Chinese-language newspaper from Hong Kong
Ming Pao
(
Chinese
:
明報
) is a Chinese-language newspaper published by
Media Chinese International
in Hong Kong. In the 1990s,
Ming Pao
established four overseas branches in North America; each provides independent reporting on local news and collects local advertisements. Currently, of the overseas editions, only the two Canadian editions remain:
Ming Pao Toronto
and
Ming Pao Vancouver
. In a 2022 survey from the
Chinese University of Hong Kong
sampling 994 local households,
Ming Pao
was listed as the second most credible paid newspaper in Hong Kong.
[1]
[2]
History
[
edit
]
Launch, early days
[
edit
]
Ming Pao
was first published on 20 May 1959, and was founded by the famous Chinese
Wuxia
novelist
Louis Cha
, known better by his pseudonym
Jin Yong
(金庸), and his friend,
Shen Pao Sing
(沈寶新).
Daisy Li Yuet-Wah
won an
International Press Freedom Award
from the
Committee to Protect Journalists
for her work with the paper in 1994.
[3]
Before British Hong Kong's handover to the
People's Republic of China
by the United Kingdom in 1997,
Ming Pao
was considered hostile to the Chinese authority.
[4]
When China reunited with Hong Kong, the controversial editors of
Ming Pao
turned favorable towards the Chinese government.
[5]
[6]
Merger with Malaysia Sinchew and Nanyang Groups
[
edit
]
In October 1995, the publisher of
Ming Pao
, Ming Pao Enterprise was taken over by
Tiong Hiew King
(Chinese: 張曉卿). On 29 January 2007, Tiong released a proposal to merge the three media groups ?
Sin Chew Media Corporation Berhad
(Malaysia),
Nanyang Press Holdings Berhad
(Malaysia) and Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation Limited (Hong Kong). The merged group, named
Media Chinese International Limited
was dual-listed on the main boards of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad in April 2008. All of the existing groups retain their existing publications and independent operations.
The website of
Ming Pao
was set up in 1995, one of the earliest newspaper websites in Hong Kong.
[7]
Since April 2008,
Ming Pao
is published by Ming Pao Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Media Chinese International Limited.
International development
[
edit
]
Ming Pao
set up a Toronto office
[8]
in Canada in May 1993 to publish the Ming Pao Eastern Edition (
Chinese
:
明報(加東版)
), then set up a Vancouver office in October the same year for the Ming Pao Western Edition (
Chinese
:
明報(加西版)
).
In April 1997, the group set up a New York office and started publishing the Ming Pao US East Coast Edition (
Chinese
:
明報(美東版)
). The journal launched in the
San Francisco Bay Area
in April 2004 with a print run of 25,000, the sixth Chinese newspapers to be distributed in the region.
[9]
In 2007, the office also published the
New York Free Newspaper
(
Chinese
:
紐約免費報
).
Ming Pao New York
and
Ming Pao San Francisco
ceased operations on 31 January and 14 February 2009, respectively. The closing of NY operations was a symbol of the weakening of ethnic newspapers of the region.
[10]
The group merged the resources of
Ming Pao New York
and the
New York Free Newspaper
to create
Ming Pao Daily Free News (New York)
(
Chinese
:
明報(紐約)免費報
), serving the Chinese community along the US East Coast.
Controversies
[
edit
]
Accusations of Chinese Communist Party influence
[
edit
]
A
2001
report on Chinese media censorship by the
Jamestown Foundation
cited Ming Pao as one of the four major Chinese newspapers in the United States directly or indirectly controlled by Beijing.
[11]
“Employees at
Ming Pao'
s New York office have told sources that their 'true boss' is none other than the Chinese Consulate [in New York], and that they are obligated to do whatever the Consulate asks," it said.
A 2006 study of
Ming Pao
editorials noted a tendency toward
self-censorship
concerning criticism toward Beijing.
[6]
According to a 2013 report by the
Center for International Media Assistance
, this came after a number of newspapers, including
Ming Pao Daily
, were bought by business tycoons with interests in China and close ties to mainland officials before and after the
handover of Hong Kong
in 1997.
[12]
Assault on former chief editor Kevin Lau
[
edit
]
Kevin Lau, who had been chief editor of the journal until January 2014, was attacked in the morning of 26 February 2014 in Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong. He was seriously injured in a targeted knife attack. It was widely speculated that the attack may have been driven by political motivation, and related to its role in investigation by the
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ) into the offshore assets of China's leaders, including relatives of
Communist Party
general secretary
Xi Jinping
, former Premier
Wen Jiabao
, and several members of the
National People's Congress
[13]
[14]
Journalists and press of the world saw the attack as an attack on
press freedom
. Thousands of people, led by leading journalists, attended a rally to denounce violence and intimidation of the media.
