How common is self-censorship in Hong Kong? Over at the China Blog at Time, Austin Ramzy discusses a new poll out from the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

Of the journalists surveyed, 58% said they though press freedom had declined since the handover. Among those journalists who thought things had gotten worse, 72% thought self-censorship was the biggest problem.

In comments there, Doug Crets has postulated without evidence that it's all a conspiracy by anti-Beijing forces among Hong Kong's journalists. Your suggestion is seriously looney tunes, Doug. PS: have you noticed how self-reporting is not an issue for the pro-Beijing forces when asking the Hong Kong public about who they would vote for, while ensuring the public can't actually vote?

So how common is self-censorship in Hong Kong? Let's turn to the lead editorial in Sunday's SCMP.

p. A12, 11 February 2007
Democrats need to be realistic on way forward

...

But the democrats' proposal will not get off the ground. Scrapping the nomination committee—currently the Election Committee—is unlikely to be acceptable to either Beijing or to legislators who are wary of universal suffrage.

...

They should instead focus on their fallback position. This involves accepting the need for a nominating committee, but making sure it is one which allows for candidates from across the political spectrum to stand.

Understand? Because something is potentially unacceptable to Beijing, it's best to not say it at all. Even though Beijing hasn't said what is or isn't acceptable, the editors at SCMP suggest that we censor ourselves based upon our internalisations of what Beijing wants. Rather than ask Beijing (or their local proxies) to take a firm position, the "realistic" thing to do in Hong Kong is to self-censor and say what you think Beijing is willing to hear and then negotiate to some even weaker position after having surrendered your real goals due to self-censorship.