Hong Kong-based investigative news agency FactWire has closed down after six years of watchdog reporting on the city, where fears are growing about shrinking press freedoms.
The bilingual crowdfunded news site posted a statement on its website on Friday announcing it was terminating its operations effective immediately but did not give a clear reason as to why.
“For the past six years, we have done our best to keep this publicly-funded investigative news agency afloat in Hong Kong, whilst adhering to the highest standards of journalistic integrity,” the statement read.
The news agency revealed that at one point, it downsized to just two employees.
“But thanks to the continual and generous support of you, the public, we were able to navigate our dire financial straits,” it added.
The news site also noted the “great change” that media agencies have had to contend with in recent years and how it had “wrestled many times with the difficult decision as to whether to continue our journalistic work.”
“We had always come to the same affirmative conclusion: to stand fast to our core values and beliefs, and to always report the facts,” it added.
It also thanked people who supported the work of the agency, describing its establishment as a “dream come true.”
“But to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose. It has, at last, come time to end our journey,” the agency said.
FactWire said all monthly subscriptions will be suspended as of Friday, while all staff will be dismissed in accordance with pre-established procedures.
Initiated by veteran journalist Ng Hiu-tung in 2015, FactWire — which was 100 percent publicly funded — raised a record-breaking HK$4.7 million (US$598,791) through crowdfunding from more than 3,300 backers in three months.
It began operations in March 2016 and its stories have been published by major Hong Kong news outlets as well as international media including Reuters, BBC and the Financial Times.
FactWire is the fourth major news outlet in the city to shutter in less than a year.
It comes after Apple Daily, Stand News and CitizenNews all closed following police raids and arrests or due to growing fears about the safety of their employees after the passing of the controversial National Security Law, which critics say curtails freedom of speech.
