蘋果日報 (香港)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Apple Daily'' ( zh, t=蘋果日報, j=ping4 gwo2 jat6 bou3) was a Chinese-language
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by
Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...
and part of Next Media, ''Apple Daily'' was known for its sensational headlines, paparazzi photographs, and pro-democracy, anti- CCP editorial position''.'' A sister publication of the same name was published in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
under a joint venture between Next Digital and other Taiwanese companies. In a
Reuters Institute The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is a UK-based research centre and think tank founded in 2006, which operates Thomson Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme, also known as the Reuters Fellowship. History The institute ...
poll conducted in early 2021, ''Apple Daily'' was the fourth most-used offline source of news in Hong Kong, while its website was the second most-used among online news media in the city. According to a survey conducted by the
Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...
, ''Apple Daily'' was the third most trusted paid newspaper in 2019. ''Apple Daily''s support of the anti-China movement in Hong Kong made it a subject of advertising boycotts and political pressure. After the controversial
Hong Kong national security law Hong Kong national security legislation may refer to one of the following laws/bills: Laws in force * Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2020 national law of C ...
was enacted, police raided its headquarters on 10 August 2020. On 17 June 2021, Hong Kong authorities invoked the
Hong Kong national security law Hong Kong national security legislation may refer to one of the following laws/bills: Laws in force * Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2020 national law of C ...
to freeze the assets of Jimmy Lai and his company, a move widely described as an attack on
press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...
and thus forced the paper to cease operations. The final issue was published on 24 June, with over a million copies being printed, up from the usual 80,000. The newspaper's
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channels were shut down at midnight on the same day.


History

''Apple Daily'' was founded on 20 June 1995 by garment businessman
Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...
. 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 In Abrahamic religions, forbidden fruit is a name given to the fruit growing in the Garden of Eden that God commands mankind Taboo#In religion and mythology, not to eat. In the biblical story, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the know ...
, which he said if
Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
did not eat, there would be no evil and no news.


Price war

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
coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in ...
s 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 A price war is a form of market competition in which companies within an industry engage in aggressive pricing activity "characterized by the repeated cutting of prices below those of competitors". This leads to a cycle, where each competitor att ...
ensued between popular newspapers in response to ''Apple Daily''s entry into the market. ''
Oriental Daily ''Oriental Daily News'' is a Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong. It was established in 1969 by Ma Sik-yu and Ma Sik-chun, and was one of the two newspapers published by the Oriental Press Group Limited (). Relative to other Hong Kong n ...
'' dropped its price to $2 from $5 per issue in December 1995. Other newspapers, such as ''
Sing Pao ''Sing Pao Daily News'' () is one of the oldest Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong, first published on 1 May 1939 by the Sing Pao Newspaper Company Limited () under Ho Man-fat. It was initially published every three days, later becoming a daily. ...
'' and ''
Tin Tin Daily ''Tin Tin Daily News'' also known as ''Tin Tin Yat Pao'' was a newspaper in Hong Kong, published between 1960 and 2000. In later years it took a pro-Beijing editorial stand. It was founded by the Wai Kee-shun family, who made their fortune in pha ...
'' 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 The ''China Times'' (, abbr. ) is a daily Chinese-language newspaper published in Taiwan and one of the most widely circulated newspapers in Taiwan. Founded in 1950, the China Times Group was acquired by food and media conglomerate Want Want, whi ...
'' magazine, and English newspaper ''Eastern Express'', a sister newspaper of ''Oriental Daily'', collapsed soon afterwards.


Editorial history

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 The Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards recognize coverage of issues included in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as related to Asia. Organization The awards were run by the Foreign Correspondents' Club, Hong Kong, Amnes ...
for their reporting on Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese human rights activist
Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary criticism, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Ch ...
. 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 Print circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circula ...
of over 86,000, and its website had approximately 9.6 million monthly
unique visitors A unique user is a term in web analytics that refers to data of a Pageview of a unique IP, whose presence is only counted once, regardless of the number of pages they visit. This definition does not count repeat or returning users for a standard pe ...
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.


Film feature

''Apple Daily'' was prominently featured in the 2022 film
The Hong Konger
' produced by American right-wing think tank
Acton Institute The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American conservative and libertarian think tank in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with an office in Rome. Its stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by i ...
. The film had a positive reception among its conservative base, and showcased the final days of ''Apple Daily'''s operations before being shut down due to the Hong Kong national security law.


