Apple Daily shuts down– EU reacts harshly

Hong Kong loses another opposition voice. The daily Apple Daily will cease production today, Thursday, 26 years after it was founded. The online offering of the tabloid, which had taken a critical stance on the growing influence of the Communist Party in the metropolis, is also affected by the shutdown. Parent company Next Digital is drawing the consequences from an unprecedented crackdown by authorities on press freedom in Hong Kong (more in China.Table). The security bureau has frozen around US$2.3 million of the Apple Daily’s operating budget, pushing it to the brink of inability to act.