Ta Kung Pao

{{About|the Chinese state-run newspaper in Hong Kong|privately-owned editions of Ta Kung Pao that were published in mainland China prior to 1949|Ta Kung Pao (1902-1949)}}{{Short description|Chinese state newspaper}}

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = Ta Kung Pao

| image = HK 南區 Southern District 雞籠灣 Kellett Bay 田灣海傍道 Tin Wan Praya Road 田灣興偉中心 Hing Wai Centre March 2022 Px3 02.jpg

| caption = Hing Wai Centre, which has the Hong Kong head office of Ta Kung Pao

| logo = Takungpao logo.svg

| type = Daily newspaper; state media

| owners = Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group (subsidiary of Hong Kong Liaison Office)

| founder = Ying Lianzhi

| editor = Wong Wai-Keung

| format = Broadsheet

| foundation = {{date and age|17 June 1902}}

| political = Pro-Beijing camp

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Ta Kung Pao ({{zh|t=大公報|s=大公报|p=Dàgōng Bào|j=daai6 gung1 bou3}}; formerly L'Impartial in Latin-based languages) is a Hong Kong-based, state-owned Chinese-language newspaper. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong after the Chinese Civil War.{{cite news |date=18 April 2013 |title= |script-title=zh:大公報道歉：「習近平打出租」是假新聞 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/04/130418_takung_apology.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421072744/http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/china/2013/04/130418_takung_apology.shtml |archive-date=21 April 2013 |access-date=17 February 2014 |work=BBC News |language=zh}}{{cite news |last=Cheng |first=Kris |date=25 July 2019 |title=Hong Kong gov't orders pro-Beijing newspaper to remove giant sign on building following complaints |url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/25/hong-kong-govt-orders-pro-beijing-newspaper-remove-giant-sign-building-following-complaints/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029073733/https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/25/hong-kong-govt-orders-pro-beijing-newspaper-remove-giant-sign-building-following-complaints/ |archive-date=29 October 2019 |access-date=28 December 2019 |work=Hong Kong Free Press}} It merged with another state-owned pro-Beijing newspaper, Wen Wei Po, in 2016.{{cite news |last=Lo |first=Jennifer |date=2 February 2016 |title=Pro-Beijing newspapers Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao to merge |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Pro-Beijing-newspapers-Wen-Wei-Po-and-Ta-Kung-Pao-to-merge |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228094851/https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Pro-Beijing-newspapers-Wen-Wei-Po-and-Ta-Kung-Pao-to-merge |archive-date=28 December 2019 |access-date=28 December 2019 |work=Nikkei Asian Review}}

History

File:民国一年的天津大公报.JPG

= 20th century =

In the final years of the Qing dynasty, Ying Lianzhi, a Catholic Manchu aristocrat, founded the newspaper in Tianjin on 17 June 1902, in order to, "help China become a modern and democratic nation".{{Cite journal |last=Paragon |first=Donald |date=January 1961 |title=Ying Lien-Chih (1866–1926) and the Rise of Fu Jen, the Catholic University of Peking |journal=Monumenta Serica |language=fr |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=165–225 |doi=10.1080/02549948.1961.11731012 |issn=0254-9948}} The paper put forward the slogan "Four Noes" ({{lang|zh-Hant|四不主義}}) in its early years, pledging to say "No" to all political parties, governments, commercial companies, and persons.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} It stood up to the repression at the time, openly criticising the Empress Dowager Cixi and reactionary leaders, and promoted democratic reforms, pioneering the use of written vernacular Chinese (baihua). Readership fell after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 and {{ill|Wang Zhilong|zh|王郅隆}} bought it in 1916. Still, the newspaper was out of business by 1925 due to the lack of readership. On 1 September 1926, however, {{ill|Wu Dingchang|zh|吳鼎昌}}, Hu Zhengzhi, {{ill|Zhang Jiluan|zh|張季鸞}} re-established the newspaper in Tianjin.{{Cite web|last=McLaughlin|first=Timothy|date=2021-09-09|title=How China Weaponized the Press|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/09/hong-kong-china-media-newspaper/620005/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-11|website=The Atlantic|language=en|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911005152/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/09/hong-kong-china-media-newspaper/620005/}}