Content

The newspaper was modelled after ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', with printing in full colour and concise writing. It also extensively used
written Cantonese Written Cantonese is the most complete written form of a Chinese language after that for Mandarin Chinese and Classical Chinese. Written Chinese was the main literary language of China until the 19th century. Written vernacular Chinese first ap ...
, when most Hong Kong newspapers used
written vernacular Chinese Written vernacular Chinese, also known as ''baihua'', comprises forms of written Chinese based on the vernacular varieties of the language spoken throughout China. It is contrasted with Literary Chinese, which was the predominant written form ...
, and a focus on reporting crime, celebrity news, eroticism, gambling, and drug use. It carried at least three pages of entertainment news at the beginning but this was increased to eight pages by 2000. ''Apple Daily'' is described to have introduced
tabloid journalism Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism, which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as a half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, an ...
to the Hong Kong market. The focus on large colourful graphics and more sensationalist stories, such as celebrity scandals, racist targeting of mainland immigrants, traffic accidents and deaths, quickly made ''Apple Daily'' Hong Kong's second most popular newspaper. This type of journalism has also been replicated by other newspapers in Hong Kong. ''Apple Daily'' attracted public criticism in 1998 for a report about a woman who jumped off a building after pushing her children out the window. The woman's husband was widely reported to have little remorse for the deaths of his wife and children. ''Apple Daily'' published a photo of the man with two prostitutes soon after the deaths. It was then revealed that the newspaper had paid the man to pose for the photograph, for which ''Apple Daily'' issued an apology after public outcry. In the same year, ''Apple Daily'' ran a front-page article claiming that lawyer Jessie Chu Siu Kuk-yuen absconded with more than of clients' money for her law firm. ''Apple Daily'' was ordered by a court to pay Chu more than in damages for defamation. In 2000, an ''Apple Daily'' reporter was sentenced to 10 months in jail for bribing police officers for information on criminal cases. Journalism scholar Paul Lee said the establishment of ''Apple Daily'' has changed the Hong Kong newspaper ecosystem by transforming broadsheet newspapers into tabloids. Lee said newspapers with a high circulation, such as ''Apple Daily'', ''The Sun'' and ''Oriental Daily'', are known for their tabloid journalism as well as making mainstream reporting (see
middle-market newspaper A middle-market newspaper caters to a readership base inclined to be informed on entertainment trends as well as coverage of major news events. Such newspapers are the middle segment of a continuum of journalistic seriousness: upper-market or "q ...
). ''Apple Daily'' did not join the self-regulation panel of the
Newspaper Society of Hong Kong The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong (), set up on May 10, 1954, is the largest newspaper industrial society in Hong Kong, founded by Hong Kong's four largest newspapers at the time - '' The Kung Sheung Daily News'' (closed), '' Wah Kiu Yat Po'' (clos ...
. ''Apple Daily'' is also known for its coverage of breaking news and current affairs in Hong Kong and China. The newspaper had exclusive reports on political scandals, including member of the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
Cheng Kai-nam Gary Cheng Kai Nam (, born 29 May 1950, in Hong Kong with family roots in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China) is a Hong Kong politician who served as vice-chairman for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong party. He was ed ...
not reporting
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
in 2000, and former Financial Secretary
Antony Leung Antony Leung Kam-chung GBS OBE JP (born 29 January 1952 in Hong Kong with family roots in Shunde, Guangdong) is a businessman who served as Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), from 29 May 2001 unti ...
for avoiding tax when purchasing a car.


