On 10 September 2026, a Hong Kong court found the publisher of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) guilty of unlawfully preventing its former reporter, Selina Cheng, from running for and holding the chairpersonship of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). Crucially, this accountability was achieved solely through a private prosecution initiated by Cheng. The Department of Justice (DOJ), which is statutorily obligated to prosecute violations of employment and trade union laws, failed to act: forcing the victim to bear the legal and financial burden of seeking justice independently. The court ruled that the employer’s actions violated Hong Kong’s Employment Ordinance, which protects the right of employees to become members and officers of trade unions.