As the war raged on, the newspaper's staff fled to other cities, such as Shanghai, Hankou, Chongqing, Guilin and Hong Kong, to continue publishing, but local editions were abandoned as the Japanese captured more and more territory. After the war was won, {{ill|Wong Wan San|zh|王芸生}}, the chief editor, re-established the Shanghai edition on 1 November 1945, in the format and style of the old Shanghai edition. They had also planned to issue editions for other cities, including Guangzhou, but the Chinese Civil War forced this proposal to be shelved. Ta Kung Pao supported the Kuomintang at the beginning of the Civil War, but switched its sympathies to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the repression of intellectuals, hyper-inflation, and other violent purges of political opponents by the Kuomintang.{{Cite book |title=The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds |date=2010-02-16 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-17537-2 |editor-last=Yangwen |editor-first=Zheng |pages=103, 108, 111 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004175372.i-270 |editor-last2=Liu |editor-first2=Hong |editor-last3=Szonyi |editor-first3=Michael}}

In March 1948, the Hong Kong edition was re-established. A major newspaper during the Republican years, it continued to be influential after re-publication by Fei Yi Ming, the subsequent publisher in Hong Kong after 1949, as one of few newspapers that survived foreign invasion and civil war. In April 1952, the colonial authorities in Hong Kong tried the newspaper's proprietor, publisher, and its editor for violation of the Sedition Ordinance. Ta Kung Pao, along with the New Evening Post and Wen Wei Po, were charged with inciting an uprising by negatively reporting on the colonial authorities' response to a fire in Tung Tau Tsuen. As a result, Ta Kung Pao's leadership was fined, jailed, and ordered to cease reporting for six months.

A mass demonstration began in 1953 after protesters became dissatisfied with the Hong Kong government following a fire in the Tung Tau squatter area. The government in Guangzhou began fundraising to support the protesters and decided to dispatch a relief delegation to Hong Kong on 1 March 1952. The trip was cancelled after opposition from the Hong Kong government, and protests began on the same day targeting the Hong Kong police. Wen Wei Po and other publications supporting the Chinese government produced frequent reports emphasizing the Hong Kong government's neglect of the poor.{{cite book |last1=Yan |first1=Lu |title=The Cold War in Asia: The Battle for Hearts and Minds |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004175372 |editor1-last=Zheng |editor1-first=Yangwen |location=Leiden |pages=95–118 |chapter=Limits to Propaganda: Hong Kong’s Leftist Media in the Cold War and Beyond |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004175372.i-270.24 |editor2-last=Liu |editor2-first=Hong |editor3-last=Szonyi |editor3-first=Michael}} {{rp|104-106}} On March 5, New Evening Post, Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao reprinted an editorial from People's Daily, the newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, but removed references to "massacre of our countrymen" to avoid violating Hong Kong's Sedition Ordinance. However, the Hong Kong government accused the newspapers of sedition. Ta Kung Pao, its owner Fei Yiming and publisher Li Zongying received to nine and six months of prison sentence and fined a few thousand Hong Kong dollars.{{rp|108}} The newspaper was also ordered to stop publishing for six months.{{rp|108}}

Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai then issued a statement demanding Hong Kong to stop the prosecution. The British government told Hong Kong authorities days later to rescind the court sentence against Ta Kung Pao, its owner and its publisher, and the newspaper was allowed to publish again after 12 days of suspension.{{rp|109}}

= 21st century =

In 2016, Ta Kung Pao merged with Wen Wei Po to form the Hong Kong Dagong Wenhui Media Group, which is under the control of the Hong Kong Liaison Office.{{Citation |last=Luqiu |first=Luwei Rose |title=Working at State Media: Journalist or Propagandist |date=2021 |work=Covering the 2019 Hong Kong Protests |pages=73–88 |url= |access-date= |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-82226-2_5 |isbn=978-3-030-82225-5}}

