The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday issued a statement urging Hong Kong authorities to ensure that journalists can work freely, and called for the renewal of a Bloomberg reporter’s work visa.

Bloomberg reporter Rebecca Wilkins announced that “after six years of reporting in Hong Kong,” her visa was denied. The Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) in Hong Kong emphasized the lack of reasoning provided for the denial and argued that this lack of transparency could indicate eroding press freedoms. The CPJ reported that at least eight other journalists have been denied visas.

The CPJ attributed the visa denial to Beijing’s implementation of a national security law in June 2020, which has significantly impacted “the city’s freedom of expression and media pluralism” and resulted in the arrest of journalists and the shutdown of media outlets. Consequently, this has led to a “decline in reporting on the city and its financial hub.”

CPJ Asia-Pacific Regional Director Beh Lih Yi observed that the “weaponization of media visas is a common tactic used by governments who seek to suppress the truth.” She reiterated that “arbitrarily denying a journalist’s right to work” infringes on press freedoms under Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

Rights groups Hong Kong Watch and Hong Kong Free Press reported that at least 18 journalists have been arrested since the enactment of the national security law. Hong Kong Watch said that “Hong Kong authorities have accused pro-democracy news publications that are independently owned … of distributing ‘seditious’ materials” as a means of eliminating dissent not in line with the “Chinese Communist Party’s official line.”

Hong Kong Free Press has published a substantive timeline of press freedoms in Hong Kong from the enactment of the 2020 law to the present.