A former Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter in Hong Kong said she was fired for taking up a position as the head of a local journalist group that advocates for press freedom.

Selina Cheng, who covered China’s car industry, accused the US newspaper’s editors of dismissing her on Wednesday because she refused requests to step down from her role at the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). 

She said the press group advocates for the rights and interests of reporters in the former British colony, where such freedoms have steadily diminished after a Beijing-backed national security crackdown following months of pro-democracy protests in 2019.  

“I am disappointed if these editors abroad have come to think press freedom is a controversial issue, as those who wish to intimidate reporters might like us to believe,” she told reporters in Hong Kong. “It is not.”

Cheng commended the Wall Street Journal for its efforts to secure the release of journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is currently on trial in Russia accused of espionage, citing it as a reason she was “deeply shocked” by her own situation.

A spokesperson for Dow Jones, the newspaper’s publisher, acknowledged it made personnel changes on Wednesday but declined to comment on specific individuals. 

“The Wall Street Journal has been and continues to be a fierce and vocal advocate for press freedom in Hong Kong and around the world,” the spokesperson said.

Cheng said her supervisor told her to withdraw her candidacy from last month’s election for chairperson of the HKJA. The editor also told her to quit the board, a move the newspaper had previously approved when she joined in 2021, she said.

“The editor said employees of the Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom in a place like Hong Kong, even though they can in Western countries where it is already established,” she said.

Hong Kong in April denied entry to a representative of Reporters Without Borders after arriving to monitor the trial of former media mogul Jimmy Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the now-shuttered, pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. The Paris-based advocacy group ranked Hong Kong 140 out of 180 places in its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, declining from 18th place in the span of two decades.

Earlier this year, US-funded news outlet Radio Free Asia closed its office in Hong Kong, citing concerns about the safety of its staff and reporters after the city enacted the new security law known as Article 23.

  - Bloomberg