【新唐人2014年06月14日訊】日前，香港「壹傳媒」公司的一名高管在接受媒體採訪時說，英國兩家大銀行已經停止向香港最大的報紙之 —— 《蘋果日報》投放廣告。輿論認為，這表明中共對香港擁有獨立思想的新聞媒體的打壓，出現重大升級。

「壹傳媒」公司高管、和商務總監馬克•西蒙(Mark Simon)，日前在接受美國《紐約時報》採訪時說，去年年底，總部位於倫敦的「滙豐銀行」(HSBC)和「渣打銀行」(Standard Chartered)，結束了與《蘋果日報》之間的長期廣告關係。雖然兩家銀行都表示，它們的廣告決定是出於商業考慮。但馬克•西蒙說，真正的原因是中共當局對它們施壓，並給了它們一些業務。

《香港聯合報》文藝專欄作家張成覺：「實際上這是扼殺新聞自由、出版自由嘛！這是非常惡劣的獨裁行徑。絕大多數的香港人應該對這樣的現象感到很憤怒。」

「壹傳媒」是一家既有報紙，也有電視和網路業務的公司，在香港和台灣都設有總部。在所有人黎智英(Jimmy Lai)的帶領下，「壹傳媒」對中共當局一直持相對批評態度。

比如本週三，《蘋果日報》網站上的一段動畫視頻，對中共當局週二發佈的香港《白皮書》進行了嚴厲批評。視頻說，「新一輪赤化香港行動開始了」，「《白皮書》只是個開始」。

香港立法會議員單仲偕：「這個事情不是新鮮的，過去已經有了。現在到了更糟糕的情況了。過去國際機構都比較獨立，不受中方的壓力，現在如果滙豐銀行和渣打銀行都這樣，我覺得問題非常糟糕了。」

西蒙說，截至去年，「滙豐銀行」和「渣打銀行」一直躋身於「壹傳媒」最大的幾家金融廣告客戶之中。失去這兩個客戶後，在香港上市的「壹傳媒」元氣大傷。而且，去年香港本地的兩個廣告客戶——「東亞銀行」和「滙豐銀行」的子銀行「恆生銀行」，大約與「滙豐」和「渣打」同時停止了廣告投放。

張成覺：「報紙在商業社會很重要的一點，它的生存離不開廣告。北京方面要封鎖這種聲音，所以用了一個『殺手鐧』。香港的很多傳媒都先後在廣告方面受到壓力，很多聲音，特別是民主派、或者稍微中立一點的政治人士，他們要發言的話，在某些傳媒上有時都很困難了。那麼這次是一個新的、而且是很突出的例子罷了。」

在此之前，香港發生一系列涉及新聞的事件，其中比較典型的是香港《大紀元》被打壓，《商業電臺》時事評論節目主持人李慧玲被粗暴解僱，以及香港《明報》前總編輯劉進圖遇襲等事件。

《大紀元》是在香港被中共作為頭號對手、打壓最嚴重的媒體。十多年來，中共一直脅迫香港媒體、和政經界，手段卑劣、暴力。但《大紀元》不為壓力所動，不為金錢收買，自創辦以來一直堅持報導不經過濾的真實新聞，當中包括被中共當局迫害最深的法輪功真相新聞，讓中共極為恐懼。

而在香港廣受歡迎的節目主持人李慧玲，則經常批評特區政府，在許多議題上支持公民公開的示威抗議行動。

劉進圖遇襲案更是震驚香港各界，讓港人對北京當局更為反感。

今年2月27號，美國國務院發佈的人權報告，關切香港媒體自由、媒體自我審查和媒體人受暴力攻擊事件。

為了捍衛新聞自由，2月23號，香港爆發大規模「反滅聲」大遊行；3月2號，香港舉行了「新聞界反暴力」大遊行。

採訪/朱智善 編輯/王子琦 後製/肖顏

Apple Daily Loses Major Advertisers under CCP Pressure

In a recent interview, a top executive of Next Media Limited

revealed that two major British banks had stopped advertising

in Apple Daily, one of the most influential newspapers

in Hong Kong.

This can be regarded as a major escalation of the

Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) suppression over Hong Kong’s

independent news media, some media workers said.

Mark Simon, an executive and commercial associate of

Next Media Limited, recently interviewed by New York Times.

said, HSBC and Standard Chartered,

which are both major banks based in London,

had ended their longtime advertising relationships with Apple Daily.

Both banks claimed that the decision was purely commercial.

Zhang Chengjue, Hong Kong writer:

“That is indeed suppression over freedom of the press.

It is a very bad act by dictators.

Most Hong Kong people should be irritated by that."

Next Media Limited is a company running newspaper,

TV network and online media.

It has branches both in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Led by owner Jimmy Lai, Next Media Limited

has been sharply critical of the CCP authority.

This Wednesday, Apple Daily uploaded a video clip

on its website that sharply criticizes the

Hong Kong White Book released by the CCP this Tuesday.

The video said “A new round of campaign to turn Hong Kong red

has come", “The White Book is only a start."

Sin Chung-kai, Hong Kong Legislative Council Member:

“This is nothing new and has happened before.

But the situation is much worse now.

In the past, most global organs were independent

and unaffected by CCP pressure.

But if HSBC and Standard Chartered behave like that,

I think the problem has become really serious."

Simon said, until last year, HSBC and Standard Chartered

had been among the biggest advertisers of Next Media.

Their dropout is a huge blow to the Hong Kong listed company

In addition, two local advertisers, Bank of East Asia and

HSBC subsidiary Hang Seng Bank,

also ceased to advertise last year simultaneously

with HSBC and Standard Chartered.

Zhang Chengjue:"In a commercial society, newspapers

cannot survive without advertisers.

So Beijing is trying to silence media by this strategy.

Many Hong Kong media had been pressured in the same way.

Consequently, democrats and independents have found it hard

to find a voice on some media.

This time the fact is just shown by another striking example."

Recently, a series of similar incidents have happened in Hong Kong.

Typical are suppression over Hong Kong branch of Epoch Times;

forcible dismissal of Li Wei-ling, a talk show host on Commercial Radio HK.

and knife attack on Kevin Lau, former editor-in-chief of Ming Pao.

Among Hong Kong media, the Epoch Times is the one

that was under most serious suppression by the CCP

as its No.1 opponent there.

For over a decade, the CCP had been intimidating Hong Kong’s media,

political and economic circles with dirty tricks and violence.

However, the Epoch Times is never moved by any pressure or interests.

It sticks to reporting true news with no self-censorship,

including the truth about Falun Gong, severely persecuted by the CCP.

Those moves make the CCP deeply frightened.

Li Wei-ling is a popular radio host in Hong Kong.

She frequently criticized Hong Kong government and

voiced support of citizens’ protests on many issues.

The knife attack on Kevin Lau was even more striking

to Hong Kong people.

They became even more hostile to the CCP authority after the event.

On February 27, the U.S. Department of State announced

its annual human rights report, in which Hong Kong’s

freedom of the press, monitoring of media and

violent attacks against media workers were stressed.

To protect Hong Kong’s press freedom,

a large-scale protest rally was held against it’s suppression.

March 2, another rally was held to protest against

violence against news media workers.

Interview/ZhuZhiShan Edit/WangZiQi Post-Production/XiaoYan