Hong Kong’s Ming Pao rebuts government accusation of ‘biased’ report on cybersecurity bill
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper has defended its journalism after the government described one of its reports on a cybersecurity bill as “biased and misleading.”
The newspaper on Wednesday published a letter from Vega Wong, deputy secretary for security, who accused the newspaper of misleading readers in a report about the Protection of Critical Infrastructures (Computer Systems) Bill, published the day before.
In a remark published alongside the letter, Ming Pao’s editorial team said its report was handled “professionally based on journalistic logic” and reflected the government’s amendment of the proposed bill in response to industry comments.
“The reporting and the header are not misleading, and there have been no external considerations,” Ming Pao’s remark read.
The bill lays down the legal obligations of critical infrastructure operators (CIOs) regarding cybersecurity, such as requiring them to conduct regular security audits, provide contingency plans in the event of cybersecurity incidents and report such incidents to the authorities. It has been tabled in the legislature for debate.
Ming Pao, which acquired submissions sent by CIOs to the government during a consultation period on the bill last year, said they had expressed concern about overlapping regulations and “unclear” definitions of what would constitute “material changes” to computer systems.
According to the proposed bill, changes that affected the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, delayed the response of CIOs to cybersecurity threats, or rendered information provided by CIOs to the government inaccurate, would be considered as material.
In her letter, Wong said Ming Pao’s report had overlooked the government’s explanations to the industry later on during the consultation period, and the concerns raised in the report had been largely addressed.
She said authorities had reported over 600 comments and suggestions from CIOs to the legislature last October, as well as adopting some of them, such as relaxing the notification period for reporting a cybersecurity incident to 12 hours.
Wong said the government would continue to communicate with the industry to improve the legislation.
Earlier this week, a government official criticised “sweeping generalisations” in reports after a student publication’s report on the district level care team sparked debate online.
Last year, security chief Chris Tang accused an ex-lawmaker of “glorifying” criminals in an op-ed about jailed Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen, published in Ming Pao.
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