Read on Twitter
This is an incomplete list of people I recommend you follow for info on the Hong Kong protests. Work in progress thread that will expand over time. Priority is given to:
Frontline first-hand witnesses
Hongkonger voices
Active and prolific tweeters
Frontline first-hand witnesses
Hongkonger voices
Active and prolific tweeters
1) is an easy choice. Rachel Cheung is an incredibly brave and dedicated frontline Hong Kong journalist who puts herself in harm's way, gets astonishing footage, and threads her tweets despite being in a warzone. Also does protest art threads in the downtime. https://twitter.com/rachel_cheung1/status/1196455847523573761
2) Is another of our top frontline witnesses. Xinqi Su used to work for SCMP, but left for AFP to get more editorial freedom. Works long hours, visits all the danger zones, threads her tweets, and is an outstanding journalist. Covers all the non-frontline news announcements too. https://twitter.com/XinqiSu/status/1194295817676279811
3) is Jeffie Lam, seen in action here in Tsuen Wan when police pulled out their handguns. We met in person for the first time that night (I'm in this video) but been an admirer of her work for a long time. A journalist dedicated to the truth, and a thoroughly decent human being. https://twitter.com/jeffielam/status/1165599245434408960
4) has to be the incomparable Isabella Steger. Threads frontline tweets, and if covering from home will link together tweets from others. Has actual jokes. Once kept a watchful eye on me while I got an extensive police ID + bag check. Known her since 2014, she's a legacy badass. https://twitter.com/stegersaurus/status/1196094765613428736
5) would be Lok, who is currently inside PolyU after having spent several days last week covering the intense battles at CityU. Courageous frontline journo and meme specialist. Only known him a few months, but wish it'd been longer as he's Good People. https://twitter.com/sumlokkei/status/1193780226385301504
6) is Laurel Chor, who has also spent last few days inside PolyU. Primarily a photographer, so sometimes the good pics come later as they're on the camera. Did one Bad Tweet once, but that doesn't detract from her incredibly solid body of frontline work. Known her since 2014. https://twitter.com/laurelchor/status/1196050491534237696
7) is Kong Tsung-gan. Part frontline witness, part historian. They tirelessly document all the arrests and prosecutions. Thankless work that we all need, but only they keep the records updated. Shares great stories from the front like the time Wan Chai hid an army of protestors. https://twitter.com/KongTsungGan/status/1179323808467111936
8) is Galileo Cheng. Frontline since at least 2014, Galileo was there at Yuen Long 7.21 where he got hurt trying to save a livestreamer from Triads. Smashing dude, tends to Adolf the cancer-defying rapist cat (more cat pics please) when not out taking photos from the trenches. https://twitter.com/galileocheng/status/1196092593735708679
9) is Alex Hofford, who was inside LegCo as the police withdrew on July 1st. Took the massively viral clip of protestors using cones to deal with tear gas. Longtime HK environmental campaigner who fights the ivory and shark fin trade to protect endangered animals. https://twitter.com/alexhofford/status/1147788498231025664
10) is Antony Dapiran. Ubiquitous frontline correspondent, lawyer, and author of a book on HK protests. I refused his threats of a free copy of that book so many times he wrote another just to spite me. The go-to guy for quotes in media around the world. https://twitter.com/antd/status/1196414458253332480
Quick thread intermission to note a lot of the best and bravest frontline correspondents are to be found working in Cantonese, livestreaming for local outlets like Stand News and Apple Daily etc. This link shows 9 of those active livestreams at once:
https://ncehk2019.github.io/nce-live/?visibleCount=9
https://ncehk2019.github.io/nce-live/?visibleCount=9
11) for Mary Hui at Qz. When not at the frontlines actively retweets others who are, and for those of us who only use Twitter she reposts video gathered from livestreams, FB, and forums. A good "hub" account that offers more than just personal content. https://twitter.com/maryhui/status/1180122230925086720
12) is Alvin Lum. Threads his tweets (seriously, this is so important to retain later context if you are an onsite tweeter), is both prolific and omnipresent, puts in some serious hours at the frontlines. https://twitter.com/alvinllum/status/1196244637641428992
13) is Ryan Ho Kilpatrick. While I was filming from up on the bridge in the thumbnail, he was at ground level dodging the bricks and bullets. Archeologist and scuba diver when not avoiding being set on fire, known him since 2014. https://twitter.com/rhokilpatrick/status/1165564719937150976