In January 2019, Ta Kung Pao published an article stating that a "secret envoy" of president Tsai Ing-wen had met with three Hong Kong localist camp activists from the pro-independence group Studentlocalism. However, the "secret envoy" was actually Su Yong-yao, a senior political reporter for Liberty Times, a Taiwanese newspaper. The article was in turn criticized by the Taiwanese presidential office as "ridiculous" and "a piece of fake news".{{Cite web |last=Cheng |first=Kris |date=2019-01-17 |title=Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao slammed by Taiwanese presidential office for 'fake news' |url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/01/17/hong-kong-newspaper-ta-kung-pao-slammed-taiwanese-presidential-office-fake-news/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191009053630/https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/01/17/hong-kong-newspaper-ta-kung-pao-slammed-taiwanese-presidential-office-fake-news/ |archive-date=9 October 2019 |access-date=2019-09-18 |website=Hong Kong Free Press |language=en-GB}} In 2019, the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey ranked Ta Kung Pao as having the lowest credibility score among all paid newspapers in Hong Kong.{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Public Evaluation on Media Credibility: Survey Results |url=https://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/ccpos/en/research/Credibility%5fSurvey%20Results%5f2019%5fENG.pdf |access-date=April 5, 2025 |website=Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey |publisher=Chinese University of Hong Kong |archive-date=27 March 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250327015120/https://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/ccpos/en/research/Credibility_Survey%20Results_2019_ENG.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last=Liu |first=Liqun |last2=Zhou |first2=Congyi |date=2022 |title=Global Media Bias Caused by Propaganda and Censorship |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4286600 |issn=1556-5068 |ssrn=4286600 |doi-access=free}}

During the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, Ta Kung Pao published antisemitic George Soros conspiracy theories, displaying Soros as a reptile in collusion with Jimmy Lai.{{Cite news |last1=Haime |first1=Jordyn |last2=Gering |first2=Tuvia |date=April 25, 2023 |title=How George Soros became China's perfect nemesis |work=The China Project |url=https://thechinaproject.com/2023/04/25/how-george-soros-became-chinas-perfect-nemesis/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230502090626/https://thechinaproject.com/2023/04/25/how-george-soros-became-chinas-perfect-nemesis/ |archive-date=May 2, 2023}} In 2020, Ta Kung Pao frequently attacked judges perceived as siding with pro-democracy protesters, causing Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma to make an 18-page plea against attacking judges and the judiciary system.{{Cite web |last=Yeung |first=Chris |date=November 25, 2020 |title=Ta Kung Pao dragged in war over judicial independence |url=https://hk.appledaily.com/opinion/20201125/RTG32Q6A7FCQPG3OI5DVONMREM/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623142834/https://en.appledaily.com/article/RTG32Q6A7FCQPG3OI5DVONMREM/ |archive-date=23 June 2021 |access-date=2020-11-26 |website=Apple Daily |language=zh-hk}} In November 2020, the Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) published a letter to Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng, accusing Ta Kung Pao of publishing false material that claimed judge Anderson Chow was being supportive of criminal activities. The HKBA asked Teresa Cheng to protect the city's judges against false accusations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ta Kung Pao spread vaccine misinformation and portrayed Western vaccines more negatively than Chinese ones, mirroring Chinese government disinformation about COVID-19.{{Cite journal |last1=Chester |first1=Patrick J. |last2=Shih |first2=Victor |author-link2=Victor Shih |date=2024-02-01 |title=Vaccine Nationalism: How China's State Media Misinform about Western Vaccines and Highlight the Successes of Chinese Vaccines to Different Audiences |journal=Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law |language=en |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=163–187 |doi=10.1215/03616878-10910260 |issn=0361-6878 |pmid=37522356}} In 2022, the newspaper launched investigations into several Hong Kong academics that it deemed "anti-China scholars."{{Cite journal |last=Baehr |first=Peter |date=25 April 2022 |title=Hong Kong Universities in the Shadow of the National Security Law |journal=Society |language=en |volume=59 |issue=3 |pages=225–239 |doi=10.1007/s12115-022-00709-9 |issn=0147-2011 |pmc=9036840 |pmid=35494402 |doi-access=free}}

In May 2023, the newspaper attacked housing and urban planning NGO Liber Research Community, saying the NGO was "taking things out of context with groundless evidence."{{Cite web |last=Chan |first=Irene |date=2023-05-16 |title=State-backed media take aim at Hong Kong housing and urban planning NGOs |url=https://hongkongfp.com/2023/05/16/state-backed-media-take-aim-at-hong-kong-housing-and-urban-planning-ngos/ |access-date=2023-05-24 |website=Hong Kong Free Press |language=en-GB |archive-date=19 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230819192604/https://hongkongfp.com/2023/05/16/state-backed-media-take-aim-at-hong-kong-housing-and-urban-planning-ngos/ |url-status=live }}

