Wall Street Journal fires new chair of Hong Kong Journalists Association
The chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association has been fired by her employer, the Wall Street Journal, weeks after being appointed as the head of the embattled union.
Selina Cheng said she was “appalled” that her first press conference as HKJA chair was to announce that she had been “fired for taking up this position in a press union”.
Cheng believes her termination was linked to her taking up the position at the HKJA on 22 June. Cheng said she was pressed by her employer not to stand for election for chair of the union, and was told that the role would be “incompatible with my employment at the Wall Street Journal”.
Cheng said in a statement on Wednesday that the WSJ laid off several reporters from its Hong Kong bureau in early May, but she was kept on, with her reporting area highlighted as one of the biggest stories in Asia. The Guardian understands that the WSJ plans to move Cheng’s role out of Hong Kong.
