ABSTRACT
This chapter examines news articles and editorials describing how journalists covered, were involved in, and were affected by the Hong Kong protests. News coverage of the Hong Kong protests has continually addressed the role of journalists in the conflict, including threats and attacks toward local and foreign journalists and conflicts between protestors and Chinese state-owned media, as well as conflicts between pro-Beijing and local independent media. The frequent attacks against journalists and coverage documenting it situate the Hong Kong protests as a critical incident in journalism. These events function as discursive opportunities for journalists to unite their interpretive community through reasserting their authority, credibility, legitimacy, and value to society. Various distinct sets of journalistic values were reflected in Chinese-language media coverage of the Hong Kong protests. In advocating for press freedom, journalists often became part of the protest movement, both informed by and reflecting the goals of the broader Hong Kong demonstrations.
