Lai and Bezos: A Tale of Two Publishers

On our screens, two images tell a story for our time. First, there is a fleeting glimpse of publisher Jimmy Lai, 78, standing trial in Hong Kong. The democracy advocate and critic of the Communist regime, he’s been handed a 20-year prison term—a span so long, it is a death sentence. Lai is a man erased for the crime of promoting a free press. His world is a prison cell, his future a void. The second image is of Jeff Bezos on a yacht, radiant under a Mediterranean sky, a titan of industry whose newspaper, The Washington Post, once adopted, under his ownership, the solemn motto, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” 

One publisher is in a cell, the other on a yacht. To see the gulf between them is to spy the war on truth. 

Appreciating the cruelty of Lai’s fate, one must remember the promise that was Hong Kong. It was meant to be a beacon of “One Country, Two Systems,” a vibrant city where commerce and speech coexisted when the United Kingdom relinquished its claims to the former colony in the late 1990s. As Beijing retreated from its commitments to Hong Kong’s freedom, its citizens fought back. The 2014 Yellow Umbrella Movement was the zenith of this spirit of liberty, a breathtaking display of civil disobedience where a generation demanded the democratic future they were promised. For a moment, it seemed possible.  READ MORE