Editorial position

''Apple Daily'' favoured the Hong Kong
pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic La ...
. Its criticism of the Hong Kong government has been described as a marketing strategy. According to Fung (2007), the newspaper is also said to have sensationalised politics and produced public dissent. In 2003, ''Apple Daily'' was critical of the second Tung Chee-hwa administration, encouraging readers to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations with its front-page headline. It launched a social media campaign in support of students in the
2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...
and its social media presence was considered a mainstream pro-activist community. The paper was also infamous for its xenophobic rhetoric against mainland Chinese people, which escalated during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Critical of the Chinese government, it was the only newspaper in Hong Kong that expressed optimism when
Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...
was re-elected
President of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Republic of China (1912– ...
in 2004. The editorial position against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments has resulted in advertising boycotts. In 2003, several major
property developers in Hong Kong Since the British colonisation of Hong Kong in 1841 after the First Opium War, Hong Kong has grown from a stony outcrop on the southern coast of China to a territory whose property prices are among the highest in the world. The territory has a land ...
ended their advertisements in the newspaper. According to Mark Simon, an executive of
Next Digital Next Digital Limited (), previously known as Next Media Limited, was the largest listed Media of Hong Kong, media company in Hong Kong. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it had 2,095 employees as of 30 Sep 2020. The media outlet had a user base of 5.0 mil ...
,
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
, Hang Seng and
Standard Chartered Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in th ...
stopped advertising in the newspaper in 2013 due to pressure from the Chinese government's Liaison Office. However, the Liaison Office denied it had contacted the banks, and the banks said they pulled advertising for commercial reasons. ''Apple Daily'' also said Chinese-sponsored hackers have attacked it almost every week.
FireEye Trellix (formerly FireEye and McAfee Enterprise) is a privately held cybersecurity company that was founded in 2022. It provides hardware, software, and services to investigate cybersecurity attacks, protect against malicious software, and ana ...
said in 2014 that
denial-of-service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host co ...
s on ''Apple Daily'' were professional
cyberattack A cyberattack (or cyber attack) occurs when there is an unauthorized action against computer infrastructure that compromises the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of its content. The rising dependence on increasingly complex and inte ...
s that may have been coordinated by the Chinese government.


2020 US presidential election misinformation

The newspaper inclined toward pro-
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
misinformation during the
2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
, which was believed to relate to the former and current president's anti-Chinese
xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...
. In an opinion piece, it falsely claimed that "a vote for Trump is not only for the Americans' own interests, but it is also one that is for the survival of the free world"; in another commentary, it misleadingly criticized the Democratic Party and a "leftist ideology permeated in Western academia and journalism". Although the position of the newspaper and Jimmy Lai was echoed by many democracy activists in Hong Kong, Taiwan and exiled Chinese dissidents living in the United States, democracy experts in the US like
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...
professor Sharon Yam and
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
-based AAPI activist and writer Promise Li considered these views problematic for the pro-democracy movement and agreed that they not only benefitted the mainland Chinese government, but were also instrumental in the organization of the
January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump, President Donald Trump in an attempted self-coup,Multiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * * two months afte ...
. In September and October 2020, the newspaper published a factually inaccurate 64-page report produced by Typhoon Investigations untruthfully alleging
Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February4, 1970) is an American attorney and businessman. He is the second son of former president Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chine ...
had a "problematic" connection with the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
, which was widely cited by far-right influencers such as
Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...
and fellow anti-China activist
Guo Wengui Guo Wengui (; born May 10, 1970—self claim or October 5, 1968), also known under the Cantonese language, Cantonese name Ho Wan Kwok (), Miles Guo, and Miles Kwok, is a self-exiled Chinese billionaire businessman, political activism, politica ...
. A report by
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
linked the Typhoon Investigations to a fake "intelligence firm" and claimed that the author of the document, a self-identified Swiss security analyst named Martin Aspen, was a "fabricated identity". The original poster of the document, Christopher Balding, admitted that he wrote parts of the document and later stated that the document had been commissioned by ''Apple Daily''.
Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...
later said that he had personally "nothing to do with" the report, but he admitted his senior executive, Mark Simon, had "worked with the project". Simon resigned following the NBC News report and apologized for having "allowed damage to Jimmy on a matter he was completely in the dark on".


2020 national security law raid

The Hong Kong offices of ''Apple Daily'' were raided by over 200 national security officers on 10 August 2020, following the arrest of Lai the previous day for violations of the recently implemented national security law. Lai's two sons, four senior executives of Next Digital and three social activists, were also arrested on the same day. The arrests, coming amid Beijing's ongoing crackdown against many
pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...
figures in Hong Kong, drew condemnation from international governments and human rights groups. Lai and other arrestees reportedly faced charges of "foreign collusion", which included advocating for foreign sanctions, based on the broad definitions of the national security law. Earlier in the week, the United States had placed sanctions on 11 high-profile Hong Kong officials involved in the city's democratic suppression. The police raid lasted nine hours, as the officers rifled through the business property and carted off 25 boxes of documents. The police
search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate an ...
did not disclose what they were looking for in the headquarters. The police also brought Lai into the office for two and a half hours and paraded him through the newsroom in handcuffs, an act possibly aimed at humiliating Lai and to silence the press. The raid was
live stream Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- live ...
ed by ''Apple'' reporters. The streaming footage included a tense moment when the policed shoved an editor for questioning the boundaries of the search. The police ordered for the live broadcast to be stopped, but the staff member continued filming the raid, arguing press freedom. Next Digital released a statement condemning the police raid and declared, "Hong Kong's press freedom is now hanging by a thread, but our staff will remain fully committed to our duty to defend the freedom of the press."


