Barely a year after graduating and finding her first job in a newsroom, Samantha, a young Hong Kong journalist, decided to put her dream career on hold and take a job at a fast-food delivery company.

The sudden collapse of her media employer, Stand News, after a dawn raid in December saw police detain seven senior staff members including the editor-in-chief, left her disillusioned about the future for independent media in Hong Kong. 

“I can’t lie to myself that life is still carrying on as usual,” said Samantha, whose name has been changed to protect her identity. “I couldn’t stand working for another news outlet immediately after seeing my editors arrested.”

Since the end of the pro-democracy protests that rocked the city in 2019, Hong Kong’s authorities have relentlessly cracked down on dissenting voices and the city’s once freewheeling media industry has not been spared.

Reporters now fear one of the industry’s last impartial bodies, the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), could be targeted next after being asked by the government to legally justify its existence under the draconian new national security law.

The body’s chairman, Ronson Chan, said he is steeling himself for the worst.

“I hope it does not happen, but I am mentally prepared for more police questioning, or even arrest,” said Mr Chan. “Every day, every second, we have to re-evaluate the situation.”