14) a fairly new name on my radar, Jessie Pang at Reuters has been delivering some excellent frontline reporting. Fewer followers than many of the established names on this list so bringing her to the fore so she doesn't get overlooked. https://twitter.com/JessiePang0125/status/1196430153527648257
15) is the absolute lad that is Aaron Mc Nicholas. Back in 2014 he was half a world away, asking the occasional deep question on Twitter. One day he turned up, learned the language, and started putting in work. Has been badly peppersprayed at least twice in these protests so far. https://twitter.com/aaronMCN/status/1193512000728354816
16) Attempting to include someone from every news outlet, Timmy Sung from RTHK deserves inclusion. Still active as of this week, has quietly captured some key moments from the protests like the time protestors literally carried out a mate to prevent him sacrificing himself. https://twitter.com/timmysung/status/1145979649228333056
17) back in 2014 Eric Cheung was just a painfully young journo intern who I felt had a bright future ahead of him. I follow individuals, not orgs, and he's proved me right many times over as he continues to be a talented and *still* painfully young journo. Damn kids, my lawn. https://twitter.com/EricCheungwc/status/1196456768785833990
18) is Ezra Cheung, who has been working for NYT and CNN. Had his turn being accused of leading the protests by blue ribbons once, which took the heat off me for a week as they had a new person to shout at. Some content uploaded is from others, mostly labelled as such. https://twitter.com/ezracheungtoto/status/1196227009313067010
19) in the "follow individuals, not news orgs" the SCMP frontline staff are almost universally good. I don't read the paper, but the journos provide great live tweets that stand on their own merits. Happy to endorse Chris Lau as a solid follow for his work. https://twitter.com/hkchrislau/status/1189887609553604609
20) New dad Phila Siu has put in solid work from the frontlines, getting tear gassed and dodging water cannons. He was there when a whole bunch of journos had a really bad time because of tear gas, huddling into a building lobby for shelter. (That's my red shirt at the end.) https://twitter.com/phila_siu/status/1152999596026732545
21) is Hong Kong Free Press, the local indy English news org. Being a small team, all the work of the excellent staff like Holmes Chan and Kris Cheng goes into livestreams and articles directly, which is why their personal Twitter accounts are hard to recommend to non-HK people. https://twitter.com/HongKongFP/status/1165602425828339712
This list is purely for active Twitter accounts. It doesn't represent HK Twitter as a whole, or give judgement to anyone who doesn't livetweet. Simply that if you use Twitter as a primary source for live HK protest news these accounts are where you *start* but not where you stop.
22) is Selina Cheng, another youngster who was just a student back in 2014 but who has gone on to prove herself a brilliant investigative journalist. Helped me out personally when I needed to punch back at pro-Beijing legislators who came swinging for me. https://twitter.com/selina_cheng/status/1196952030922719232
23) is Jimmy Choi, another RTHK journalist who covers a mix of frontline work and police press conferences. I don't know him personally, but he's out there and again has relatively few followers compared to many on this list so I wish to boost his profile. https://twitter.com/jimcyf/status/1190570332270186496
24) is Candice, also from RTHK. Not the most prolific tweeter until these protests, but a lot of Hong Kong learned the importance of Twitter this summer. Has had some good content and appears to be remaining active on this platform. https://twitter.com/candicewongky/status/1188361597267238912
25) is Vicky Wong, who I've known since Occupy in 2014. Sometimes livetweets direct to the CoconutsHK Twitter rather than her own, but she'll warn when that happens. Vicky Wong loves crochet, and uploading photos direct from Twitter app so they have annoying blue boxes on them. https://twitter.com/vickywong710/status/1185837258949005313
26) is Suzanne Sataline, who you'll mostly remember as the journalist the cops shoved around a bit in viral pics a few weeks back. Has been at both PolyU and CUHK sieges (not CityU as I mistyped upthread) this last week. Genuinely lovely and decent journo I know personally. https://twitter.com/ssataline/status/1194309685341409280
