China Times

The China Times (Chinese: 中國時報; pinyin: Zhōngguó Shíbào; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tiong-kok Sî-pò, abbr. 中時; Zhōng Shí; Tiong-sî) is a daily Chinese-language newspaper published in Taiwan. It is one of the four largest newspapers in Taiwan. It is owned by Want Want, which also owns TV stations CTV and CTiTV.

China Times
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)Want Want China Times Group
Founded1950 (1950)
Political alignmentPan-Blue
LanguageChinese
HeadquartersTaipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Websitewww.chinatimes.com

History

The China Times was founded in February 1950 under the name Credit News (Chinese: 徵信新聞; pinyin: Zhēngxìn xīnwén), and focused mainly on price indices. The name changed on January 1, 1960, to Credit Newspaper (Chinese: 徵信新聞報; pinyin: Zhēngxìn xīnwénbào), a daily with comprehensive news coverage. Color printing was introduced on March 29, 1968, the first newspaper in Asia to make the move. On September 1, 1968, the name changed once again to China Times, presently based in the Wanhua District, Taipei.

The founder, Yu Chi-chung, died in 2002, leaving the presidency of the paper to his second son, Yu Chien-hsin. Yu Chi-chung's eldest daughter, Yu Fan-ing, is the vice president. The bureau chief is Lin Shengfen (林聖芬), the general manager Huang Chao-sung (黃肇松), and the chief editor Huang Ch'ing-lung (黃清龍).

In 2008, the China Times Group was sold to the Want Want Holdings Limited, the largest rice cake manufacturer in Taiwan.[1] The China Times Publishing Company was the first publishing company in Taiwan to publicly issue shares.

China Times once managed a Taiwan-based baseball team, the China Times Eagles, but a betting scandal dissolved the team seven years into its operation.

In 2019, the Financial Times published a report[2] alleging that the China Times as well as Chung T'ien Television, also owned by Want Want, took daily orders from the Taiwan Affairs Office. The Want Want China Times Media Group subsequently filed defamation claims against the Financial Times and announced the intent to file defamation claims against any news organization that cited the Financial Times report.[3] Reporters Without Borders called the lawsuit a "an abusive libel suit" and accused Want Want of harassing an experienced journalist.[4] The lawsuit was dropped by Want Want on March 11, 2021.[5]

Editorial stance

Since China Times was bought by the pro-China Taiwanese businessman tycoon Tsai Eng-Meng, head of Want Want Holdings Limited, in 2008, the Times has veered into an editorial stance more sympathetic to the positions of the Chinese Communist Party.[6] It has since been criticized of being "very biased" in favor of positive news about the Chinese government.[7] In a 2020 interview with Stand News, an anonymous Times journalist described the editorial stance of the paper as having changed completely after Tsai's acquisition. The interviewed journalist said the newspaper mandated the use of vocabulary that supports the PRC's positions on Taiwan, and prevented its reporters from covering topics that may be seen as against the Chinese government, such as issues involving the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Tsai himself has openly admitted to airing commercials from PRC authorities.[8]

  • The Commercial Times (1978)
  • The China Times (U.S. Edition) (1982)
  • The China Times Express, published between 1988 and 2005
  • China Times Weekly The first print edition was published on 5 March 1978, as a monthly magazine titled China Times Magazine. The publication transitioned to a weekly format in 1988, accompanied by a name change to China Times Weekly. The website and digital edition were established in 2019, and the final print edition was published on 25 August 2021.[9]
  • www.chinatimes.com (1995)
  • The China Times' literary supplement is called Human Realm (人間; Rénjiān).
  • China Times is associated with the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomiuri, including cooperation between China Times Travel Agency and Daily Yomiuri Travel Agency.
  • WantChinaTimes.com, established in 2010, is an English-language Chinese news website owned by The China Times Group.[10] The site often reprints news items from the English-language edition of the PRC-controlled Xinhua News Agency. According to Chien-Jung Hsu, the professor at National Dong Hwa University, "Want China Times seems to be a representative of the Xinhua News Agency in Taiwan."[6]

See also

References
  1. Wang, Lisa (5 Nov 2008). "China Times Group is sold to Want Want". Taipei Times. Retrieved 21 Feb 2015.
  2. Hille, Kathrin. "Taiwan primaries highlight fears over China's political influence". Financial Times. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  3. Jake Chung, Chen Yun and (20 July 2019). "Want Want China Times to sue 'Financial Times'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  4. Strong, Matthew. "Reporters Without Borders group slams Taiwan media company action against Financial Times". Taiwan News. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  5. Chien, Li-chung; Madjar, Kayleigh. "'Financial Times' defamation case dropped". Taipei Times. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  6. Hsu, Chien-Jung (2014). The Construction of National Identity in Taiwan's Media, 1896–2012. Brill. p. 143. doi:10.1163/9789004227699. ISBN 978-90-04-22769-9.
  7. Higgins, Andrew (21 Jan 2012). "Tycoon prods Taiwan closer to China". The Washington Post.
  8. 【台灣大選・反赤】《中國時報》記者親述台灣媒體如何被染紅. Stand News (in Chinese). 8 January 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  9. Yeh, Kuan-yin; Kao, Evelyn (25 August 2021). "China Times Weekly, Want Weekly end print edition, go fully digital". Central News Agency. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  10. "About Us". Want China Times. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 21 Feb 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.