department.

They said the new accreditation policy violates their fundamental constitutional rights of free speech, free press and publication.

"As part of their education, our students have been covering newsworthy happenings, and they follow the same code of ethics as professionals do by acting fairly and honestly," the schools said in the statement.

"We cannot accept that they would be barred from covering certain newsworthy events merely because the student or independent media they work for are not registered with the [government]."

The schools said the police are depriving the news gathering right of not only non-mainstream journalists and freelancers, but also that of ordinary people, which they said was a freedom guaranteed under the Basic Law.

They said they understand the difficulty of frontline police in identifying who's a reporter and who's not, but the move is allowing officers to disperse reporters who've done nothing wrong.

The schools say the move could not have been more ill-advised at a time when Hong Kong's international image as a free society has come under scrutiny.

The schools are from University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Baptist University, City University, Shue Yan University, Hang Sang University and Chu Hai College.

The newly declared steps by the police came into effect from Wednesday and they will recognise as journalists only if they are registered with the government’s Information Services Department, or are a member of an "internationally-known" media group.

They say it is needed to allow frontline officers to identify media representatives more quickly and effectively, to increase the efficiency of their operations.

An executive editor of Ubeat Magazine, a student publication of Chinese University's journalism school, said it's ridiculous for the police to say they are allowed to stay outside the cordons at protest sites.

Sheryl Wong said that police have been removing reporters from the entire sites.

"I think it's totally unacceptable," she said. "We have the right to cover the protests, the chaos or the social events. So they don't have any right to restrict our freedoms."

"I don't think they'll actually allow us to cover the news behind the cordon line. As they have done in the past, [the officers] take us away and ask us to leave the scene."

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