Image from Chris Yeung Commentary's Facebook page. Guest contributor Chris Yeung. The following article was originally written in Chinese and translated into English by Oiwan Lam, Globalvoices’ East Asia Editor. I have been in the field of journalism for nearly 40 years in 2024. I have never left the field of journalism since I started my career with mainstream newspapers, South China Morning Post and Hong Kong Economic Journal, and then changed course to the online media outlet, the Citizen News, which I founded with media friends. After the closure of “Citizen News” in early January 2022, I set up a YouTube channel, “Chris Yeung’s Commentary“, two months later, in late March, making daily commentary on current affairs. Of the almost 40 years of journalist work, I spend the second half on news commentary and analysis. News involves people and events, facts and opinions, and it is often difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, right and wrong, as the reality is full of contradictions and controversies. The role and responsibility of journalists is to report the facts, discover the truth, inform the public, analyse the legal and sensible aspects of an incident, and help the public understand and judge for themselves what is right and wrong. The Hong Kong that many Hongkongers knew in the past, both during the British colonial era and for a long period of time after the handover to China in 1997, was not a fully democratic society. But people could enjoy a high degree of freedom and freedom of expression as the rule of law and an independent judiciary could protect human rights and freedom. While the remuneration of journalistic work was generally not as good as that of other professions, the satisfaction and public recognition gained from chasing after and telling the truth could not be replaced by money. For quite some time, the media industry has become increasingly difficult to operate as the space for freedom has been narrowing, but there are still many journalists who hold on and young people walking the journalistic path. In July 2020, the National Security Law came into effect in Hong Kong, and the environment for freedom of speech and freedom of the press was completely altered. With the “red line” of endangering national security and sedition looming over the horizon, fear and anxiety permeate the community. Self-censorship has become a part of life and a “necessary evil” for journalists and editors. For journalists who believe in the basic principles of journalism and who insist on seeking and telling the truth, self-censorship is evil, but the choices before us are either to give up journalism or to coexist and manoeuvre with the “evil”. Both are equally difficult choices; I chose the latter. After the official trial of the Apple Daily case involving the news outlet's founder, Jimmy Lai Chi-ying, and a group of former senior staff members under National Security Law and the Sedition Law opened, one morning around early January, I went to the West Kowloon District Court to observe the trial. During the intermission, I ran into one of the barristers who had taken part in the defence. The first thing he said to me was, “I thought you had left (Hong Kong)!” In the past two years, from time to time, I could find netizens asking, “Are you in Hong Kong?” on my YouTube channel’s message board. On another occasion, when my video commentary, which is usually aired on weekday evenings, did not appear due to busy schedules and an overseas trip, I found a netizen message asking, “I haven't seen the program on air the past two days. I wish you peace!” All these exchanges trigger an inexplicable sorrow in my heart. I did not ask my lawyer friend why he thought I had left Hong Kong that day, but I believe the reason was plain and clear. After the enactment of the National Security Law, the freedom of the press has fallen off a cliff, the voice of the independent media has been further weakened, a large number of journalists, regardless of their ages and experiences, have emigrated, some political commentators have relocated to safer places overseas to continue their commentaries, and those who have stayed in Hong Kong have either chosen to shut up and shelve their pens, or “being muted”. Leaving Hong Kong has become the norm, and it is an anomaly for them to stay and continue with sensitive journalistic work. Having reported on Hong Kong for nearly 40 years as a journalist, I used to think that I had a better understanding of yesterday's Hong Kong and its state of affairs today, as well as a better ability to predict its tomorrow.