Police conduct

Media access was restricted during the raid, with only media sources trusted by the police being allowed. During the police news conferences conducted to provide updates about the search, numerous news outlets including
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
,
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
,
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
, ''
RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...
'' and ''
Stand News ''Stand News'' ( zh, t=立場新聞) was a free non-profit online news website based in Hong Kong from 2014 to 2021. Founded in December 2014, it was the successor of ''House News''. It primarily focused on social and Politics of Hong Kong, po ...
'' were barred. The media representatives allowed to remain were denied questions. During the raid, the Next Media Trade Union protested the police reading through the confidential news materials in the newsroom. Steve Li Kwai-wah, the Senior Superintendent from the new National Security Department, said they searched the area since one of the arrestees had an office on the assigned floor. Li also said the officers only "scanned" the materials to confirm their relevance to the case. Legal scholar
Johannes Chan Johannes Chan Man-mun (陳文敏) SC (Hon) is an honorary professor of University College London, and formerly chair professor of law (–2021) and former dean of the faculty of law (2002–2014) at the University of Hong Kong. He specialises ...
later criticised the move, stating that even a quick scan jeopardised the
confidentiality Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise sometimes executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access to or places restrictions on the distribution of certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, la ...
in news reporting.


International response

International communities responded to ''Apple Daily'''s raid with condemnation, with global organisations highlighting the erosion of
press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...
in Hong Kong.
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
spoke against the
harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates, and intimidates a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and ...
of journalists, and called for all criminal charges related to the national security law to be dropped. The Asia Chapter of the
Asian American Journalists Association The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational and professional organization based in Washington, D.C., with more than 1,500 members and 21 chapters across the United States and Asia. The current president is ...
(AAJA-Asia) expressed their support for ''Apple Daily'', and urged Hong Kong's leaders to uphold the values of
free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
.
Keith Richburg Keith Richburg is an American journalist and former foreign correspondent who spent more than 30 years working for ''The Washington Post''. Currently serving as the Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, he was the director of th ...
, a journalism professor at the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...
, described the "frightening prospect" for journalists to operate under the national security law. Christophe Deloire, the Secretary General at
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
, said that "the Hong Kong government clearly seeks to take down a symbolic figure of press freedom." The Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in Hong Kong was also critical about the police's obstruction of news coverage during the raid, raising worries about propaganda in the absence of press freedom.
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
stated that the raid on ''Apple Daily'' may be motivated by a desire to censor an independent Chinese media outlet. The
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
(CPJ) said the national security law was used to "suppress critical pro-democracy opinion and restrict press freedom", and called for Lai's immediate release. Activist groups in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
advocated for further international sanctions on Chinese government officials to support the arrestees. Government officials around the world condemned Lai's arrest and the police raid on ''Apple Daily''.
Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...
, the
president of Taiwan The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Before 1949 the position had the ...
, expressed her disappointment over the continuous erosion of Hong Kong's human rights and democracy.
Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...
, the
United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...
, said that Beijing eviscerated Hong Kong's freedoms.
Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration ...
, the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan, voiced grave concern over Hong Kong's situation following the arrests. In contrast, China's
Foreign Ministry In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...
spokesperson
Zhao Lijian Zhao Lijian (; born 10 November 1972) is a Chinese civil servant who has been serving as deputy director of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China since January 2023. He joined the foreign serv ...
approved of the mass arrests on the pro-democracy figures, stating that the Chinese government supported the national security law.