[15]
During the court hearings of the two suspects, one declared that he was looking to get a $100,000 reward with this attack.
[16]
Appointment of Chong Tien Siong
[
edit
]
In 2014, the appointment of new chief editor Chong Tien Siong sparked controversy and internal revolt, due to Siong's close ties to Beijing, and was seen as a major threat to the Chinese-language newspaper's editorial independence.
[17]
Censorship of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
[
edit
]
Ming Pao
was subject to controversy in 2015 after editor-in-chief Chong Tien-siong ordered that a story detailing the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
be replaced with a story about Chinese Internet giant
Alibaba
as a "role model for young, would-be entrepreneurs". Chum Shun-kin said the story that was pulled contained details about the history of the massacre, including eyewitness accounts of the killing of civilians and information from diplomatic cables from Canada. The pulling of the Tiananmen story has been criticised by some, including
Civic Party
lawmaker
Claudia Mo
who said that Chong appears to "want to shield Beijing from embarrassment, instead of acting in the interests of the public and protecting their right to information".
[18]
Hong Kong Journalists Association
spokeswoman Shum Yee-lan called on Chong to "communicate" with his own staff.
[18]
Termination of chief editor Keung Kwok-yuen
[
edit
]
The journal's executive chief editor, Keung Kwok-yuen (
Chinese
:
姜國元
), was abruptly terminated on 20 April 2016, the same day that a report based on the
Panama Papers
was published on its front page. Management said that the paper's turnover had been falling in since last year and the Keung had been laid off with immediate effect due to difficult operating conditions.
[19]
[20]
The timing of Keung's removal led to speculation that the Panama Papers report, which connected a number of influential individuals in the territory to tax havens abroad, may have been considered sensitive, thus being the real reason for the dismissal.
[19]
Keung had written several weeks earlier about the suppression of
Ten Years
, a dystopian film about Hong Kong in the year 2025 that was banned in mainland China.
[19]
Staff and the union publicly denounced editor-in-chief Chong Tien Siong's decision to "punish editorial staff who have different opinions", and questioned the cost reduction pretext as an excuse.
[19]
Journalists at
Ming Pao
manifested the concern felt by the media at large, several of them protested by filed blank space reports in an edition the Sunday following the dismissal.
[21]
[22]
On 13?14 June 2019,
Ming Pao
published editorials to define the
2019?20 Hong Kong protests
as a riot (
Chinese
:
暴動
), blaming the violence of the protesters.
[23]
[24]
However, on 14 June, the instant news section of
mingpao.com
, the web portal of the publisher, published a statement to declare that the editorial represents the newspaper, but not the frontier staff of the publisher.
[25]
The translator of the editorial refused to translate the article to English as well as any editorials in the future in protest.
[26]
On 17 June 2019,
Ming Pao
published an open letter written by some of its employees criticizing the June 13 editorial for being biased towards the establishment and damaging the reputation of the newspaper.
[27]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Public Evaluation on Media Credibility"
.
Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey
. 21 January 2023.
Archived
from the original on 27 April 2024
. Retrieved
3 May
2024
.
- ^
"Citizens' Evaluation of Media Credibility in Recent Years"
(PDF)
.
ccpos.com.cuhk.edu.hk
. 30 April 2023. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 25 September 2023
. Retrieved
3 May
2024
.
- ^
"Journalists Receive 1996 Press Freedom Awards"
. Committee to Protect Journalists. 1996. Archived from
the original
on 5 June 2012
. Retrieved
28 May
2011
.
- ^
Kahn, Joseph (21 April 1997).
"Ming Pao Has Already Pushed The Dissidents Off Page One"
.
The Wall Street Journal
.
ISSN
0099-9660
.
Archived
from the original on 31 December 2019
. Retrieved
26 May
2020
.
- ^
Joseph Kahn (22 April 1997).
"Hong Kong Newspaper Softens Its Voice"
.
Cpj.org
.
Archived
from the original on 16 September 2018
. Retrieved
16 September
2018
.
- ^
a
b
LEE, FRANCIS L.F.; LIN, ANGEL M.Y. (2006). "Newspaper editorial discourse and the politics of self-censorship in Hong Kong".
Discourse & Society
.
