Lai dictated Apple Daily editorial line, court hears

Without Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai giving editorial directions, senior management of Apple Daily would not have drummed up people to demonstrate, its former publisher, Cheung Kim-hung, told a court yesterday, despite himself sharing the same values as Lai in supporting democracy and the rule of law.

On the 18th day of the 76-year-old Lai's trial for collusion with foreign forces, the defense started cross-examining Cheung, 62, who gave testimony as a prosecution accomplice witness at the West Kowloon magistrates' court yesterday.

When cross-examined by senior counsel Robert Pang Yiu-hung, who leads Lai's legal team, Cheung confirmed Apple Daily senior management - including himself, former editor-in-chief Ryan Law Wai-kwong, former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, former associate publisher Chan Pui-man, and ex-editorial writer Fung Wai-kong -- shared the same set of values as Lai, which were "believing in democracy, freedom of expression and press, as well as the power of media in monitoring the government."

However, Cheung disagreed when Pang said Lai did not give editorial directions to the newspaper, even during the "lunch box meetings," but only shared his own values.

Cheung said: "Despite the fact that we shared the same values, Lai, as a matter of fact, gave directions, and likewise, he gave them during lunch box meetings."

National security judge Alex Lee Wan-tang questioned Pang, saying that according to Cheung's testimony earlier, Lai had indeed given the angles of news reports or even instructions to write biased news reports, such as negative news about China.

During the 2019 protests, Cheung recalled that the editorial policies set out by Lai included not only his values but also calling on people to demonstrate and put pressure on the administration.

"That is not purely supporting press freedom and democracy, but also about the approach the newspaper takes in doing the job," he said.

Cheung added Lai would also instruct on how to extensively cover and encourage people to take to the streets.

"Without the editorial directions from Lai, even if we [Apple Daily senior management] considered there was freedom of expression and respect the rule of law, we would not be able to do such things," Cheung said, adding that Lai was "a boss who won't take no for an answer."

The defense showed an "Apple Daily editorial room agreement," which was signed by Cheung on behalf of the newspaper, as well as Law, Lam, Fung and former editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee.

Cheung confirmed that the agreement stated that the newspaper enjoyed editorial independence. But he disagreed when Pang asked if the agreement meant Cheung could say no to his boss, Lai.

Pang also showed the WhatsApp chat records between Lai on September 19, 2019, who proposed to Cheung to launch seminar sessions to subscribers of Apple Daily, to boost subscriptions.

Cheung disagreed with Pang, saying Lai was only proposing, but was not making commands. "It was only Lai being polite when giving me the instruction," he said.

Cheung and other senior management would mostly follow Lai's instruction unless it was impractical to do so, added Cheung.

According to chat records showed by the defense, Cheung and Apple Daily senior management created a WhatsApp chat group "NSL Response Committee" in which Lai was not included.

In June 2020, Cheung asked group members whether to add Apple Daily's logo on a poster distributed by the Democratic Party, which Pang said highlighted the different views held by senior management and suggested Lai's instructions were not "invariably followed."

But Cheung denied this, saying what Lai said to him and his colleagues were more than mere "values."

Cheung also rejected Pang's saying that the weekly "lunchbox meetings" between Lai and staff were held to discuss "general business concerns" rather than for Lai to lay out his editorial instructions.

He cited Lai had instructed the magazine Eat and Travel to enhance coverage of the pro-democracy "yellow shops."

Meanwhile, Pang argued that Apple Daily had taken "a very strong stance on political issues" even before the Umbrella Movement in 2014 - which was, the court earlier heard from Cheung, was when Lai began to actively participate in the newspaper's editorial decisions.

Citing four headline stories between 1997 and 2005, Pang argued the newspaper had encouraged people to participate in the June 4 vigils and July 1 marches way before 2014.

But Cheung reaffirmed that there was a "sea change" in Apple Daily in 2014, adding that Lai was behind a half-year campaign to promote an unofficial referendum on universal suffrage and voiced opposition against Beijing's white paper on one country, two systems.