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Ten years after the handover, Hong Kong's media faced multiple pressures. There were few cases of outright prosecution of the media, but there were subtle political and economic pressures. Co-optation of media bosses, fear of losing advertising revenue and media takeovers by pro-Beijing figures brought some of the media into line. This brought editorial shift and self-censorship, as the media systematically shied away from stories that might antagonize Beijing, underplayed negative news for the government and gave the democrats less favourable coverage. Interviews with journalists showed little evidence of ostensible intervention from government officials or media bosses, but newsroom socialization and editorial gatekeeping are effective constraints. The constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press and the moral force of professional ethics lent the media the room to defend and negotiate their freedom, but the pervasive fear induced by the political environment invariably overpowered the resistance and constrained press freedom in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses press freedom in Hong Kong since the handover. It argues that in the immediate years after reunification, the strategic interaction between the media and the power holders within a commonly accepted framework has contributed to an 'equilibrium condition' in which there was no huge and apparent loss of press freedom. The equilibrium was maintained by a clear distinction between national and local issues. At the same time, the handover has led to processes of cultural co-orientation which further 'de-problematized' news coverage of certain sensitive national issues. Nevertheless, political developments in recent years have led to the breakdown of the national-local boundary. The original equilibrium was destabilized, which led to renewed concerns of press freedom in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]