Taiwan News (formerly China News[2]) is an English-language online newspaper and former print newspaper in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was purchased by I-Mei Foods in the 1997, who eventually transitioned the publication to a fully online venture. I-Mei also publishes the Chinese-language news weekly of the same name.[1]
| Type | Online newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Online |
| Owner(s) | I-Mei Foods |
| Publisher | Luis Ko |
| Founded | 1949 (as China News) |
| Political alignment | Pan-Green[1] |
| Headquarters | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Website | taiwannews.com.tw |
| Taiwan News | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣英文新聞 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台湾英文新闻 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Taiwan English News | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英文臺灣日報 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英文台湾日报 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | English Taiwan Daily | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| China News | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英文中國日報 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英文中国日报 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | English China Daily | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Editorial position
Taiwan News' writers have reported both pro-DPP aswell as pro-KMT positions.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
Under the ownership of I-Mei Foods, Taiwan News changed its editorial stance from being pro-KMT to being in favor of the Pan-Green coalition and Taiwan independence.[1][9]: 1858 According to former editor Anthony Lawrance, Taiwan News opposes autocracies and the People's Republic of China.[9]: 1858 In the late 1990s, Taiwan News rejected Chinese unification as advocated by the Kuomintang and associations of Taiwan with the People's Republic of China under the "one country, two systems" principle.[9]: 1858
Despite the stated pro-independence editorial position, owner of Taiwan News and I-Mei Foods CEO Louis Ko welcomed the Kuomintang vice-presidential candidate Jaw Shaw-kang, a noted proponent of Chinese unification, for a publicized meeting at the company's Taoyuan factory before the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election.[10]
History
China News was founded on 6 June 1949 in Taipei by James Wei,[11] a journalist with close ties to the KMT and former employee of the Ministry of Information.[9]: 1858 The newspaper was established to cater for foreign residents and the local population in Taiwan.[9]: 1858 At the time it was the only English-language daily newspaper in Taiwan and it was a newspaper published in the afternoon. Later on, in order to compete with its new competitor, China News had to change and was published in the morning in order not to lose its advertisements.[1]
In 1960, the newspaper switched to block printing in a full-size page format.[2]
Wei left the newspaper in 1965. Wei was also a Reuters correspondent and deputy director of the Central News Agency. During his later years he was the sixth Director of the Government Information Office, serving from October 31, 1966, to June 1, 1972. Wei was a close advisor to Chiang Ching-kuo.[12][13]
China News ran into financial difficulties in 1996 and received capital injection from I-Mei Foods, but the management of the newspaper was unchanged.[9]: 1858 In May 1999, I-Mei Foods acquired 50 percent stake in the newspaper for NTD$60 million (US$1.8 million).[11] The newspaper's name was changed to Taiwan News to reflect the newspaper's new focus on readers in Taiwan and to avoid confusion with China Daily and China News Service.[11] After the change in ownership, Taiwan News increased its page count and lowered staff wages.[14][11] Under the ownership of I-Mei Foods, Simone Wei became the newspaper's chairperson and I-Mei CEO Kao Chih-ming became the publisher.[15]
By 1998, 63 percent of Taiwan News' readership were local readers and the rest were businesspeople, diplomats, academics, teachers and students from outside Taiwan.[16]: 149 Former editor Anthony Lawrance said in 2001 that Taiwan News mainly republished wire stories and had few articles with original reporting due to a lack of financial resources to hire English-speaking journalists and produce good translations from Chinese news articles, the high turnover of foreign editorial staff and the absence of an English speaking environment in Taiwan.[9]: 1859
In 2010, Taiwan News went digital and simultaneously ended its weekly financial and cultural magazine.[17]In 2015, Taiwan News became an all-digital publication when it ended all print editions.[18]
In March 2024, Taiwan News underwent a website redesign.[19][20]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d 滕, 淑芬 (May 1991). "敲開國際大門──英文報市場硝煙四起". Taiwan Panorama. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ a b Wilcox, Dennis L. (1967). English Language Newspapers Abroad: A Guide to Daily Newspapers in 56 Non-English-speaking Countries. Gale Research Company.
- ^ Thomson, Jono (November 24, 2023). "A closer look at the KMT's pick for Taiwan vice president". Taiwan News.
- ^ Chen, Kelvin (June 30, 2024). "Taiwan denounces Beijing's promotion of 'one China' principle". Taiwan News.
- ^ Thomson, Jono (December 10, 2023). "KMT's Hou would rebuild Taiwan-China relations starting with 'low-level' exchanges". Taiwan News.
- ^ Scanlan, Sean (January 8, 2024). "3 presidential candidates host 'Super Sunday' rallies in Kaohsiung". Taiwan News.
- ^ Chang, Eric (January 13, 2024). "Not a grand slam, but more like an infield home run for Team Taiwan". Taiwan News.
- ^ Thomson, Jono (January 22, 2024). "KMT settles on leadership picks for Taiwan legislature after brief challenge". Taiwan News.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lams, Lutgard (May 2011). "Newspapers' narratives based on wire stories: Facsimiles of input?". Journal of Pragmatics. 43 (7): 1853–1864. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.09.021.
- ^ 聯合新聞網. "成功拔樁？訪義美工廠總經理高志明親自接待 趙少康這麼說". 聯合新聞網 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ a b c d "Focus: Taipei's China News reborn – as Taiwan News". Reuters News. 12 May 1999.
- ^ "Inventory of the James Wei diaries". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
- ^ "A farewell to a wise and boon companion – James (Sanyeh Wei)". Taiwan Today. 1 November 1982. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- ^ Frazier, David; Scanlan, Sean (1 August 1999). "Paper Tiger". Asian Business. Vol. 35, no. 8. ISSN 0254-3729.
- ^ "Taiwan's China News gets cash boost, changes name". Reuters News. 12 May 1999.
- ^ Lams, Lutgard (2008). "Media Panic or Manic: The 2004 Taiwan Parliamentary Election in the Local English-Language Press". Taiwan International Studies Quarterly. 4 (4): 145–184. S2CID 73641302.
- ^ "Taiwan News Goes Digital Multimedia". Taiwan News. 27 September 2010. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
- ^ "About Us, History". Taiwan News. Taiwan News. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
- ^ "Taiwan News － Breaking News, Politics, Environment, Immigrants, Travel, and Health". 2024-03-14. Archived from the original on 2024-03-14. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ "Taiwan News － Breaking News, Politics, Environment, Immigrants, Travel, and Health". 2024-03-30. Archived from the original on 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
External links
- Taiwan News
- Taiwan News (etaiwannews.com) at the Wayback Machine (archive index)