Ex-Wall Street Journal reporter denies ‘deliberately’ hiding HK$3M settlement demand in unlawful termination suit

2026-01-25 - 21:07

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Selina Cheng has denied intentionally concealing from Hong Kong’s labour authorities her request for a HK$3 million settlement from the American newspaper, whom she is suing for wrongful termination. Selina Cheng, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, speaks to reporters after being fired from The Wall Street Journal, allegedly over her role in the press union, on July 17, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Appearing before Principal Magistrate David Cheung at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday, Cheng also denied claims that she hid that information to mask her “ulterior purpose” of seeking money. Cheng, the chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, is accusing Dow Jones Publishing Co. (Asia) Inc – the newspaper’s parent company – of firing her in July 2024 over her leadership of the union. Representing the parent company, Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi said that Cheng “deliberately” concealed from the Labour Department that she had demanded HK$3 million from her former employer. Cheng denied the claim. Dow Jones pleaded not guilty last month to one count of preventing or deterring an employee from exercising the right to hold office in a trade union, and another count of terminating employment, penalising, or discriminating against an employee for exercising that right. Settlement Representing the parent company, Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi cited email correspondence in late 2024 in which Cheng’s lawyer asked the publisher’s legal representatives for mediation, specifically a settlement of HK$3 million. Hong Kong Journalists Association. Photo: HKFP. Tsoi then cited another email Cheng sent to the Labour Department in which she appeared to say the opposite. She told the department that she did not intend to take part in mediation proceedings, the lawyer said, a statement he said was “utterly untrue.” “I suggest to you that you deliberately did not update the case officer of the Labour Department about the continued demands you made through your lawyers to the company,” Tsoi said. Cheng denied this, saying she told the department she did not intend to mediate as she was always under the expectation that mediation “would not be possible.” She said Dow Jones had “rejected” mediation. Tsoi disputed this, citing an email in which the publisher said it was “agreeable in principle to move forward with the mediation.” Cheng said the company cast “doubt on how exactly that should take place.” “So even at this stage I do not believe that a mediation meeting would really happen,” she added. Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi (carrying briefcase) representing Dow Jones in Selina Cheng’s termination suit against the publisher, on January 22, 2025. Photo: James Lee/HKFP. Tsoi also told the court that Cheng had only sought a compensation of HK$193,000 from the Labour Department through a process known as conciliation, where an employment relations officer from the department leads a discussion between an employer and employee. Tsoi suggesting that Cheng knew she would not be able to get HK$3 million in the Labour Department’s conciliation process, to which Cheng answered: “I don’t know.” ‘Rushed timeframe’ Tsoi also said Cheng only gave her former employer two days to begin a mediation process, referring to an email from her lawyer to the company dated December 2024. Tsoi said: “You were aware that you are approaching the other side for urgent mediation – this was the last attempt your side was going to give to the company to pay the HK$3 million, otherwise you would launch private prosecution.” Cheng replied: “I disagree.” After those email exchanges, she eventually filed her prosecution against the publisher on December 12, 2024. Selina Cheng, chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), outside the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on December 23, 2025. Photo: Hillary Leung/HKFP. Asked whether she made a “deliberate choice” not to inform the court of details including the emails and the HK$3 million demand so she did not appear to have an ulterior motive, “which was money,” Tsoi said, Cheng disagreed. Cheng also said on Thursday that she believed the Wall Street Journal fired her over her leadership of the union, contrary to the paper’s claim that she was laid off due to redundancy. “My view was that, of all the things they could accuse me of, the board service clause was the only one that could have any basis. That’s what I reflected to the Labour Department,” Cheng said, adding that the company tried to prevent her from taking office as chair at the HKJA. “My understanding is that the company made up a lot of reasons or allegations to justify how I should not be a union officer and very few of them had any basis,” she added.