Protesters tear up images of the front page of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper after claims of censorship.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Editor's note: Mak Yin Ting has worked as a journalist for more than 25 years. She is currently the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Hong Kong correspondent for Radio France International.

(CNN) -- "Hong Kong enjoys a far higher degree of press freedom than before the handover in 1997 and this is on par with the most developed places in the world," said Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs, Tsang Tak-sing, to the Legislative Council last November.

Tsang was urging council members to vote down a motion defending press freedom in the territory, put forth by the Democratic Party's Emily Lau amid growing concern about China's influence on Hong Kong's media.

In fact, he sounded like a mainland official citing instances of 'good deeds' when rebutting criticism against China's human rights record.

Such claims contrast sharply with the reality in Hong Kong, where the free flow and access to information has been gradually but steadily restricted following Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. Although freedom of the press is enshrined in Hong Kong's de facto constitution, the Basic Law, the gap has been shrinking between our city and mainland China, which does not enjoy freedom of expression.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region- Is it still special 15 years later?

In Hong Kong, the proliferation of media outlets does not tell the whole story. The figures are robust: a city of seven million people consuming 46 daily newspapers and 642 periodicals as of 2010, according to the Hong Kong Yearbook. Nonetheless, the large number of media outlets does not ensure a diversity of voices, which is a fundamental part of press freedom.

According to an industry survey conducted by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) in April, nearly 87% of the 663 journalists who responded said press freedom in Hong Kong has deteriorated since 2005 when Donald Tsang took office as Chief Executive. This builds upon a similar survey conducted by the HKJA in 2007, in which 58.4% of journalists felt press freedom had been eroded since the 1997 handover.

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Is China attacking Hong Kong press freedom?