Hong Kong court convicts Wall Street Journal publisher of blocking reporter union role

A Hong Kong court convicted Dow Jones Publishing Co. (Asia), publisher of The Wall Street Journal, of deterring former reporter Selina Cheng from taking a leadership role in the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The court acquitted the company of separately dismissing Cheng because of her union activities. Cheng brought the private prosecution after she was fired in July 2024, with the company saying her position was eliminated as the Journal relocated its Asian reporting center from Hong Kong to Singapore. Prosecutors argued that supervisors and company officials had indicated her union role was incompatible with her employment, while Dow Jones said the case did not prove that senior management directed those communications and maintained that the dismissal resulted from redundancy. The case has drawn attention to labor protections and press-freedom concerns in Hong Kong, where independent media and journalist groups have faced increasing pressure. Sentencing is expected later.