Sing Tao Daily

The Sing Tao Daily (Chinese: 星島日報) (also known as Sing Tao Jih Pao) is Hong Kong's oldest and second-largest Chinese language newspaper. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing (Chinese: 郭英成) is chairman. Its English language sister paper is The Standard.

Sing Tao Daily
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited
Founded1938
Political alignmentPro-Beijing (historically pro-ROC)
Headquarters7 Chun Cheong Street, Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, Hong Kong
Overseas: 188 Lafayette Street, New York City 10013, United States
Websitehttp://www.singtao.com
http://std.stheadline.com
Sing Tao Daily
Traditional Chinese星島日報
Simplified Chinese星岛日报

Sing Tao's Toronto edition is partly owned by Star Media Group, the publisher of the Toronto Star, a Torstar Corporation company.[1]

History
Passenger car with Sing Tao News Corporation livery

Sing Tao Daily is the oldest Chinese language daily newspaper in Hong Kong, having commenced publication on 1 August 1938.[2]

The first overseas edition of the paper was launched in 1963 in San Francisco, where the group’s first overseas office was set up in May 1964.[2]

In 1992, Sing Tao Daily, encountering financial difficulties, established a joint publication with the International Culture Publishing Corporation, a front organization for the Ministry of State Security.[3]

Until 2002, the parent company of Sing Tao Daily was Sing Tao Holdings; since then it has been Sing Tao News Corporation.

In 2021, Sing Tao's U.S.-based subsidiaries registered with the United States Department of Justice as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[4][5]

Political stance

The Sing Tao has a long pro-government history. Before the handover of Hong Kong to China, it supported the Kuomintang and British Hong Kong government; and once Hong Kong was transferred and turned into a special administrative region, the paper turned its support to the Beijing government.[6][7][8][9][10]

Charles Ho, chairman of Sing Tao News Corp Ltd. until June 2021, and his predecessor Sally Aw, were both members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a select group of the Chinese Communist Party’s loyal friends and allies.[11]

Chinese Communist Party influence

According to a 2013 report by the US government-funded Center for International Media Assistance, "The Long Shadow of Chinese Censorship: How the Communist Party’s Media Restrictions Affect News Outlets Around the World," a number of patterns emerged in recent decades that signalled Sing Tao was under influence or directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party: management and owners began practicing “self-censorship”, “high-risk” contributors were being terminated, and high turnover rates increased as journalists left due to an “unpalatable editorial policy.”[12]

Editorial coverage also shifted noticeably since the 1990s, notes the report:

A 2001 report on Chinese media censorship by the Jamestown Foundation cited Sing Tao as one of four major overseas Chinese newspapers directly or indirectly controlled by Beijing.[13] “Four major Chinese newspapers are found in the U.S.—World Journal, Sing Tao Daily, Ming Pao Daily News, and The China Press," reads the report, “Of these four, three are either directly or indirectly controlled by the government of Mainland China, while the fourth (run out of Taiwan) has recently begun bowing to pressure from the Beijing government.”

The point of view on the influence of Chinese Communist Party was also stated by another author John Manthorpe in his book Claws of the Panda.[14]

In August 2021, Sing Tao Daily started to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) at the order of the U.S. Justice Department.[15][16]

See also

References
  1. Blackwell, Tom (3 December 2020). "Inside Canada's Chinese-language media: 'Beijing has become the mainstream,' says ex-Sing Tao editor". National Post. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  2. Sing Tao Holdings Ltd Annual Report 2002, Profile of the Group
  3. Joske, Alex (2022). Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World. Hardie Grant Books. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-74358-900-7. OCLC 1347020692.
  4. Markay, Lachlan (25 August 2021). "DOJ brands Chinese-owned U.S. newspaper a foreign agent". Axios. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  5. Cheng, Selina (26 August 2021). "US edition of Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao forced to register as foreign agent". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  6. "Sing Tao Daily". Chinese Advertising Agencies, Inc. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  7. "Editor Dismissed Over Pro-Beijing Edits, Say Sources". Canada Free Press. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  8. Yu, Jess Macy (6 October 2014). "Hong Kong Newspapers, Pro- and Anti-Beijing, Weigh In on Protests". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  9. "Beijing's 'Invisible Hand' at Work Ahead of Hong Kong Election". Radio Free Asia. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  10. Huang, Zheping (2 August 2016). "China is using Hong Kong's media to broadcast its smear campaigns". Quartz. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  13. 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
  14. John Manthorpe (5 January 2019). Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. Cormorant Books. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-77086-539-6.
  15. "US edition of Sing Tao told to register as foreign agent". Marketing-Interactive. 27 August 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  16. National Security Division, U. S. Department of Justice. "Browse Filings". www.justice.gov. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
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