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The Standard (Chinese: 英文虎報) is an English business newspaper based in Hong Kong. It targets at investors interested in the China market by covering a great deal of news about the business and financial sector in China. Unlike other English language newspapers in Hong Kong, the Standard is printed in tabloid-format rather than in broadsheet.

The Standard is published by Sing Tao Newspaper Limited, which is also the publisher of Sing Tao Daily (星島日報) and Headline Daily (頭條日報). This enterprise is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited, a firm owning a great diversity of businesses including media publications, human capital management and Broadband service. The Global China Group Holdings acquired 51% of Sing Tao Holdings Ltd. in January 2001 and changed its name in 2005.

The Chairman of Sing Tao News Corporation Limited is Ho Tsu Kwok, Charles (何柱國). Mr. Ho has been working in the business sector since his graduation. He has established a wide network in the international finance sector. As the society progresses to become more knowledge and technology-based, Mr. Ho joins the Sing Tao Holdings Ltd., aiming to modernize and globalize the news corporation.

About the Operating Unit

The Sing Tao News Corporation Limited is the operating unit of The Standard. It prints both Chinese and English publications, including the Chinese-language newspaper Sing Tao Daily, English-language business newspaper The Standard and the leading property magazine Property Browser. They are all internationally operated. Although the Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited is based in Hong Kong, it has offices in major cities across the globe including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Toronto, Vancouver etc. Today, the Group employs more than 2000 staff employees . This creates a global news network and a round-the-clock platform for efficient news gathering and dissemination.

Address of Sing Tao News Corporation Limited: (Headquarter of The Standard):

3/F Sing Tao Building
1 Wang Kwong Road
Kowloon Bay
Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2798 2798
Fax: (852) 2795 3009

History

Hong Kong Standard

The Standard was originally named as the 'Hong Kong Standard'. The newspaper was founded by Tycoon Aw Boon Haw on 1 March 1949. At that time, the newspaper was printed in broadsheets. During the 1990s, when Sally, Aw Sian (adopted daughter of Aw Boon Haw) chaired Sing Tao News Corporation Limited, The Standard was the only English newspaper in Hong Kong that was allowed to be circulated in China.

Hong Kong iMail

In 27 May, 2000, facing challenges from its biggest competitor the South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong Standard was renamed as Hong Kong iMail (香港郵報) and was reduced to tabloid-size in order to attract more young Chinese readers. In 30 May 2002, following the explosion of the Internet Bubble, iMail was once again renamed as The Standard.

The Hong Kong Standard case

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Hong Kong discovered that from 1994 to 1997, the circulation figures of the Hong Kong Sunday Standard and the Hong Kong Standard were exaggerated routinely and substantially. The exaggeration of the circulation figures was a means to attract advertisers and to raise the revenue of the newspapers.

In August 1996, the ICAC found out that 14,000 copies of the paper were discarded in Wan Chai pier and had therefore started its investigation. As a result, the ICAC arrested Aw Sian and three staff members of the Hong Kong Standard. This case was examined and deliberated from 23rd Nov 1998 to 20th Jan 1999. Finally the three staff members were approved guilty and sentenced to jail for 4 to 6 months.

Nevertheless, the Secretary of Justice, Ms Elsie Leung decided not to prosecute Aw Sian. This decision was made on the basis of inadequate evidence and public interest. It had generated a large controversy among the public, and raised the question of legal discrimination and injustice environment in arbitration.

About the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief of The Standard is Ivan Tong, who replaced Mark L. Clifford.

Clifford joined The Standard on 9 January 2004 and was also the publisher of the newspaper. Before joining, he worked as the Hong Kong-based Asia Regional Editor for BusinessWeek. He was responsible for the magazine's bureaus from Bombay to Tokyo. Clifford first came to Asia in 1987 as the correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review based in Seoul, Korea. He moved to Hong Kong in 1992 and became the magazine's industry correspondent, covering news about East Asia and India. He was then promoted as the Business Editor before joining BusinessWeek in 1995.