27) is Michael Zhang, a freelancer who I didn't know before these protests, but has been putting in work that shows up on my timeline a fair bit. https://twitter.com/YuxuanMichael/status/1196420847017197568
28) is a very new name on my list, Hsiuwen Liu, who appeared a few weeks back doing fantastic threaded coverage of a protest no-one else was at. Added them to my list of essential follows very quickly as they have continued that high quality of work. https://twitter.com/liuhsiuwen/status/1196436636592029696
29) is Richard Pyne, a good guy who just wants to go back to doing stories about the environment, but as with everyone else does his share of protest duty because it's all hands to the pumps. Been a good steady follow since 2014. https://twitter.com/richardjpyne/status/1190579603691065344
30) is Eyepress News, which has been uploading some really great photos and videos direct to Twitter. There are other news orgs in HK that pretty much ignore Twitter, so we rely on people reposting the content, but Eyepress is embracing the platform so make sure they get the RTs. https://twitter.com/eyepressnews/status/1194224682993516545
31) and Damon Pang has been a solid lad for as long as I can recall. The RTHK journos often boost each other's content and aggregate stuff from elsewhere so they do more than just provide their own footage. https://twitter.com/damon_pang/status/1176725379471462400
32) is Austin Ramzy of the New York Times. I know the NYT regularly shits the bed in the US (especially the opinion section) but that's because all their best journos work the Asia office. Recently took time off the frontline to break the Xinjiang leak story like a boss. https://twitter.com/austinramzy/status/1155120154402947077
33) and Joanne Wong from RTHK has been very active on Twitter with coverage at a lot of protests recently. https://twitter.com/JOceanW/status/1193728456837611520
34) is Joel Christian. Joel is one of the founder members of the 2014 Twitter ground crew, and a personal friend. Still does vertical video in his livestreams like a goddamned grandma, but he’s a good kid who turns up and puts himself in harm’s way. https://twitter.com/2legit2trip/status/1196219703972155393
All of the names listed above are people who will likely be livetweeting whenever Hong Kong is slightly on fire. There are many other smaller accounts that do so too, but who tweet only intermittently or whose work goes into other media (photographers in particular don't tweet.)
I'm not listing smaller/less frequent tweeters because they get retweeted by myself and those listed above, hardcore HK protest followers will already know them, and this is a starter list for those joining late. Some invaluable non-frontline HK commentary accounts now follow:
35) is Yuen Chan. Used to teach journalism at CUHK, now based in London. Does translation and commentary and is one of the most important voices we have explaining what is going on in Hong Kong even when it's not moderately aflame. https://twitter.com/xinwenxiaojie/status/1194241086845263873
36) is Ilaria Maria Sala, who when she's not being a name you wish you could play in Scrabble to use up all those excess letter As has been writing thoughtful and incisive pieces on all aspects of Hong Kong life. One of many people way smarter than me you should be listening to. https://twitter.com/IlariaMariaSala/status/1197839108858449921
37) is Karen Cheung, an artist, a poet, a teller of tales of Hong Kong culture. An example of everything the youth of this city should be doing if they didn't need to be out fighting for their freedom. The kind of decent person that gives you hope for the future generation. https://twitter.com/karenklcheung/status/1195185692973776896
38) is Jun Pang, another ridiculously clever and talented youngster who makes me feel old and dumb by comparison. Doing incredible work finding important Hong Kong stories online and bringing them to an English speaking audience. Gives a damn, as more people should. https://twitter.com/h_punnet_/status/1180501888392761345
39) and I can't not mention Wilfred Chan. I first met him in 2014 back when CNN were bored of Occupy, so he was out covering it in his own time like a true journalist does. Now heads up the @LausanHK project. Wilfred is the bridge between HK, the US, and the international left. https://twitter.com/wilfredchan/status/1167138772091322368
40) I would be remiss in not adding Jasmine Leung to this list of essential frontline follows. Because these protests are far from over, and while she doesn't tweet much, she has a knack for finding the right place to be and has an eye for detail. https://twitter.com/_jasmineleung_/status/1179536764773339136?s=21 https://twitter.com/_jasmineleung_/status/1179536764773339136
