HONG KONG (NPTV/ IFJ): The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) noted that the authorities here appear to be directly copying from China’s playbook, by accusing foreign Media and so-called “anti-China forces” of spreading rumours and false information apropos recent incendie that consumed 159 people November, 2025.
“The IFJ reminds the Hong Kong authorities of the media’s responsibility and right to report in the public interest on a matter of such extreme importance and condemns any attempts to censor or block reporting of this horrendous disaster.”
Hong Kong authorities have accused foreign media correspondents of smearing the government, wielding warnings against ‘false information’ in the wake of the deadly Wang Fuk apartment complex fire that killed at least 159 people last month. IFJ said it condemned any attempts at intimidating media workers reporting in the public interest
The ferocious fire rapidly engulfed and spread through seven of the eight high-rise residential buildings in the Wong Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po district in northern Hong Kong on the afternoon of November 26. Built in 1983, the 31-storey tower blocks were undergoing renovations when the fire broke out. At least 158 of the tower’s estimated 4,600 residents are now confirmed dead, with at least six more people unaccounted for since the blaze. A fireman was also among the confirmed dead.
In the wake of the blaze and as questions were raised on the source and cause of Hong Kong’s worst fire disaster in 63 years, authorities also began a crackdown not only for those potentially culpable for the fire, but also on those who have raised questions or exposed potential critical failures, including journalists.
On December 6, multiple senior journalists from major news outlets operating in Hong Kong to report on the Wang Fuk Court Fire on Tai Po, were summoned to a meeting at the Office of Safeguarding National Security (OSNS). Journalists from the New York Times and Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that an official read a statement during the meeting, accusing “hostile foreign forces” of disparaging the government with distorted facts and false information that smeared the government’s rescue and relief work. According to the AFP, the unnamed OSNS officials did not explicitly outline any particular report they disliked, nor did they allow questions during the meeting.
OSNS officials, in a statement released after the meeting, said “some foreign media ignored the facts and spread false information, distorting and slandering the government’s disaster rescue work,” to whom they cautioned, do not cross the red line with false reports and do not say you have not been warned” bearing consequences for journalists who violate these conditions. The OSNS has since released further statements to reprimand “anti-China forces” against using the Wang Fuk Court fire to compromise social cohesion.
Hong Kong Security Chief, Tang Ping-Keung, attributed the ferocity of the blaze to styrofoam boxes placed outside the windows of the apartment blocks – while also noting that fire alarms in all eight housing blocks were found to be not working effectively. Earlier investigations also found that netting covering the building failed to meet fire safety standards. Poor compliance records and general negligence exacerbated the fire’s effects.
Police have since arrested three men aged between 52 and 68 on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the deadly blaze. Two of them are directors of a construction firm while the other is an engineering consultant.
But reports since the blaze suggest that authorities also blocked volunteers distributing aid at the disaster site and a number of people were arrested or detained for posting critical comments online, including a student allegedly detained on “sedition” charges who had launched a petition callling for accountability.
Answering journalists’ questions about the arrests, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee, said: “To anybody who dares to sabotage [social unity]… we will do anything we can to ensure that justice will be done.”
Hong Kong’s fire department said that the combination of high temperatures, the risk of further scaffolding collapse, and the small and crowded interiors of the apartments made rescue operations difficult. Within 40 minutes of first being reported it was declared a level four alarm – but it was raised to a level five, the highest in severity, about three and a half hours later.
Nearly 40% of the people who lived in the Wang Fuk Court housing complex are at least 65, or older, according to census data. Some have lived in the subsidised public housing estate since it was built.
The OSNS opened in 2020 as a branch under the Chinese central government that granted Beijing security agents authority to investigate national security matters in Hong Kong. The body, made up of former Ministry of Public Security officials, was officially implemented following Beijing’s expansion of national security laws and has since been used across China to increasingly monitoring of press and restrict press freedom of speech.
Newspakistan.tv/IFJ
