HONG KONG -- Hong Kong tumbled to 148th place from 80th in this year's World Press Freedom Index by a global media watchdog, after Beijing's crackdown shuttered multiple independent outlets in the territory.
The drop was the steepest in the ranking released Tuesday by Reporters Without Borders. The organization cited the forced shutdown of the publisher of the Apple Daily and Stand News, both of which had been critical of the Communist Party in Beijing. Another independent news website, Citizen News, ended operations early this year.