Aftermath

After the raid, the executives at ''Apple Daily'' vowed to resume their daily operations. Following a surge of popular demand, ''Apple'' announced the plan to print 350,000 copies for their Tuesday publication – a significant increase from their daily circulation of 70,000 copies. The print run was later set at 550,000 printed copies. A social media campaign encouraging the public to buy the newspaper was launched, and received backing of activist
Joshua Wong Joshua Wong Chi-fung (; born 13 October 1996) is a Hong Kong Pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong), pro-democracy activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, Demosistō until it disbanded following i ...
, singer
Pong Nan Nan Yik-Pong, better known by his stage name Pong Nan (; born 15 May 1978), is a Cantopop musician, singer-songwriter and actor in Hong Kong of Hakka ancestry. Life and career 1978–2004: Early life and career beginnings In 1989, amid mass ...
, and lawmaker
Ted Hui Ted Hui Chi-fung ( zh, t=許智峯; born 8 June 1982) is a Hong Kong politician. He formerly represented the Chung Wan constituency in the Central and Western District Council, and was a Legislative Councillor for the Hong Kong Island const ...
. ''Apple Daily'' also uploaded a live stream of their
print production Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The e ...
process. On 11 August, the Tuesday newspaper was published with the front-page
headline The headline is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th century when incre ...
declaring, "''Apple Daily'' must fight on." Tsang Chi-ho, the former presenter of satirical news show '' Headliner,'' included a blank space in his regular column that simply said, "You can't kill us all." Many Hong Kong residents lined up overnight at newspaper vendors to buy the first printed copies. Readers also purchased the newspapers in bulk, distributing free copies around the city. Within hours, multiple convenience stores had sold out all their copies. The high demand came from readers who wanted to show their support towards ''Apple Daily'' and preserve press freedom in Hong Kong. On the day of the arrests, Next Digital's
shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...
originally fell by 16.7% to a record low of HK$0.075. An online campaign then emerged, which encouraged supporters to purchase stock in the company. Following the campaign, the stock experienced a 1100% gain over the next two days, reaching a record high in the past seven years. On Tuesday, the stock closed at HK$1.10 and became the third highest performer on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...
that day. On Wednesday, the shares fell over 40% after the
Securities and Futures Commission The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong is the independent statutory body charged with regulating the securities and futures markets in Hong Kong. The SFC is responsible for fostering an orderly securities and futures markets ...
issued a warning about the high volatility. A probe by police into alleged market manipulation led to the arrest of 15 suspects on 10 September 2020. Lai was released in the early morning of 12 August after 40 hours in detention. Later that day, he arrived at the ''Apple Daily'' newsroom, and was met with cheers from employees. He urged staff members to fight on, with the support of the Hong Kong people, and not let them down.


2021 arrests and closure

The assets of three companies, Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and AD Internet Limited, as well as accounts belonging to Jimmy Lai worth more than HK$500 million, having already been frozen on 14 May 2021, a 500-strong contingent of police officers raided ''Apple Daily''s headquarters on 17 June. They arrested CEO Cheung Kim-hung, COO Royston Chow, chief editor Ryan Law, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and platform director of Apple Daily Digital, Cheung Chi-wai, and charged them on suspicion of violating Article 29 of the national security law, which outlaws collusion with external forces to endanger national security. HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) of the companies' assets were frozen. ''Apple Daily'' warned that press freedom in Hong Kong was "hanging by a thread." The raid and arrests were criticised by the United States,
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United Nations' human rights spokesperson. The Chinese central government has rejected the criticism that the national security law was used to suppress press freedom and said external forces should "stop undermining Hong Kong's rule of law on the pretext of press freedom". Supporters in Hong Kong showed support for the newspaper by buying it, which increased its print run to 500,000 the day after the arrests. On 21 June, the paper announced it would have to close unless the accounts were unfrozen, as it was unable to pay its staff or support operating costs. On 23 June, the newspaper said it would close "in view of staff members' safety" and the print run of 24 June would be its last. ''Apple Daily'' also said its digital version would go offline at 23:59 Hong Kong Time (UTC+8) on 23 June. Activists backed up the news articles from ''Apple Daily'' on various blockchain platforms to ensure the content was available and free from Chinese censorship. In 2023, the
domain A domain is a geographic area controlled by a single person or organization. Domain may also refer to: Law and human geography * Demesne, in English common law and other Medieval European contexts, lands directly managed by their holder rather ...
itself was taken over, in a move known as
domain squatting Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting) is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an Internet domain name, with a bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The term is derived fro ...
, by Serbian entrepreneur Nebojša Vujinović who used the website to post AI-generated clickbait articles on a range of topics, none of them related to the position of ''Apple Daily'' before the takeover. Apple editorialist "Li Ping" (Yeung Ching-kei) was arrested on 23 June "on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign forces to endanger national security", Fung Wai-kong, editor-in-chief of the English news section at Apple, was arrested on 27 June at Hong Kong International Airport while attempting to flee the city.


