Hong Kong reporter says she'll sue Wall Street Journal for dismissal because of her union role

HONG KONG -- A former Hong Kong reporter of The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday said she'll sue the publication for sacking her because she joined a trade union.

Selina Cheng lost her job in July after a senior editor told her that her position was eliminated due to restructuring. However, Cheng believed the termination was linked to her refusal to comply with her supervisor’s request to withdraw from the election for the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, a trade union for journalists that advocates for press freedom.

Cheng, now the chair of the association, said in a press briefing that she had sought mediation with her former employer through private channels and legal representatives, but their communication was “not fruitful" and her former employer refused to reinstate her job.

After the failed attempts, Cheng said she would file a civil claim at the Labor Tribunal, saying she had already brought evidence to the city's Labor Department. In a claim form shown to reporters, she stated she was fired unreasonably and illegally and it was due to her participation in a trade union.

“If the Wall Street Journal regrets this decision and agree that this wasn't right, there are ways to make repairs, perhaps still,” she said.

Cheng said she would meet with the department's investigators on Wednesday “to pursue this as a criminal matter.” She requested them to investigate her ex-employer for what she called “likely” violation of the employment ordinance.

Dow Jones, which publishes the newspaper, did not immediately comment.

Hong Kong journalists work in a narrowing space after drastic political changes in the city that was once seen as a bastion of media freedom in Asia.

After Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, two local news outlets known for critical coverage of the government, Apple Daily and Stand News, were forced to shut down following the arrest of their senior management, including Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai. Lai is expected to testify in his defense next week in his landmark national security trial.

Two former editors at Stand News were convicted in August, the first journalists found guilty of sedition since the former British colony returned to China in 1997. One of them received a jail term of 21 months.

In March, Hong Kong enacted another security law, sparking worries among many journalists over a further decline in media freedom.

The termination of Cheng's contract in July sent shockwaves among Hong Kong's media workers. Cheng on Tuesday said her former employer insisted her job loss was a result of redundancy.

“Us being reporters, we hate being lied to by whoever it is, and least of all by our own supervisors and companies,” she said.

The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, a union run by and for the employees of Dow Jones, previously said in a statement that if Cheng was fired as what she claimed, the behavior was “unconscionable." It called on the publication to restore her job and provide full explanation about their decision to dismiss her.

Hong Kong ranked 135th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ latest World Press Freedom Index, down from 80 in 2021.