Hong Kong ranked 37th out of 73 places in safety for journalists according to a new global index, outperforming South Korea and Indonesia but falling below Singapore and other European counterparts.
The Global Index on Journalists’ Safety, published on Thursday, also saw the city score better than the United States when it came to the physical safety of reporters, but scored lower in areas measuring digital and psychological well-being.
More than 30,000 journalists across 73 jurisdictions were surveyed between 2021 and 2024 for the joint initiative between the Worlds of Journalism Study research network and the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with Unesco.
Respondents were asked a set of standardised questions about their financial, psychological, physical and digital safety in their operating environments. Additionally, data from the Unesco Observatory of Killed Journalists was used for the index.
In Hong Kong, 289 journalists were surveyed between September and October last year.
Overall, Hong Kong placed 37th in safety for journalists with a score of 79.17 out of 100, surpassing other East Asian jurisdictions, including Thailand (41st), South Korea (47th), Indonesia (49th), and the Philippines (70th).
