Wen Wei Po

For a newspaper with the same Chinese name published in Shanghai, see Wen Hui Bao.
Wen Wei Po 文匯報
Type daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Founded 9 September 1948
Language Traditional Chinese
Headquarters Aberdeen, Hong Kong
Website http://www.wenweipo.com
Wen Wei Po
Traditional Chinese 文匯報
Simplified Chinese 文汇报

Wen Wei Po is a Hong Kong-based Chinese language newspaper, first established in Shanghai in January 1938, with the Hong Kong version launched on 9 September 1948.

The paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government.[1] The publishers of Wen Wei Po aim to support the official mainland Chinese Xinhua News Agency in reporting the latest mainland developments. In 1989, when the editorial board openly objected to the use of force in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the editorial board was thereafter replaced.

The paper also covers and comments on Hong Kong news.

Wen Wei Po is an officially recognised newspaper for publishing legal advertisements under the direction of the government of Hong Kong.

Content

Wen Wei Po has around 48 pages every day with sections including news, sports and entertainment. Compared with other newspapers in Hong Kong, it has more coverage of mainland China politics, economy, society, education and culture, but fewer entertainment or human interest stories. Recently the newspaper has started sending journalists to gather news about PRC leaders' visits around China.

Space and military news

Wen Wei Po is known to periodically leak first hand information about the PRC's space program and military buildup. Typical examples are the advanced launch date of the Shenzhou 7 mission,[2] information revealed on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the journal's establishment, space shuttle program[3] or aircraft carrier program.

In this regard, the Wen Wei Po shares the privilege of being provided with exclusive high-tech news with newsgroups targeting the same readership such as the Hong Kong Da Gong Journal or the Beijing Youth Daily.

Market

Wen Wei Po is authorised for distribution in Macau and mainland China. Tourists can get copies of Wen Wei Po easily from hotels in the larger mainland cities. Wen Wei Po has a greater circulation in the mainland than in Hong Kong.

As one of the most popular Hong Kong newspapers in the mainland, Wen Wei Po publishes a lot of advertisements from enterprises of different cities in the mainland. Even for the online version, there are a lot of mainland advertisements, and the newspaper's advertisement revenue is mainly supported by the mainland China market.

Style

Wen Wei Po is regarded as a newspaper that supports the Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China government. Consequently, the reports are mainly on the "brighter" and the more positive side of China.

The paper is also considered as a "cleaner" paper as it includes fewer sensational reports and bloody pictures. Its reports on issues other than politics and China are considered as more reliable.

According to The Challenge of Hong Kong's Reintegration With China, a book written by Ming K. Chan, Wen Wei Po is a "mouthpiece" of the PRC government.

Despite their low credibility and dismay circulation in Hong Kong, these mouthpieces are well-financed by advertising revenues from the PRC companies...Wen Wei Po has received more funds...Both papers print many Xinhua-initiated commentaries under pseudonym aimed to criticize and intimate China's critics.[4]

Credibility

The credility of Wen Wei Po can be shown in the survey conducted by the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, entitled "Press Freedom and Political Transition in Hong Kong:A Summary of the Hong Kong Journalist Survey 1996". Wen Wei Po gained a mean of 4.68 mark, where the maximum mark is 10, among local media organisations. This placed it at No. 24 of 29 organisations.

Press Freedom and Political Transition in Hong Kong:A Summary of the Hong Kong Journalist Survey 1996:

RTHK reported that, four separate public surveys had been conducted in 1997, 2001, 2006, 2009, by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Wen Wei Po is ranked near bottom on the media credibility scale in all four occasions.[5]

Tiananmen editorial

On 21 May 1989, as concerns in Hong Kong about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests were reaching fever pitch, the paper took a principled position opposing the enforcement of martial law by the PLA amid pro-democracy protests by students and political activists. The editorial column was filled with four large Chinese characters – reading "deep grief and bitter hatred". The decision was made by Lee Tze-chung, who had been president of the paper since 1951, and Kam Yiu-yu, the editor-in-chief. Lee was released from his duties shortly afterwards, while Kam went into exile in the United States.[6]

Wen Wei Po in the world

The newspaper's 33 official agencies in the mainland, including Beijing, Shanghai and Yunnan, help the paper gather news in the mainland and establish relationships with local officials/advertisers. It also has correspondents in major cities in the world, such as Tokyo, London and New York.

Wen Wei Po has five overseas editions. The latest edition is the Philippines edition, established in Manila on 8 October 2003. The other overseas editions are published in San Francisco, USA, Jakarta in Indonesia, Toronto in Canada and Bangkok in Thailand. It also has a European edition and a flight edition.

DVD Archives of Wen Wei Po

Wen Wei Po distributes a set of 13 DVDs containing all the content, including text, graphs and photographs of the newspaper from the period 1939–1998. Users can search the information they want by keywords.

Shanghai Wen Hui Bao

Main article: Wen Hui Bao

The Shanghai Wen Hui Bao, with the same Chinese name 文汇报, is another newspaper and independent from the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po. In 1997, Wen Hui Bao merged with the Shanghai Xinmin Evening News (新民晚報) to form Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group (文匯新民聯合報業集團).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Betsy Tse (9 April 2015). "Basic Law violation seen as LOCPG tightens grip on HK publishers". EJ Insight.
  2. ↑ "神舟七号提前至月底升空". Wen Wei Po. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
  3. ↑ "国产空天飞机三年内试飞". Wen Wei Po. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Challenge of Hong Kong's Reintegration with China". google.com.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ The editor who stood up to Beijing, SCMP, Peter So, 13 May 2012

External links

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