One in 10 of the 630 respondents said that they would quit journalism immediately on the enactment of the law, which is criticised as a threat to civil liberties and media freedom because of its vague position on concepts like national security and seditious publications.
The Hong Kong News Executive Association, which carried out the survey last month, released the results yesterday when its representatives met government officials to voice their opposition to the proposed law.
Eighty per cent of those polled believed that media freedom would be curtailed under the new law, said the association's chairman, Mr Chan Cho Biu.
The Hong Kong Journalists' Association, which has around 500 members, said of the proposed law: 'The people most seriously affected include all who work with ideas and information.’
'They range from academics to artists to journalists to securities analysts to publishers and distributors of newspapers, books, periodicals and films.'
Mr Thomas Crampton, president of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club, said: 'We fear the proposal endangers journalists by opening them up to prosecution for merely undertaking normal journalistic activities.'
The club warned that the proposed law could spark an exodus of journalists and foreign news organisations.
Foreigners, who have right of abode in Hong Kong, could also fall foul of the law for what they say in or outside Hong Kong.
The media's major concern is what would constitute sedition or theft of state secrets under the proposed law.
This has conjured for Hong Kong journalists the spectre of the Xi Yang incident.
In 1994, Xi, a former reporter with the local Ming Pao Daily News who covered China issues, was sentenced by the mainland authorities to 12 years' jail for obtaining unauthorised information on the sale of gold reserves by the Bank of China.
The alarm has increased after Justice Secretary Elsie Leung told reporters in October that 'the sword has always been hanging over your head'.
She said: 'You need to know the parameters of the law, how much room you have so that you won't face criminal liabilities.'
[…]
The proposed national security law has become the most divisive issue in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover. Bankers, academics, lawyers, librarians, teachers and other groups have spoken out against its provisions.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,161835,00.html
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