It’s been a long time since my last opinion piece published in Apple Daily. During the few years I didn’t contribute to this section of the publication, earth-shaking changes in Hong Kong took place, and a lot of topics for discussion that used to be ordinary subject matters have now turned into taboos. So, getting back to this section, I started feeling headachy when I had to ponder over what I was going to write on.

After quite a while, I decided to write about Apple Daily as I was writing for Apple Daily. A typical “advocate of progressivism” in the current western political spectrum (disparaged as a “leftard” by some people in Hong Kong, which is another story), I have a love-hate relationship with Apple Daily.

Bear with me for a while for my elaboration on my “love” for it first – the easier part. Needless to say, it is universally known that Apple Daily has been setting an example for years by taking part in endeavoring to stand guard over great principles such as democracy, freedoms and rule of law in Hong Kong. Despite waves of suppression of the publication coming one after another in recent years, it has been fearless of persevering on, which has just made me love them more. Apart from that, most pieces in the non-current affairs and financial sections of Apple Daily are good reads (for example, I have been following the stories under the byline Pak Lo Mei(白露眉) in the entertainment section). Some of my friends fond of horse racing have praised its horse racing section highly!

Where is the hatred from inasmuch as there is so much “love” for it? Apple Daily’s persistence in right and wrong on issues of major importance aside, oftentimes its news coverages are tinged with the style of right-wing populist media in the West. More often than not, its international news is skewed in favor of the right-wing politicians who vow to “support Hong Kong” but run exceptionally counter to democracy and human rights in their homeland. Sometimes it goes even so far as to promote groundless conspiracy theories of those politicians. It covers news about the underprivileged such as foreign domestic helpers or the ones who seek a place of sanctuary in a derogatory or nonchalant manner from time to time. It exudes with its view of social stratum when it names the grass-roots citizens living in public housing “estate boys”/”estate girls”(屋邨仔/屋邨妹). Its criticisms of women’s appearances, outfits and make-ups are so mordant and mean, to the point that they actually show contempt for women.

To advocates of progressivism, all of the above-mentioned seems to be contradictory to Apple Daily bravely standing guard over the core values. Admittedly, all the contradictions in fact just show the contradictions on all these issues in Hong Kong’s mainstream society, and Apple Daily simply follows the populace to jump on the bandwagon. However, being the only newspaper in support of democracy and freedom and bellwether of the “yellow” internet media outlets, Apple Daily is resourceful enough to decline the populist style, and show its readers how to live out one’s life pursuant to the high-level universal values, isn’t it?

I have so far penned a paragraph for my “hatred” longer than the one for my “love”, not because my hatred of Apple Daily is more than my love of it, but the reasons why I “love” Apple Daily have been mentioned by a lot of people for years. At the end of the day, when the room for the freedom of speech is gradually shrinking and the mainstream media outlets are getting more pro-government, constituting a society where only in one voice reigns supreme, we should feel gratitude to the fact that we still have Apple Daily insisting on speaking up for the people. Even though there is still room for discussion concerning its philosophy of human rights and justice, the general direction it is heading in is worth our respect and support.

So, for the time being, my “love” of Apple Daily is definitely more than my “hatred” of it. I cordially hope that it would be able to pull through various difficulties, live on until the day Hong Kong’s environment is improved and I have the luxury to hate Apple Daily unreservedly from a “leftard’s” perspective.

(All of the above are author’s personal opinions only, and therefore have no relations at all to the law firm he works at or any organization he is affiliated with.)

(Kevin Yam Kin-fung, practicing lawyer)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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