【新唐人2014年06月14日讯】日前，香港“壹传媒”公司的一名高管在接受媒体采访时说，英国两家大银行已经停止向香港最大的报纸之 —— 《苹果日报》投放广告。舆论认为，这表明中共对香港拥有独立思想的新闻媒体的打压，出现重大升级。
“壹传媒”公司高管、和商务总监马克•西蒙(Mark Simon)，日前在接受美国《纽约时报》采访时说，去年年底，总部位于伦敦的“汇丰银行”(HSBC)和“渣打银行”(Standard Chartered)，结束了与《苹果日报》之间的长期广告关系。虽然两家银行都表示，它们的广告决定是出于商业考虑。但马克•西蒙说，真正的原因是中共当局对它们施压，并给了它们一些业务。
《香港联合报》文艺专栏作家张成觉：“实际上这是扼杀新闻自由、出版自由嘛！这是非常恶劣的独裁行径。绝大多数的香港人应该对这样的现象感到很愤怒。”
“壹传媒”是一家既有报纸，也有电视和网路业务的公司，在香港和台湾都设有总部。在所有人黎智英(Jimmy Lai)的带领下，“壹传媒”对中共当局一直持相对批评态度。
比如本周三，《苹果日报》网站上的一段动画视频，对中共当局周二发布的香港《白皮书》进行了严厉批评。视频说，“新一轮赤化香港行动开始了”，“《白皮书》只是个开始”。
香港立法会议员单仲偕：“这个事情不是新鲜的，过去已经有了。现在到了更糟糕的情况了。过去国际机构都比较独立，不受中方的压力，现在如果汇丰银行和渣打银行都这样，我觉得问题非常糟糕了。”
西蒙说，截至去年，“汇丰银行”和“渣打银行”一直跻身于“壹传媒”最大的几家金融广告客户之中。失去这两个客户后，在香港上市的“壹传媒”元气大伤。而且，去年香港本地的两个广告客户——“东亚银行”和“汇丰银行”的子银行“恒生银行”，大约与“汇丰”和“渣打”同时停止了广告投放。
张成觉：“报纸在商业社会很重要的一点，它的生存离不开广告。北京方面要封锁这种声音，所以用了一个‘杀手锏’。香港的很多传媒都先后在广告方面受到压力，很多声音，特别是民主派、或者稍微中立一点的政治人士，他们要发言的话，在某些传媒上有时都很困难了。那么这次是一个新的、而且是很突出的例子罢了。”
在此之前，香港发生一系列涉及新闻的事件，其中比较典型的是香港《大纪元》被打压，《商业电台》时事评论节目主持人李慧玲被粗暴解雇，以及香港《明报》前总编辑刘进图遇袭等事件。
《大纪元》是在香港被中共作为头号对手、打压最严重的媒体。十多年来，中共一直胁迫香港媒体、和政经界，手段卑劣、暴力。但《大纪元》不为压力所动，不为金钱收买，自创办以来一直坚持报导不经过滤的真实新闻，当中包括被中共当局迫害最深的法轮功真相新闻，让中共极为恐惧。
而在香港广受欢迎的节目主持人李慧玲，则经常批评特区政府，在许多议题上支持公民公开的示威抗议行动。
刘进图遇袭案更是震惊香港各界，让港人对北京当局更为反感。
今年2月27号，美国国务院发布的人权报告，关切香港媒体自由、媒体自我审查和媒体人受暴力攻击事件。
为了捍卫新闻自由，2月23号，香港爆发大规模“反灭声”大游行；3月2号，香港举行了“新闻界反暴力”大游行。
采访/朱智善 编辑/王子琦 后制/肖颜
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