Clifford has been awarded a number of prizes for his reporting, including a prestigious Overseas Press Club Award for the best foreign business reporting for the coverage of the Asian financial crisis, which he won as part of a team at BusinessWeek. He is the author of several books, including Troubled Tiger: Businessmen, Bureaucrats and Generals in South Korea; Meltdown: Asia's Boom, Bust and Beyond (Co-authored with Pete Engardio) and China and the WTO: Changing China, Changing World Trade (Co-authored with former WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi). He is a governor of the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and a member of the executive committee of the Society of Publishers in Asia.

When Clifford first became the Editor-in-Chief, he intended to hit readers with news and analysis that is "blunt" and "right between the eyes". To achieve that, he turned his attention to the paper's strong team of journalists, whose size he increased. He also believed that with the launching of the Weekend Standard, "the paper is starting to make a little more noise".

Content

The Standard is published everyday from Monday to Saturday. Currently, it's slogan is TELLS IT LIKE IT IS. The newspaper is divided into different sections.

Top Stories
Top Stories appear on the cover page of the newspaper. Stories that are chosen as top stories can be local news, China news or international happenings. Usually the first page only provides an abstract of the story whilst the full coverage is given in the inner pages of the newspaper. The outlook page at the back of the cover page contains local and world weather information, comics and puzzles.

Business news
The Business News page covers business news in Hong Kong, China and Asia. It focuses on events happening in business sectors and on enterprises which are of investors' concern, such as their recent projects, spendings or expansions. Sometimes financial reviews by business analysts are also included.

Politics and policy
The Politics and Policy page reports recent policies adopted by the Mainland Authorities. Policies in the economic, political and social fields are covered. Sometimes additional pages are spared for special political events. For instance, the Policy address section is added to report this event in details.

Metro
The Metro section covers Hong Kong news stories. The coverage of stories ranges from political stories, economical and social issues, judicial issues and so on.

World
The World section covers major International news event outside Hong Kong and China.

Entertainment
The Entertainment pages inform readers about the going-ons of international celebrities like pop stars, sports stars and artists. Updated trends in fashion and movie industry as well as reviews of entertainment materials like books, CDs, DVDs are available in this section. This section is followed by a television guide with the programme schedule airing on different TV channels in Hong Kong that day.

Sports
The Sports section looks into international sports events and competitions. Tables of standings and scores for different teams in various sports are provided. This section normally covers baseball, basketball, cycling, hockey, soccer and golf.

Focus
The Focus section is where freelance writers post their articles. Topics of these writings are quite diverse, ranging from music to politics, and from local to international. These articles are usually written by authors with great authority and knowledge in the subject, or people who have conducted a great deal of research in it. Book reviews are included at times. Readers can also find Letters to the Editor in this section.

Opinion
The Opinion page appears on the last page of the newspaper. One or two commentaries are given by editors, columnists or other scholars. The writers of these commentaries are of different backgrounds. They are well-respected for their knowledge on the subject. The issues commented are usually currentlocal or international controversies.

Market
The Market section covers news about the financial market. News about a variety of financial assets like currency, metals, oil and warrants are reported, as well as monetary policies of certain organizations. Stock tables and indexes diagrams are printed in this section. Information about mutual funds, shares, bonds, warrants are also listed in great details. The information serves as a guide for investors about market trends.

The Notice section follows the Market section. In this part, listed companies would post their reports or notices to shareholders. These documents inform shareholders of the company's performance and its current position. Share sale and purchase agreement details, minutes of annual general meeting with shareholders are often found in this section.

The Student Standard

The Standard publishes an edition for students called The Student Standard. Academic events among secondary schools are reported. Stories about local or international news events written in a simpler style are also covered. The vocabularies in The Student Standard used are easier and more comprehensible, in order to suit secondary school students.

Moreoever, it contains academic materials to facilitate learning. There are cartoons, word games and occasionally some competitions to stimulate students' interest in learning English language.

Monday Money

Monday Money is an additional section in The Standard every Monday. It includes in-depth stories and analysis about business and finance in Hong Kong and in China. Uprising economic trends and monetary issues in different regions are also explored in the section. It is a supplement to the 'Market' and 'Business News' sections. It serves as a reference for investors targeting at the China market.

