Ming Pao

Ming Pao 明報
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Media Chinese International Limited
Language Chinese
Website www.mingpao.com
Ming Pao
Traditional Chinese 明報
Simplified Chinese 明报

Ming Pao (traditional Chinese: 明報; simplified Chinese: 明报; pinyin: Míng Bào) is a Chinese-language newspaper published by Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, Ming Pao established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. Currently, only the two Canadian editions remain: Ming Pao Toronto and Ming Pao Vancouver. Ming Pao New York and Ming Pao San Francisco ceased operations on 31 January and 14 February 2009, respectively.

With a mission and long standing editorial direction to present comprehensive, objective and bias-free coverage and analyses on political and economic issues in both mainland China and Hong Kong. According to a Media Credibility Survey conducted by The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2006, Ming Pao was selected as the most credible Chinese language newspaper. It aims at providing comprehensive and accurate reports on political and economic issues in Hong Kong and mainland China. Well known for its accuracy in language, many secondary schools in Hong Kong encourage their students to subscribe to Ming Pao to improve their Chinese language.

History

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 Jinyong (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.[1]

Ming Pao was then taken over by Tiong Hiew King in 1995. Ming Pao now is published by Ming Pao Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Media Chinese International Limited, which was formed by the successful merger of Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation Limited (Hong Kong), Sin Chew Media Corporation Berhad (Malaysia) and Nanyang Press Holdings Berhad (Malaysia) in April 2008.

Reader groups

According to Ming Pao, its main reader groups are the middle class, professionals, managers and corporate decision-makers.

Achievements

Awards won by Ming Pao Hong Kong in recent years:
Public Evaluation on Media Credibility Survey, conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong 2001–2006

The Society of Publishers in Asia Awards 2008:

The Society of Publishers in Asia Awards 2007:

The Society of Publishers in Asia Awards 2006:

IFRA Asia Media Awards 2008:

IFRA Asia Media Awards 2007:

IFRA Asia Media Awards 2006:

Awards won by Ming Pao Vancouver in recent years:

Website

The homepage of Ming Pao was set up in 1995, one of the earliest newspaper websites in Hong Kong. The Ming Pao website won the "Ten Healthy Websites Contest 2002" of the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority. Only two news websites among the entire media industry in Hong Kong were given the award, which objectives were said to encourage young people and children to visit websites with healthy information and make proper use of the Internet, and to motivate Internet content providers to create more healthy websites for young people by recognising their efforts.

International Expansion

Ming Pao set up a Toronto office[2] 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)). These two papers soon attracted enough sales and became one of the local Chinese newspapers in North American with the largest readership.

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)). In 2007, the office also published the New York Free Newspaper (Chinese: 紐約免費報). In February 2009, the Group integrated the resources of these two newspapers and started publishing the Ming Pao Daily Free News (New York) (Chinese: 明報(紐約)免費報), serving the Chinese community along the US East Coast.

Merger with Malaysia Sinchew and Nanyang Groups

In October 1995, Ming Pao 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.

Violent assault on editor

Kevin Lau, who had been chief editor of the journal until January 2014, was attacked in the morning of 26 February 2014 as he was about to take breakfast at a restaurant 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 President Xi Jinping, former Premier Wen Jiabao, and several members of the National People's Congress[3][4] 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.[5]

Controversy

Ming Pao was subject to controversy in 2015 after editor-in-chief Chong Tien-siong ordered that a story detailing the Tiananmen 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 criticized by some, including Civic Party lawmaker Claudi 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". [6]

Hong Kong Journalists Association spokeswoman Shum Yee-lan called on Chong to "communicate" with his own staff.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Journalists Receive 1996 Press Freedom Awards". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1996. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  2. ↑ "Ming Pao Canada Website". Ming Pao (Canada).
  3. ↑ Mitra-Thakur, Sofia (28 February 2014). "Hong Kong: Former editor Kevin Lau Chun-to stabbed in triad-style hit ". The Independent.
  4. ↑ Mullany, Gerry (25 February 2014). "Hong Kong Editor Whose Ouster Stirred Protests Is Slashed". The New York Times
  5. ↑ Siu, Beatrice (3 March 2014). "Pressing the point". The Standard.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Removal of Tiananmen Crackdown Story Prompts Questions in Hong Kong". Radio Free Asia.

External links