Selina Cheng

The Wall Street Journal may claims to be a fierce and vocal critic for press freedom around the world, but it has failed to live up to that commitment in Hong Kong, where China’s government has viciously cracked down on the media.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet apparently caved to Chinese authorities when it sacked one of its Hong Kong reporters after she was elected to chair the Hong Kong Journalists Association, the last bastion of press freedom in the city.

Selina Cheng, who assumed the HKJA post on June 22, said after editors found out that she was running for election, her supervisor in the UK directed her to drop out of the race, and to resign from the board.

She was told that the chair position would be incompatible with her job. “The editor said employees of the Journal should not be seen as advocating for press freedom in a place like Hong Kong, even though they can in Western countries, where it is already established,” posted Cheng on the X platform on July 17.

The anti-advocacy claim is disingenuous.

The Journal won accolades from freedom of the press advocates for its campaign to free its falsely-accused reporter, Evan Gershkovich, from his Russian gulag. Russia is hardly a place with a free press.

The HKJA is disappointed and outraged by the WSJ's callous decision to fire Cheng.

“By pressuring employees not to take part in the HKJA, a key advocate for both local and international journalists working in Hong Kong, the WSJ risks hastening the decline of what space for independent journalism remains,” it said.

Journalism groups everywhere, especially in the US, should be wary of the WSJ’s role in standing up for the press.

America may soon be ruled by a guy who believes reporters are “enemies of the people.”

Anne Hidalgo

PR play of the week goes to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for plunging into the murky waters of the Seine on July 17 to prove the cleaned-up river will be ready for the Olympic Games, which open in the city on July 26.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned since 1923.

France has spent $1.5B for water treatment facilities to clean up the Seine for the Olympics.

Daily testing shows the waterway now has bacteria and E.coli levels low enough for the marathon swimming and triathlon events to be staged safely.

Hidalgo called her swim “amazing” and reported the water was great, "a bit cold but not too much.”

She said “making the Seine swimmable for residents will be an important heritage of the Games.”

Hundreds of Parisians cheered their wet-suited and goggle-wearing mayor, and shouted “bravo” for the carefully-planned PR dip.

A potential cloud though looms overhead. Heavy rains ahead of the events could drive bacteria levels above acceptable Olympic safety levels.

The Paris organizing committee does not have a back-up plan for the Seine competition. Sacre bleu!

Hidalgo’s plunge lacked the spontaneity that former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld displayed in 1996 when the fully-dressed politico dove from a Boston pier into the Charles River after it was declared sewage-free. He was joined by a fully-clothed state senator who had championed the River Protection Law. It was a great photo-op.

The EPA reports that the Charles River today is safe for recreational boating virtually all of the time, and safe for swimming 70% of the time.

Hidalgo can only wish for such results.

Curious timing department… The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Patrick Orlando, ex-CEO of Digital World Acquisition Corp. on July 17 for securities fraud.

DWAC was the SPAC vehicle used to take Trump Media & Technology Group, parent of the former president’s Truth Social platform, public.

The SEC opened its probe of Orlando in December 2021, and filed the suit a day ahead of Trump accepting the presidential nomination of MAGA Party.

TMTG stock has been on the upswing due to Trump’s good legal fortunes, and increasing odds that he will beat physically declining Joe Biden in the election.

Shares surged 31 percent to $40.58 on July 15, the first trading day following the assassination attempt of Trump.

Following the shooting, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes expressed sympathy for the family of person who was killed at the rally and thanked God that Trump survived and is safe.

Trump owns a 58.7 percent stake in TMTG. His 114,700,000 shares are worth about $4.3B at their current $37.13 price.