17
(3): 331?358.
doi
:
10.1177/0957926506062371
.
hdl
:
10722/92430
.
ISSN
0957-9265
.
JSTOR
42889054
.
S2CID
53127938
.
- ^
"Ten websites honoured for providing healthy contents"
.
www.info.gov.hk
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2017
. Retrieved
20 April
2017
.
- ^
"Ming Pao Canada Website"
.
Ming Pao (Canada)
.
Archived
from the original on 23 April 2015
. Retrieved
30 April
2015
.
- ^
Vanessa Hua (3 August 2004).
"SAN FRANCISCO / Newspaper war in the Bay Area / Ming Pao becomes 6th Chinese-language daily"
.
Sfgate.com
.
Archived
from the original on 16 May 2012
. Retrieved
16 September
2018
.
- ^
Kirk Semple (22 January 2009).
"Plan to Close Chinese-Language Paper Deepens a Shadow Over the Ethnic Press"
.
The New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on 16 September 2018
. Retrieved
16 September
2018
.
- ^
Duzhe, Mei. China Brief Vol1, Issue 10.
"How China's Government is Attempting to Control Chinese Media in America"
Archived
6 February 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
"Jamestown Foundation." 2001
- ^
Cook, Sarah (22 October 2013).
"The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship: How the Communist Party's Media Restrictions Affect News Outlets Around the World"
(PDF)
. Center for International Media Assistancee. p. 25. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 9 February 2014
. Retrieved
1 October
2017
.
- ^
Mitra-Thakur, Sofia (28 February 2014).
"Hong Kong: Former editor Kevin Lau Chun-to stabbed in triad-style hit "
Archived
25 September 2015 at the
Wayback Machine
.
The Independent
.
- ^
Mullany, Gerry (25 February 2014).
"Hong Kong Editor Whose Ouster Stirred Protests Is Slashed"
Archived
5 February 2015 at the
Wayback Machine
.
The New York Times
- ^
Siu, Beatrice (3 March 2014).
"Pressing the point"
Archived
5 February 2015 at the
Wayback Machine
.
The Standard
.
- ^
Julie Chu (23 July 2015).
"Knifemen offered HK$100,000 each to attack former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau, court hears"
.
Scmp.com
.
Archived
from the original on 16 September 2018
. Retrieved
16 September
2018
.
- ^
Lam, Jeffie & Lau, Stewart. 21 January 2014
“Controversial new boss Chong Tien Siong may join Ming Pao in 2 weeks”
Archived
3 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
South China Morning Post
- ^
a
b
"Removal of Tiananmen Crackdown Story Prompts Questions in Hong Kong"
.
Radio Free Asia
.
Archived
from the original on 11 February 2015
. Retrieved
11 February
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
LO, Jennifer (21 April 2016).
"HK freedoms under spotlight as Ming Pao sacks editor"
.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2016
. Retrieved
26 April
2016
.
- ^
"Hong Kong journalists' shock at Ming Pao editor's sacking"
.
BBC News
. 21 April 2016.
Archived
from the original on 18 September 2018
. Retrieved
21 June
2018
.
- ^
"Columnists continue Ming Pao protest"
.
The Standard
. 25 April 2016.
Archived
from the original on 1 June 2016
. Retrieved
26 April
2016
.
- ^
"Hong Kong daily Ming Pao runs blank columns in protest at sacking of top editor"
.
South China Morning Post
. 24 April 2016.
Archived
from the original on 27 April 2016
. Retrieved
26 April
2016
.
- ^
暴力無補於事 唯盼香港平安
.
Ming Pao
(editorial) (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Media Chinese International. 13 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 13 June 2019
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
政府修例?拔心中刺 管治失效代價難彌補
.
Ming Pao
(editorial) (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Media Chinese International. 14 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 11 August 2019
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
明報聲明 (07:35)
. instant news section.
mingpao.com
(in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Media Chinese International. 14 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 14 June 2019
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
【6.12 ?領】不滿社評定性?「暴動」 ?譯者拒?《明報》譯英文 職員貼標語:社評不代表員工
.
The Stand News
(in Chinese (Hong Kong)). 13 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 14 June 2019
. Retrieved
14 June
2019
.
- ^
偏袒政權毁損報格 議事須持公義良知?? 一群《明報》員工反對「6.13社評」公開信
.
Ming Pao
(editorial) (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Media Chinese International. 17 June 2019.
Archived
from the original on 24 August 2019
. Retrieved
29 June
2019
.
External links
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