HK01 () is a Hong Kong–based news outlet launched by Yu Pun-hoi, a former chairman of the ''

Ming Pao ''Ming Pao'' () is a Chinese-language newspaper published by Media Chinese International in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, ''Ming Pao'' established four overseas branches in North America; each provides independent reporting on local news and coll ...

''. Operated as both a physical newspaper and a news website, it was established in June 2015 and managed by HK01 Company Limited. The website went live on 11 January 2016. It publishes a weekly paper every Friday, the first edition of which was released on 11 March 2016. , The company has a staff of approximately 700.

Circulation

As of October 2021, there were 1.7 million unique visitors viewing on HK01's websites and mobile applications on a daily basis, which made it the most influential news media in Hong Kong. Its mobile application was the most downloaded news app in both Apple App Store and Google Play Store in Hong Kong for more than 45 months since March 2018.

Editorial stance

HK01 claims to be an advocacy media for social reform, which serves to integrate social reform in the role of media and inspire people about social issues. It claims to aim at a third path in the political fights between the pro-democracy and pro-establishment camps. Its founder Yu Pun-hoi is a pro-Beijing businessman, who write opinions for the ''01 Opinion'' column, while the staff of the media are more inclined to the pro-democracy camp. According to a 2016 survey, most Hong Kong college students believed that HK01 was a neutral media. While it was criticised by the

Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was co-founded in 2015 by Tom Grundy, who believed that the territory's Freedom of the press, press freedom was in decline, to provide an independent alternativ ...

in 2019 as a pro-Beijing media, its reporting was also described by

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) towards Hong Kong. The term " ...

politician Ng Chau-pei to be anti-China.

Controversies

Coverage of Tiananmen Massacre anniversary

In 2017, HK01 was criticised by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) for deleting an article covering release of new details of the

Tiananmen Square massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

by the UK Government Archives shortly after the article's publication. Pressure from founder Yu Pun-hoi was suspected to have motivated the removal. The article was later republished with a rebuttal, saying that mistakes had been made when verifying the information contained in the original version and denying there had been self-censorship.

Stance on Taiwan and Hong Kong independence

In 2018, HK01 was again criticised by the HKJA over its tagging an article it published about

Taiwanese independence The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an Independence, independent and Sovereign state, sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Stra ...

with an anti-independence disclaimer. The company maintains a black-list containing pro-independence parties and groups in Hong Kong whose events it will not attend, with whom it will not form partnerships, and from whom it will accept advertising.

References

External links

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Todaynews Website
{{Newspapers in Hong Kong Hong Kong news websites Publications established in 2016 2016 establishments in Hong Kong Centrism in Hong Kong Chinese-language newspapers published in Hong Kong