Buck 'stopped with Lai on paper's ops'

Eunice Lam

On the 35th day of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's national security trial, former Apple Daily associate publisher Chan Pui-man, testifying as a prosecution witness, continued to shed light on Lai's involvement in the paper's operations.

Chan said despite discussions among senior executives in "lunchbox meetings," Lai, the founder of Next Digital, ultimately made final decisions regarding Apple Daily's operation.

In response to an argument put forth by Lai's leading counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, Chan disagreed with the notion that Lai had not intended to issue editorial instructions during these meetings.

"It was inevitable for Lai to comment on how the news should be handled," she said.

Pang had claimed that Lai introduced the "lunchbox meetings" in 2018 after taking on a more active role in Apple Daily, citing low employee morale at the time.

However, Chan disputed this assertion, asserting that Lai used these meetings to express personal political views and provide guidance on running the business.

Whenever Lai discussed how to improve news content, she said, it was natural for editorial direction to be addressed and in that regard, Lai aimed to disseminate his opinions on his political stance and business operations during these meetings with staff.

The defense presented conversation records from the internal communications platform Slack, specifically from a channel called "Hong Kong Apple Daily Print Conversation," which included Chan, then publisher Cheung Kim-hung, then executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung and Lai.

Chan said Lai allowed staff to ask questions or offer suggestions before each "lunchbox meeting," and their input served as a framework for discussions.

Lai would then express opinions in meetings, and all attendees would comply with his directives and follow up accordingly.

For Chan, Lai was assertive and held strong stances, making him the final decision-maker after the discussions were over.

She and other senior editorial managers would take notes on key points discussed during meetings and follow up on them.

The defense presented a WhatsApp chat between Cheung and Chan on January 13, 2020, in which the publisher asked about key points from a June 2019 "lunchbox meeting," one of which was the publication of three protest-related photo albums.

Chan said she could not recall the specific details of that particular meeting.

She also revealed that apart from discussing Next Digital's operations and improvements for Apple Daily's reporting, Lai would also issue instructions on angles to be taken for specific news reports.

Chan cited, as an example, Lai's instructions during the pandemic, during which he had directed the China section to step up coverage of the alleged cover-up of the virus' source.

When asked if reports on Chinese ophthalmologist Li Wenliang, who had warned colleagues about early Covid infections in Wuhan, fell into this category, Chan agreed, saying the virus' source was a newsworthy topic that would garner global attention.