Exiled Hong Kong journalists launch Pulse HK to fill void left by Apple Daily’s shutdown five years on

"We will try to fill the media void by reporting news from China that cannot be reported in Hong Kong or China nowadays." Shirley Leung told RSF. Pulse HK emerged from the merger of two Hong Kong exile-founded outlets - The Chaser News and Photon Media - and brings together journalists based in Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and North America. This global network enables Pulse HK to provide "round-the-clock news," said Leung, who previously served as Photon Media's editor-in-chief, as a former senior editor at the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, whose founder, Jimmy Lai, is in jail.

Since the enactment of the National Security Law (NSL) in 2020, dozens of newsrooms have shuttered, including Apple Daily, which was forced to close under mounting political pressure on 24 June 2021. Hundreds of reporters have moved abroad. According to RSF statistics, at least 900 journalists have lost their jobs from 2020 to 2024, and most of them left Hong Kong. The few journalists who continue to work either on the ground or in exile face daily harassment both offline and online, asRSF has already documented.

Since becoming operational in late 2025, Pulse HK has aimed to counter Chinese government narrative and propaganda, with in-depth reporting on Hong Kong, China, and the Hong Kong diaspora; for example, this June's home page features an article on Wang Fuk Court fire, another on spying case in United Kingdom that involves Hong Kong authorities and yet another on AI and national security.

The media team includes former reporters from Apple Daily, like Shirley Leung, and US broadcaster Radio Free Asia - which has been sidelined by the Trump administration's budget cuts. "It is vital to have an independent outlet focused on Hong Kong but based abroad, free from government pressure," insists Shirley Leung.

"As we have observed, traditional local Hong Kong media outlets tend to report news that aligns with the government, lacking critical angles and largely becoming mouthpieces for the authorities. Meanwhile, small, independent outlets are striving to survive while facing harassment through tax audits and the targeting of reporters' family members," she continues." The recent cases involving the imprisonment of veteran journalist Ronson Chan and the detention, deportation, and harassment of French journalist Antoine Vedeilhe illustrate her point.

Transnational repression reaches media on exile

Aware that Beijing's crackdown extends beyond its borders, Leung says the safety and anonymity of her journalists are a "major concern." As transnational repression by the authorities has intensified, Hong Kong reporters working abroad are exposed to increasingly dangerous situations."

In September 2024, The Chaser News reportedly faced "government-backed attacks" on its company email account. Before its launch, in August 2025, state-run propaganda media Ta Kung Pao attacked Pulse HK, claiming that it is part of a "war of ideological propaganda" . Pulse HK has also faced hacking attempts in the first half of 2026, with its website detecting multiple cyberattacks. Hackers attempted to breach the site and shut it down. However, security measures were already in place, and the attacks failed.

Pressure exerted through financial means

According to Shirley Leung, since the beginning of its operations Pulse HK launched a crowdfunding campaign on a third-party fundraising platform, which ran smoothly for six months. However, in June 2026, the project suddenly attracted a wave of suspicious donations from accounts based in Africa, South America, and other regions where the outlet has little to no target audience. These accounts would make donations and then immediately withdraw them. As a result, the platform flagged the activity as suspicious and abruptly terminated the fundraising campaign without providing any explanation. Consequently, Pulse HK lost one of its primary donation channels.

Since the adoption by the Chinese regime of the National Security Law in June 2020, the Hong Kong government has been leading an unprecedented campaign against the right to information. The Chinese government has used the NSL and other laws to prosecute at least 28 journalists, eight of whom remain detained in the territory, among them is Jimmy Lai.

Hong Kong is ranked 140th in RSF's 2025 World Press Freedom Index, having plummeted down the rankings from 18th place in just two decades. China itself ranks 178th of the 180 countries and territories surveyed.