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Apple Daily
Apple Daily (Chinese: 蘋果日報; Jyutping: ping4 gwo2 jat6 bou3) was a Chinese-language newspaper published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021, with an English-language online edition launched in 2020. Founded by Jimmy Lai and part of Next Media, Apple Daily was known for introducing tabloid journalism to Hong Kong and being the city's only mass-circulation newspaper with an editorial position that has been variously described as pro-democracy, anti-government, or anti-China. In a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Apple Daily was the third most trusted paid newspaper in 2019. In a 2021 Reuters Institute poll, it ranked fourth offline and second online among the most-used news sources in Hong Kong.
Apple Daily's editorial position made it a subject of advertising boycotts and political pressure. After the Hong Kong national security law was enacted, police raided its headquarters on 10 August 2020. On 17 June 2021, Hong Kong authorities froze the assets of Lai and his company, which was described as an attack on press freedom and thus forced the paper to cease operations. The final issue was published on 24 June, with over one million copies being printed (up from the usual 80,000). The newspaper's YouTube channels were shut down at midnight on the same day.
Apple Daily was founded on 20 June 1995 by garment businessman Jimmy Lai. After the success of Next Magazine, another publication owned by Lai, he launched Apple Daily with an initial capital of HK$700 thousand ($89,750). Lai, a Catholic himself, named Apple Daily after the forbidden fruit, which he said if Adam and Eve did not eat, there would be no evil and no news.
The newspaper launched against a poor economy and a competitive Chinese-language newspaper market. Political uncertainties from Lai's criticisms of the Chinese government also made media analysts pessimistic about the future of Apple. Its launch was teased by television advertisements where Lai was portrayed with an apple on his head, which would have been a shooting target for its competitors. In the first month of publication, the newspaper gave out coupons which effectively reduced the cover price to HK$2 ($0.25), despite a standardised retail price of HK$5 per issue set by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong. The price was restored to $5 after a month, but the newspaper switched to promotion with T-shirts and coloured posters. The campaign boosted Apple Daily to 200,000 copies on its first day, to become the newspaper with the second highest circulation in Hong Kong.
A price war ensued between popular newspapers in response to Apple Daily's entry into the market. Oriental Daily dropped its price to $2 from $5 per issue in December 1995. Other newspapers, such as Sing Pao and Tin Tin Daily followed suit. Apple Daily reduced its retail price to $4 one day after Oriental Daily announced a 10 per cent drop in its circulation. As a result, a number of newspapers collapsed: TV Daily ceased operations on the first day of the price war, Hong Kong United Daily, China Times magazine, and English newspaper Eastern Express, a sister newspaper of Oriental Daily, collapsed soon afterwards.
In 2003, Lai founded a sister publication of the same name in Taiwan (see Apple Daily (Taiwan)).
In March 2015, Chan Pui-man became the first female chief editor of the journal, replacing Ip Yut-kin. In 2019, Apple Daily was an award winner of the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards for their reporting on Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. In 2020, Apple Daily launched the English edition of its digital newspaper. According to the most recent filings prior to its closure, it had a print circulation of over 86,000, and its website had approximately 9.6 million monthly unique visitors in Hong Kong.
The paper became the target of the Hong Kong authorities after its very strong and vocal support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai was arrested in December 2020 and sentenced to jail in April 2021 relating to the 2019–2020 protests. The offices of the paper were raided in 2020, its accounts frozen and five people including its editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung were arrested in 2021. The paper announced its closure on 23 June 2021.
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Apple Daily
Apple Daily (Chinese: 蘋果日報; Jyutping: ping4 gwo2 jat6 bou3) was a Chinese-language newspaper published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021, with an English-language online edition launched in 2020. Founded by Jimmy Lai and part of Next Media, Apple Daily was known for introducing tabloid journalism to Hong Kong and being the city's only mass-circulation newspaper with an editorial position that has been variously described as pro-democracy, anti-government, or anti-China. In a survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Apple Daily was the third most trusted paid newspaper in 2019. In a 2021 Reuters Institute poll, it ranked fourth offline and second online among the most-used news sources in Hong Kong.
Apple Daily's editorial position made it a subject of advertising boycotts and political pressure. After the Hong Kong national security law was enacted, police raided its headquarters on 10 August 2020. On 17 June 2021, Hong Kong authorities froze the assets of Lai and his company, which was described as an attack on press freedom and thus forced the paper to cease operations. The final issue was published on 24 June, with over one million copies being printed (up from the usual 80,000). The newspaper's YouTube channels were shut down at midnight on the same day.
Apple Daily was founded on 20 June 1995 by garment businessman Jimmy Lai. After the success of Next Magazine, another publication owned by Lai, he launched Apple Daily with an initial capital of HK$700 thousand ($89,750). Lai, a Catholic himself, named Apple Daily after the forbidden fruit, which he said if Adam and Eve did not eat, there would be no evil and no news.
The newspaper launched against a poor economy and a competitive Chinese-language newspaper market. Political uncertainties from Lai's criticisms of the Chinese government also made media analysts pessimistic about the future of Apple. Its launch was teased by television advertisements where Lai was portrayed with an apple on his head, which would have been a shooting target for its competitors. In the first month of publication, the newspaper gave out coupons which effectively reduced the cover price to HK$2 ($0.25), despite a standardised retail price of HK$5 per issue set by the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong. The price was restored to $5 after a month, but the newspaper switched to promotion with T-shirts and coloured posters. The campaign boosted Apple Daily to 200,000 copies on its first day, to become the newspaper with the second highest circulation in Hong Kong.
A price war ensued between popular newspapers in response to Apple Daily's entry into the market. Oriental Daily dropped its price to $2 from $5 per issue in December 1995. Other newspapers, such as Sing Pao and Tin Tin Daily followed suit. Apple Daily reduced its retail price to $4 one day after Oriental Daily announced a 10 per cent drop in its circulation. As a result, a number of newspapers collapsed: TV Daily ceased operations on the first day of the price war, Hong Kong United Daily, China Times magazine, and English newspaper Eastern Express, a sister newspaper of Oriental Daily, collapsed soon afterwards.
In 2003, Lai founded a sister publication of the same name in Taiwan (see Apple Daily (Taiwan)).
In March 2015, Chan Pui-man became the first female chief editor of the journal, replacing Ip Yut-kin. In 2019, Apple Daily was an award winner of the Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards for their reporting on Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. In 2020, Apple Daily launched the English edition of its digital newspaper. According to the most recent filings prior to its closure, it had a print circulation of over 86,000, and its website had approximately 9.6 million monthly unique visitors in Hong Kong.
The paper became the target of the Hong Kong authorities after its very strong and vocal support for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai was arrested in December 2020 and sentenced to jail in April 2021 relating to the 2019–2020 protests. The offices of the paper were raided in 2020, its accounts frozen and five people including its editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung were arrested in 2021. The paper announced its closure on 23 June 2021.