- Local reporters demand to know why she refused to show journalist pass and took pictures of them asking questions
- Guangdong journalist says she is just gathering news
A mainland journalist who photographed her peers and refused to show her credentials at a Hong Kong police press conference on Tuesday has defended her actions on Chinese social media after she was confronted and questioned by her fellow reporters.
Chen Xiaoqian, a journalist from southern China's Guangdong Radio and Television, was accused of taking pictures of local journalists with her mobile phone as they asked questions during the press conference, which was attended by the South China Morning Post.
She refused repeated requests by journalists at the event to present her press pass and explain her intentions. Chen showed her business card to both police and reporters, but did not present a press pass.
After the formal press conference concluded, Chen conducted a brief private interview with the police before telling waiting reporters that she had taken pictures of reporters as well as police officers at the event.
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"This is a press conference. Everyone can take pictures. We are just journalists. You can publish, I can publish. That's it," Chen said in Cantonese.
Chen was questioned for a further 10 minutes by reporters who did not accept her explanation. "What will you do with the pictures of us? Where will you publish them?" they asked. "Why can't you present your press pass? Why haven't you taken any notes?"
Chen, who was allowed to leave peacefully, said: "I'm just doing newsgathering. Like all of you, I enjoy freedom of the press."
Guangdong Radio and Television posted a statement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Tuesday evening, condemning the "impolite treatment" Chen encountered at the press conference where, it said, she had been conducting "normal interviews".
The statement said Chen was the broadcaster's Hong Kong bureau chief as well as a registered journalist with China's state media regulator and the winner of multiple awards for her outstanding performance at major events.
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Chen later posted an explanation on WeChat, another Chinese social media platform, for her conduct at the press conference. Chen said she was recording the Q&A session at the press conference to help her editors better understand what was happening at the scene.
Chen said she had included not only questions asked by Hong Kong journalists, but also from journalists with state news agency Xinhua.
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Chen also posted some questions for her Hong Kong colleagues on her WeChat account, singling out the tabloid Apple Daily newspaper in her remarks.
"It's unimaginable!" she said. "How could you Apple Daily journalists question my rights of interviewing? What right did you have to investigate my rights of interviewing? Is this what you call press freedom?"
A review of Guangdong TV's official website and social media revealed no news stories directly related to the police press conference by the time of publication.
In addition to their reporting duties, some mainland journalists stationed in Hong Kong are also required to provide in-depth reports, or "internal references" as they are called, for the Chinese leadership. It is unknown whether Chen's work includes the filing of internal reports.
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The Guangdong Journalists Association also published a statement on Wednesday afternoon showing support for Chen and strongly condemning the Hong Kong journalists' "rude and unreasonable violations" of Chen's legitimate rights of interviewing. The statement also referred to the journalists' actions as an "insult to press freedom".
Chris Yeung Kin-hing, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association, called the condemnation by Chen and her employer regrettable, saying it seemed to be "a case of making a mountain out of a molehill with the goal of smearing Hong Kong journalists".
Yeung said, given mainland media's criticism of local reporters over recent protests, it was understandable that some felt uneasy and perplexed when reporters became the target of photo-taking by journalists at a police press conference.
"Although the said reporter was free to cover what she wanted, she should have respected journalists who might feel offended or uneasy for being photographed while doing their work," he said.
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Yeung advised local reporters to ask police for clarification of journalists' credentials in future. "It does not sound appropriate for them to do so on their own, and could give rise to a misunderstanding," he said.
The Hong Kong police public relations branch said the force respected press freedom and journalists' right of reporting, and appealed to all journalists to respect the freedom of others to report the police press conference.
It added its existing credential system was consistent with other government press conferences, and that reporters covering police press conferences had recently been included in footage of the event, with the intention of giving viewers a "full view" of proceedings.
Cheung Siu-wai, a senior journalism lecturer at Baptist University in Hong Kong, said he could not see much difference between a business card and a press pass for a journalist.
"In the past, I never showed my journalist card when I interviewed people. I just told them which organisation I was from and what I was writing," Cheung said. "But times are different. Maybe a business card is not enough now."
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Cheung, who refused to comment on whether there was mistrust of mainland journalists among their local colleagues, said the concern was whether the pictures or footage had been used for purposes and motives other than reporting.
He said it was normal for journalists' faces to appear in news footage when they were asking questions or taking notes at press conferences. However, Chen may have raised the alarm of local journalists as she was using a mobile phone rather than professional equipment, Cheung said.
Scenes of the confrontation were posted on Weibo, leading to an eruption of outrage against the Hong Kong reporters. The hashtag "mainland journalist besieged by Hong Kong media" becoming a trending topic, attracting 400 million views as of Wednesday.
Last Tuesday night, Fu Guohao, a reporter with Chinese state newspaper Global Times was tied up and beaten with umbrellas by protesters at the Hong Kong International Airport after he refused to present his press credentials and was found with a T-shirt in his backpack featuring the slogan "I love HK police".
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