Reactions

United States President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
released a statement that, "It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and around the world. Intensifying repression by Beijing has reached such a level that ''Apple Daily'', a much-needed bastion of independent journalism in Hong Kong, has now ceased publishing. Through arrests, threats, and forcing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech, Beijing has insisted on wielding its power to suppress independent media and silence dissenting views." The European Union released a statement that "the National Security Law imposed by Beijing is being used to stifle freedom of the press and the free expression of opinions" and that closure of ''Apple'' "undermines media freedom and pluralism", a sentiment also shared by UK foreign minister
Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab ( ; born 25 February 1974) is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from September 2021 to September 2022 and again from October 2022 to ...
. Taiwan similarly called the closure "political oppression" and that it "sounded the death knell for freedom of press, publication, and speech in Hong Kong". Japanese government spokesperson Katsunobu Kato called the paper's closure a "major setback" for freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Hong Kong and voiced grave concerns over the situation. Amnesty International said that the "forced closure of ''Apple Daily'' is the blackest day for media freedom in Hong Kong's recent history". Chinese state-owned newspaper ''
Global Times The ''Global Times'' is a daily Chinese Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the ''People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese nationalistic pers ...
'' described ''Apple Daily'' as "secessionist" and quoted Chinese commentators as saying that the closure is the "end of an era in which foreign proxies and secessionist forces meddled in China's internal affairs". The Chinese foreign minister said that "no one or no organisation is above the law. All rights and freedom, including media freedom, cannot go beyond the bottom line of national security." North Korea has condemned ''Apple Daily'' and has accused foreign countries of foreign interference in Hong Kong. The final print issue of the paper was met with high demand and sold out, despite a million copies being printed compared to the usual 80,000. Hong Kongers formed long queues and waited for hours to buy the final edition of the paper. The European Parliament passed a motion by 578 votes to 29, with 73 abstentions, on Thursday, 8 July 2021, condemning "in the strongest terms the recent forced closure of pple Daily the continued freezing of its assets and the arrests of its journalists." It also demands the Hong Kong government to "stop harassing and intimidating journalists, release arbitrarily detained prisoners, and denounces any attempts to muzzle pro-democracy activists and their activities". Members of the legislature also urged EU member states to impose sanctions on those officials "responsible for serious violations of human rights and international law in Hong Kong". In turn, the Chinese government rejected the parliament's "smears and slanders".


Awards and recognition


Editors-in-Chief

# Loh Chan (1995–1996) # Ip Yut-kin (1996–2002) # Lam Ping-hang (2003–2006) # Cheng Ming-yan (2006–2011) # Cheung Kim-hung (2012–2015) # Chan Pui-man (2015–2017) # Ryan Law Wai-kwong (2017–2021)


See also

*
Media of Hong Kong Hong Kong's media consists of several different types of communications of mass media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, websites and other online platforms. Overview Hong Kong is home to many of Asia's biggest media entities ...
**
List of newspapers in Hong Kong This is a list of newspapers in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is home to many of Asia's biggest English and Chinese language newspapers. The territory has one of the world's largest press industries and is a major centre for print journalism. Overview ...
*
Channel C Channel C is a Hongkongese online news media that focuses on video production and was founded on 12 July 2021 by five former Apple News narrators of the Next Animation Studio, a sector of Apple Daily. The "C" of Channel C stands for City, Crim ...
, an online media widely regarded as the tabloid's successor *
The Epoch Times ''The Epoch Times'' is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates N ...


References


External links

* {{Newspapers in Hong Kong 1995 establishments in Hong Kong 2021 disestablishments in Hong Kong Anti-communism in China Censorship in Hong Kong Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong Defunct newspapers published in Hong Kong Hong Kong democracy movements Liberalism in Hong Kong Newspapers established in 1995 Next Digital Publications disestablished in 2021