Lai's opinion encouraged smears on cops, court hears

Eunice Lam

Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's opinion had dominated Apple Daily's coverage and encouraged people to take to the streets to demonstrate and smear police action, the daily's former associate publisher Chan Pui-man testified.

Chan, 53, a prosecution accomplice witness, said at West Kowloon Magistrates' Court yesterday that Lai, 76, had never instructed the daily's management to change its editorial policy despite his arrest in August 2020.

But she added Lai had not held any "lunch box meetings" after his arrest.

The prosecution showed an Apple Daily article about an interview with Lai on August 13, 2020, three days after his arrest nd subsequent release on police bail.

In the article, Lai recalled the time he spent in the detention room and said he would "still choose to go down the same path even if he needs to go to jail."

Chan said she would follow Lai's instructions, noting he was "basically the boss and the working style he adopted was relatively strong." He would insist his approach on matters was the correct way and instructed colleagues to do news "to the maximum effect" that he considered important, she added.

Despite sharing the same values with Lai such as fighting for democracy and freedom, Chan said she might not agree with the specific methods of implementation all the time.

She used the "One People One Letter" campaign as an example, in which her disagreement was rejected by Lai, and she gradually followed his direction to publish the letter template on the newspaper's A1 front page.

The court earlier heard that Lai rooted for the reelection of then-US President Donald Trump and gave instructions to his colleagues in the international news section not to follow anti-Trump reporting lines of the New York Times and CNN.

Chan said Lai had criticized colleagues in the paper's international news section for having inadequate coverage of alleged scandals against the other presidential candidate Joe Biden and his family.

She added she had read relevant news reports and understood the situation from the international news section afterward that the team worried about the authenticity of scandals relating to now-US President Biden, as many were published by US tabloids or social media.

She said she had once told then-Apple Daily publisher Cheung Kim-hung that "the colleagues from international news section felt stressed," and they would adjust the proportion of Trump's news upon Lai's requests.

But she felt the newspaper's reports were still in line with journalistic principles.

The prosecution also showed an article on Apple Daily's front page on September 1, 2019, the day after the police operation at the Prince Edward MTR station on August 31, 2019.

Chan stated that the article's angle was casting doubt on whether excessive violence had been used by the police - which was relevant to Lai's focus - in handling the protesters.

But then national security judge Alex Lee Wan-tang said the article - with title and content "stating excessive violence had been used by the police" - did not cast doubt, and Chan agreed.

The defense is expected to start its cross-examination of Chan today.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com