Property Standard

The Property Standard is included as an insert in the main paper every Friday. Latest news about the Hong Kong property market is provided. Recent plans and projects of property developers are covered. Both hottest residential property and office property are highlighted. It also reports new local residential projects, as well as trends in propety markets in China and overseas. It contains tables giving information of the latest luxury transactions. The 'Property Highlights' pages feature one to two apartments. There is usually a table stating the aprtment's price, area, view, layout and age together with photos and diagrams. This insert contains a lot of advertisements from real estate agencies advertising apartments to let and for sale.

Weekend Standard

Weekend Standard is published during weekends. Only one issue will be published for both Saturdays and Sundays during the weekend. The Market, Entertainment, Focus and Opinion sections will not be included in Weekend Standard.

Weekend Magazine
The Weekend Magazine is a magazine inserted into Weekend Standard. It contains the Spectrum, Lifestyle and Review sections.

Spectrum The premier Spectrum section looks into issues and personalities behind the scenes. Interviews are conducted with celebrities or public figures to discover more about their life and personalities. It also contains in-depth coverage of various current issues. Investigative reporting may sometimes appear in this section.

Lifestyle The Lifestyle part reports different styles of living around the world. These living styles may be related to eating, clubbing or even information technology. Restaurants and shops may be introduced in this section. A mini travel guide sometimes makes one of the news stories. Besides information about luxuries, different cultures and traditions in countries and tribes around the world are often reported.

Review

The Review section focuses on the latest trends in film, theatre, music and literature. There are books, CDs and DVDs reviews as well.

Sevendays in Hong Kong
The Sevendays in Hong Kong is a weekly entertainment guide for its readers. It contains a comprehensive television programme schedule on different TV channels in Hong Kong on the following seven days. It also provides information about upcoming music events and movies.

The Online Standard

The Standard can be read online from its website on www.thestandard.com.hk. All articles can be read free of charge. Besides, information about advertising in The Standard is also available.

In the 'Archive' section, articles from The Standard in the past can also be searched by the search engine and downloaded free of charge. Registration is not required. Users are required to type in keywords and specify the time range of the articles they want.

In the 'Notice' section on the top of the website, updated notices posted by different corporations can be found. These include latest announcements from both the listed companies and the government. There is also a huge database where readers can search for the previous announcements and information.

Besides, there is a website for Student Standard. Students and teachers can easily access this website by clicking here. The website is divided into several parts. Students can send emails to the Standard via the "Mailbox" section, discussing current news issues and giving their opinions. "Viewpoints" is where student are free to say what they want and ask questions on problems they feel confused about. "Giveaway and competition" and "Sports" can also be found in the site.

Community programmes

Leader of the Year

"Leader of the Year" (LOTY) is an annual event established in 1994 by Sing Tao News Corporation Limited. Its aim is to recognize outstanding individuals who have dedicated to the development and prosperity of Hong Kong. The awarded individuals will be role models for Hong Kong youngsters, and to encourage the general public to contribute for the betterment of Hong Kong.

Interested applicants should be aged 18 or above, and is nominated for one of the four categories, namely Banking/Finance, Community/Public Affairs, Education/Research or Sports/Culture/Performing arts. They will be screened by a panel of Judges, which is formed by previous award recipients and other recognizable members of the society.

Mr. Jack So Chak Kwong - Deputy Chairman and Group Managing Director of PCCW, Ir Sir Gordon Y S Wu - Chairman of Hopewell Holdings Ltd. are some of the many respectable recipients of this award.

More details of the award available at Leader of the Year Homepage

Sing Tao Inter-School Debating Competition

Every year, the Sing Tao Daily and The Standard jointly organize the Sing Tao Inter-School Debating Competition. It was first held in 1986. The aim of the competition is to improve students' analytical, organizational and debating skills. It is also hoped that students' interest in and concern about social affairs would be raised. More details of the competition are available here

13th Asia Leadership Forum

The Standard partnered with BusinessWeek on April 26-27, 2004 to host the 13th Asia Leadership Forum ('ALF'). The two-day event attracted business leaders and policy makers from around the world. They discussed about and debated on economic, political and social issues.

