Hong Kong summons international news outlets to issue rare warning

The Hong Kong authorities summoned international news organisations to a rare meeting on Dec 6 to warn against “false information and smear campaigns” surrounding the city’s deadliest fire in nearly eight decades and upcoming legislative elections. The Office for Safeguarding National Security said some recent reports by foreign media have “disregarded facts, spread false information” and “incited social division and confrontation”. An official at the meeting, which included journalists from Bloomberg News, used a Chinese phrase equivalent to “do not say you have not been warned”. The meeting came about a week and a half after the deadly blaze at…