In 2024, the newspaper partnered with the Heilongjiang Daily Newspaper Group to establish the Heilongjiang International Communication Center.{{Cite web |last=Thorne |first=Devin |date=December 10, 2024 |title=China's Propaganda Expansion: Inside the Rise of International Communication Centers (ICCs) |url=https://go.recordedfuture.com/hubfs/reports/ta-cn-2024-1210.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241210160828/https://go.recordedfuture.com/hubfs/reports/ta-cn-2024-1210.pdf |archive-date=December 10, 2024 |access-date=2024-12-21 |website=Recorded Future |language=en}}{{Rp|page=19}}

In 2025, Ta Kung Pao ran a series of articles and editorials, republished by the CCP's Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, criticizing CK Hutchison Holdings and Li Ka-shing for agreeing to sell the company's Panama ports stake to BlackRock.{{Cite news |last=Whitley |first=Angus |date=March 16, 2025 |title=China Ramps Up Criticism of Li Ka-shing's BlackRock Ports Deal |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-16/china-ramps-up-criticism-of-li-ka-shing-s-blackrock-ports-deal |url-access=registration |access-date=April 5, 2025 |work=Bloomberg News}}{{Cite web |last=Kaufman |first=Arthur |date=2025-04-03 |title=“Patriotic” Pushback by Chinese State Media Challenges CK Hutchison Port Deal |url=https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2025/04/patriotic-pushback-by-chinese-state-media-challenges-ck-hutchison-port-deal/ |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=China Digital Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |date=March 31, 2025 |title=Pro-Beijing media ramp up attack on CK Hutchison ports deal |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/ck-hutchison-shares-set-open-down-45-china-state-media-blasts-port-deal-2025-03-31/ |access-date=April 5, 2025 |work=Reuters}}

Editorial stance

A 2021 content analysis published by the journal Global Media and China found Ta Kung Pao to be consistently aligned with the People's Daily and Xinmin Evening News.{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Haiyan |last2=Lyu |first2=Nan |date=December 15, 2021 |title=Comparing newspapers in mainland China and Hong Kong: The limits of media systems theory |journal=Global Media and China |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=43–57 |doi=10.1177/20594364211063026 |issn=2059-4364 |doi-access=free}}

Organization

File:HK Wan Chai Hennessy Road 大公報 Ta Kung Pao Jan-2013.JPG, Wan Chai]]

The paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong.{{Cite journal |last=Chen |first=Mian |date=May 2024 |title=Made for Hong Kong: Transborder Staffing, Flexible Strategizing, and the Making of Communist Propaganda Outlets in Hong Kong (1945–1956) |journal=Twentieth-Century China |language=en |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=111–130 |doi=10.1353/tcc.2024.a925423 |issn=1940-5065}}{{cite web|url=http://www.ejinsight.com/20150409-basic-law-violation-seen-as-locpg-tightens-grip-on-hk-publishers/|title=Basic Law violation seen as LOCPG tightens grip on HK publishers|first=Betsy|last=Tse|date=9 April 2015|work=EJ Insight|access-date=9 April 2015|archive-date=23 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223103125/http://www.ejinsight.com/20150409-basic-law-violation-seen-as-locpg-tightens-grip-on-hk-publishers/|url-status=live}} The head office of Ta Kung Pao is located on Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island, with offices in mainland China, such as in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Inner-Mongolia and Guangzhou.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

The paper's Asia-Pacific head office is in Hing Wai Centre ({{lang|zh-Hant|興偉中心}}), Tin Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Its China head office is in Chaoyang District, Beijing.{{cite web |title=联络我们 |url=http://www.takungpao.com/corp/connect.html |access-date=2024-03-31 |publisher=Ta Kung Pao |language=zh |quote=亚太总部香港香港仔田灣海旁道7號興偉中心3樓[...]中国总部北京市朝阳区亮马河南路14旁1门 |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402042840/https://www.takungpao.com/corp/connect.html |url-status=live }} Previously the head office was in Kodak House Phase 2 ({{lang|zh-Hant|柯達大廈二期}}), North Point, Hong Kong.{{cite web |title=联系方式 |url=http://www.takung.cn/copyright/lxfs.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607235335/http://www.takung.cn/copyright/lxfs.htm |archive-date=2012-06-07 |access-date=2024-03-31 |publisher=Ta Kung Pao |language=zh |quote=总社香港北角健康东街三十九号柯达大厦二期}}