The Asia Leadership Forum has been an annual event since 1990. It is held in a different Asian city each year. The forum in 2004 was held in Hong Kong. Then Prime Minister of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, Mr. John Major C.H., was invited as the forum's keynote speaker, attracting hundreds of senior executives from sizeable corporations.

The theme of the 2004 forum was "Beyond the Hype: Sustaining Growth and Creating Corporate Competitiveness". Decision-makers discussed about geopolitical and global economic issues that could possibly affect business growth.

Mr. Mark L. Clifford, Publisher and Editor-in-chief of The Standard, helped to moderate a round up session at the forum.

More details of the event are available here

Major awards

  • Hong Kong News Award 2004
    • Best Headline (English section) - Winner, "Hu and Wen will say how and why" by Cannix Yau
    • Best Young Reporter - 1st runner up, Colum Murphy of the Metro News Sectiontitled, Colum's winning reports included "Little Patriots, Lawmaker's degresss from 'diploma mills', Life in cheap seats/Home, Street, Home"

  • CATEGORY B – Local newspapers or small magazines published in English
    • Excellence in Newspapers - Winner
    • Excellence in Feature Writing - Honorable Mention
    • Excellence in Reporting - Winner
    • Excellence in Opinion Writing - Winner
    • Excellence in Business Reporting - Winner
    • Excellence in Business Reporting - Honorable Mention
    • Excellence in Special Issue - Honorable Mention

Price

The market selling price of The Standard is *]6. Discount is usually offered upon student subscriptions or regular subscriptions. The University Subscription Program 2005/06 offers university students a special price of HK$390 for 312 issues in 12 months (i.e. HK$1.25 per day) or 156 issues in 12 months. The rate per day is only $1.5 for those who subscribe the newspaper on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The total fee is $234 a year.

Subscription services are also available for the general public. Subscribed newspapers will be delivered to the location indicated by the subscriber during weekdays and weekends. Various subscription schemes are available. Subscribing "The Standard" for a year costs $1285 (I.e. $4.10 per day), a reduction up to 31%. For further details, click here.

Advertising

The following shows the number of advertising space available:

Type Classified ROP Combined
Centre-spread (33 cm x 17 col) 107712 0 0
Full page (33 cm x 8 col) 36960 42240 71290
Half page horizontal (17 cm x 8 col) 19040 21760 36720
Half page vertical (33 cm x 4 col) 18480 21120 35640
Quarter page (17 cm x 4 col) 9520 10880 18360

The prices for putting an advertisement (ROP) in The Standard is shown below:

Size (H x W) Full Colour Spot Colour Black and White
33 cm x 26 cm (Full Page) $35000 $24000 $19000
16 cm x 26 cm (Half Page) $17600 $12000 $9600
25 cm x 15 cm (Junior Page) $16500 $11000 $9000
33 cm x 10 cm (Vertical Strip) $14520 $9900 $7920
15 cm x 15 cm (Quarter page) $9900 $6750 $5400
6 cm x 26 cm (Bottom Banner) $6600 $4500 $3600
6 cm x 26 cm (Front Page Bottom banner) $12000 nil nil
Special Size (13 cm x 10 cm) $12000 nil nil
Special Size (10 cm x 15 cm) $12000 nil nil

THE DEADLINE FOR BOOKINGS Classifed or Rop Section:

  • 1 working day prior publication date.
  • Combined notices: 2 working days prior publication date.

All written confirmation of orders must be received and confirmed by Advertising Department no later than 6:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

All the ready-to-print materials must be delivered to:

1. Kowloon Bay Head Office before 10:00 p.m. on Monday to Friday and before 5:00 p.m. on Saturday

2. Central Sing Tao Centre before 5:45 p.m. on Monday to Friday and before 12:45 p.m. on Saturday

External links

References

  • Newspaper Society of Hong Kong, The(2004), 50 Years of Hong Kong Newspaper(香港報業50載印記). Hong Kong: Ming Pao Newspapers Limited.
  • Sing Tao News Corporation Annual Report 2004

English-language newspapers | Hong Kong newspapers

英文虎報

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "The Standard".

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