The storm in a teacup triggered by the Department of Health’s Sunday announcement that the daily in-person COVID-19 briefings would be replaced by online video briefings speaks volumes about Hong Kong’s adversarial politics.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association and staff unions of Ming Pao and RTHK took issue with the decision in no time, saying they are worried the officials would take the opportunity to filter out questions that are deemed inappropriate or embarrassing. 

Ironically, our media professionals took the trouble to make it known to the public that they are not worried about the accurate dissemination of pandemic information to citizens but the potential loss of their right to embarrass or insult government officials to make a political point if press briefings are held online instead of in person.

Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairperson Chris Yeung Kin-hing said in a radio program on Monday morning that the proposed shift to online briefings was “hardly acceptable”. He questioned whether government officials would consider whether to respond to questions depending on the subject asked, if they were submitted as text messages. That is faulty logic, at best. Irrelevant questions can always be turned down whether they are raised verbally in an in-person briefing or submitted as text messages during an online briefing; in fact, media-savvy interviewees have always had the knack of circumventing questions they were not ready or happy to answer. So the crux of the issue in this case is that the privilege to embarrass or insult government officials was to be endangered by the proposed shift.

One should be excused for suggesting that quite a few Hong Kong journalists took sadistic pleasure in embarrassing or insulting government officials, given the fact that many of them have been indulging in such behavior. An example close at hand: An Apple Daily reporter insisted on using the phrase of “Wuhan pneumonia” when “raising questions” in a Dec 18 COVID-19 news briefing. 

At a time when even the most adamant China-bashers such as US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have stopped using such derogative phrases and racist taunts, probably realizing the need to retain human decency, some Hong Kong “journalists” of Chinese descent are fighting for the privilege to insult government officials and their own motherland with such derogative labels. One can’t help but wonder how much hatred they harbor against their own race.

Equally disgusting and jaw-dropping was RTHK reporter Nabela Qoser’s personal attack on Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor when the reporter demanded the latter “answer like a human being” during a news conference in July 2019.

Conceivably, Hong Kong’s perverted journalism has resulted in a deep devaluation in the status of journalists. And the Hong Kong Journalism Association has contributed significantly to that devaluation by issuing a press card to anyone who can afford the token fee of HK$20 ($2.58).