Ming Pao (traditional Chinese: 明報; simplified Chinese: 明报), a Chinese language newspaper, is a publication by the Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. Since the 90s, Ming Pao has established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. The four editions are: Canada Eastern, Canada Western, US Eastern and US Western.
Ming Pao's style is somewhat more conservative compared to other newspapers, as well as its own previous incarnation. Some people view it as a pro-Beijing paper as Ming Pao is less critical of the PRC government than, for example, Apple Daily. Instead of writing sensational headlines designed to shock the readers, Ming Pao prefers to use moderate wording and seems to take a less aggressive approach. Thus, many readers find its articles to be fair and neutral.
However, in recent years, Ming Pao has begun reporting some news in a "soft" way, meaning that the tone of some headlines and contents is less serious than the newspaper's initial tone, probably because of the trend of "infotainment" among both the local and overseas media. This "soft" reporting might be unavoidable, since it is the current trend in news reporting as sensational news and headlines tend to attract readers and boost readership. Nonetheless, Ming Pao is still best-known for being honest and responsible by publishing only the facts and not the exaggerated, gory photographs common in other newspapers that are unpleasant to readers, especially children.
Some Hong Kong people claim that Ming Pao seems to have become more "neutral", as it used to be quite opinionated and dared to pronounce its views on sensitive issues. These people attribute such changes to the pressure that the Beijing / Mainland government has allegedly put on Hong Kong's media as well as the more stable political situation in both China and Hong Kong. Others think that the free press in Hong Kong is changing of its own free will.
Kao Hsin-chiang, Ming Pao’s current editorial director, said that Hong Kong people needed to understand China better, to sympathize more and judge less. He also declared that Ming Pao wanted Hong Kong and Chinese interests to reach a balance, so it had to find that balance.
In October 1995 Ming Pao Daily News was bought by a wealthy Malaysian merchant in the timber industry, Tiong Hiew King(in Chinese: 張曉卿). On 29 January 2007, the Malaysian Tycoon revealed his proposal to merge the 3 newspaper groups he owns, the Sinchew group and the Nanyang group of Malaysia and the Mingpao group of Hong Kong into one. The merged group will be traded under Mingpao Group in the share market and listed in both Malaysia and Hong Kong stock exchanges. However all of the existing groups will remain their brands, independent operation and existing publications will be continued.
The merge proposal brought a strong wave of criticism and condemnation against the owner Tiong and the publications in both Malaysia and Hong Kong because of the concern of monopoly of Chinese media and control of speech. The merging plan continues regardless and on 23 April 2007, the merge became official.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Pao
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