Kenneth Lau
Monday, July 28, 2014
A group of bloggers has set up a Facebook page for people’s commentaries on politics and other issues following the sudden closure of House News, a pro-democracy news site with strong ties to media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.
Within 20 hours of it being set up on Saturday night, the House News Bloggers Group received more than 20,000 likes.
One of the netizens, Alan Lau, proposed that everyone should financially support the webpage if needed, while another, Chu Nabuo, said: “The freedom of expression and the press will never die.”
House News, a news website and blog founded in July 2012, was seen as pro-democracy.
But on Saturday afternoon the website’s co-founder, Tony Tsoi Tung-ho, announced its closure, citing fear of political pressure and low advertising revenues.
“As a businessman who always travels between Hong Kong and the mainland, I need to admit that I am really scared every time I cross the border,” Tsoi said.