wall Street Journal Faces Trial Over Alleged Retaliation Against Hong Kong Journalists association Leader
The Wall Street Journal‘s parent company,Dow jones Publishing Co. (Asia) Inc., pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of unlawfully firing Hong Kong journalist Selina Cheng, who alleges she was dismissed for holding a leadership position with the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The case raises critical questions about press freedom and labor rights in the region.
A four-day trial is scheduled to begin on December 18, according to court filings, the same date previously set for the proceedings.
Cheng, who served as chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was terminated from her position at the Journal last July. She stated shortly after her dismissal that she was informed her role with the press union was deemed “incompatible” with her employment and that she had not received authorization to hold the position. She initiated a private prosecution in December of the same year.
Legal Wrangling and Delay Tactics
During a hearing on friday at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts, Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi entered the plea of not guilty on behalf of dow Jones. However, the proceedings were instantly followed by a dispute over pre-trial requests and potential delays.
According to Cheng’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Nigel Kat, the defense served notice on Thursday evening of its intention to seek an adjournment, while still requesting a pre-trial hearing on December 18. Previously, the Journal’s legal team had requested information from Cheng’s team, including the admissibility of a covert audio recording made by the journalist and the current locations of those involved in the termination decision.
“From our understanding, some participants were not even in Hong Kong at the time, which affects the jurisdiction of the court,” tsoi stated. When Cheng’s team refused to comply with these requests last week, the defense argued a pre-trial hearing was necessary. Tsoi further asserted that proceeding to trial without resolving these issues “would be disastrous and irregular.”
The defense also requested the criminal conviction records of Dow Jones, a request Kat dismissed as unnecessary, stating, “that’s not available to us, that’s available to them.” He also characterized the defense’s request for information regarding the company’s employees’ whereabouts as “disingenuous,” adding that the “laundry list” of requests was a deliberate attempt to delay the trial. “None of this is any reason to break the trial dates,” Kat argued, suggesting the defense coudl raise its concerns during the trial itself or seek a stay of proceedings.
Magistrate Rejects Adjournment request
Magistrate Ko Wai-hung ultimately rejected the submission for an adjournment, ruling that the issue of the audio recording’s admissibility could be addressed during the trial without a separate pre-trial fixture.
The defense afterward pleaded not guilty to two counts: preventing or deterring an employee from exercising the right to hold office in a trade union, and terminating employment, penalizing, or discriminating against an employee for exercising that right.
Cheng initially filed a complaint with the Labour department in November, which then consulted with the Department of Justice (DoJ) regarding potential prosecution. The DoJ ultimately decided not to intervene, as Cheng had opted to pursue a private prosecution.
The case is being closely watched by press freedom advocates, who view it as a test of protectio
