ABSTRACT
Journalists as interest groups play an important role in shaping the democratic movement in Hong Kong regardless of their different political stances, ranging from pro-democracy to pro-Beijing. There are two major journalists’ interest groups in Hong Kong, namely the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Hong Kong Federation of Journalists. They have been trying hard to safeguard the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press in Hong Kong by participating in various political activities, such as lobbying the government, and submitting proposals and reports on government policies. Still, political intervention in the media industry has been growing since the transfer of sovereignty in July 1, 1997. With the clash of ideologies between mainland China's propaganda journalism and Hong Kong's liberal journalism, more journalists in Hong Kong are yielding to political pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. The utilization of cyberspace journalism has become the last resort through which some journalists are determined to retain their political space. At the same time, the watchdog journalism of some pro-Beijing journalists is essential in sustaining the momentum of the democracy movement in Hong Kong since it has continued to arouse public awareness of the abuse of power by politicians and officials in Hong Kong's political institutions. As such, journalists from varying interest groups continue to contribute to the democracy movement in different ways.
