Tens of thousands of Hong Kong's residents "celebrated" the 16th anniversary of the city's return to Chinese rule on Monday with a street protest that has become something of an annual rite.
The people are concerned about eroding freedoms and journalists are especially exercised by pressures on their own trade, fearing the implications of a privacy law that went into effect on 1 April.
Journalists could be jailed for up to five years, or be fined up to HK$1m (£85,000), if they reveal information that causes "psychological harm" or "loss."
Though they may mount a public interest defence, that key aspect of the law seems vague, reports Joanna Chiu on behalf of the New-York based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
She quotes Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) chairwoman, Mak Yin-ting, as saying the law's broad restrictions have "cast a shadow on the media industry."
She adds: "The definition of public interest is too vague. Reporters may now be forced to disclose even unpublished details before they're ready to go to press with them. No one is helped by this law."
Chiu also quotes Timothy Hamlett, professor of journalism and media law at Hong Kong Baptist university: "This is a good example of a well-intentioned law, which has been drafted so badly that it will have catastrophic consequences. The aim was to curb reporting on the private lives of celebrities.
"But the law is framed so vaguely that many media organisations will probably give up investigative reporting altogether as it is too dangerous."
Since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the city has been a haven for newspapers, books, documentaries and other publications on China that would be censored on the mainland.
But, reports Chiu, threats to press freedom are accumulating. According to the HKJA 2012 survey of journalists, 79% believed that self-censorship had risen since 2005 while 36% said that they, or their supervisors, practise self-censorship, mostly by playing down reports that might anger the central government, their advertisers, or company owners.
Source:CPJ