Type | Daily newspaper |
---|---|
Format | Broadsheet |
Owner(s) | SPH Media |
Publisher | SPH Media |
Editor | Goh Sin Teck |
Founded | 16 March 1983 (merger between the Singaporean editions of Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh ) (14,978 issues) |
Language | Chinese |
Headquarters | Toa Payoh, Singapore |
Circulation | 136,900 (Print+Digital as of 2021) [1] |
Website | www |
Nanyang Sin-Chew Lianhe Zaobao, [lower-alpha 1] commonly abbreviated as Lianhe Zaobao, [lower-alpha 2] is the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper with a daily circulation of about 136,900 (print and digital) as of 2021. [2] Published by SPH Media (formerly Singapore Press Holdings), it was formed on 16 March 1983 as a result of a merger between the Singaporean editions of Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh , two of Singapore's oldest Chinese newspapers. [3]
The paper establishes itself as a broadsheet with local news coverage, while international news tend to be largely centred on the East Asia region, with a section dedicated to China. Zaobao has an East Asian correspondent network spanning Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. It is SPH's flagship Chinese daily and the only Chinese-language daily in Singapore. [4] Lianhe Zaobao is the only Chinese-language overseas newspaper which can be purchased in major cities of mainland China. [4] As with all Chinese-language publications currently based in Singapore, the paper is printed in Simplified Chinese.
In 1974, after the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act was passed in Singapore, the Singapore branch of Sin Chew Jit Poh was reorganised into a public entity under the name Sin Chew Jit Poh (Singapore), while the Singapore edition of Nanyang Siang Pau became owned by Nanyang Press Singapore. [5] The two Chinese broadsheets in Singapore merged in March 1983 in anticipation of the impending falling readership, due to English being taught as first language in Singaporean schools. [6] The merger led to the formation of Singapore News and Publications, which published the morning paper Lianhe Zaobao as well as the evening paper Lianhe Wanbao . Lianhe Zaobao was the most read newspaper in Singapore among all English and Chinese newspapers, according to a survey conducted by Survey Research Singapore in 1983, with a readership of 689,000 on weekdays and 743,000 on Sundays. [7] On 4 August 1984, the company merged with The Straits Times Press Group and Times Publishing Berhad to form Singapore Press Holdings. [8]
From 8 September 2016, the portal also presents news from two other Singapore Press Holdings Chinese-language newspapers, Lianhe Wanbao and Shin Min Daily News . [9] According to The Washington Post , "Zaobao's combined print and digital circulation in Singapore fell from 187,900 in 2015 to 144,000 in 2020, according to company filings." [4]
According to a 2021 study from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the paper has a weekly offline reach of 8% and online reach of 7% in Singapore. [10]
The newspaper is regarded as pro-Beijing, [11] [12] [13] and often includes foreign opinion editorials from pro-Chinese Communist Party sources such as People's Daily , [14] HK01 , Ming Pao, Global Times, [15] China Times , Beijing Youth Daily . It is one of the few foreign newspapers allowed in China, where foreign media is tightly controlled. [16]
Content relating to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre is censored from the Zaobao website when accessed from Hong Kong. [17]
In 2023, The Washington Post reported that the paper had taken a more pro-Beijing stance by creating a China-specific version of the website to avoid having its website blocked in China. [4] In response, Lianhe Zaobao issued a rebuttal in response to the accusations by US and British media, emphasising its commitment to journalistic neutrality and independence. [18] In September 2023, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong articulated editorial concerns raised about Lianhe Zaobao at the centennial celebration of the newspaper. [19]
Broadsheet
The paper is published daily by SPH and usually hits newsstands and homes by 5 am local time. Zaobao is currently published in three segments. The first comprises breaking news (焦点新闻) and local news under ZaobaoSINGAPORE (早报新加坡). The second comprises ZaobaoChina (早报中国), the sports section (早报体育), obituaries, the daily editorial, commentaries, letters to the press, other international news from the ASEAN, followed by a finance section ZaobaoBUSINESS (早报财经). A supplementary lifestyle, arts and entertainment segment is named zbNOW (早报现在) with classified advertising at the back of that segment.[ citation needed ]
The Sunday edition is titled zbSunday (早报星期天), with a tabloid-format lifestyle supplement pull-out zbWeekly (早报周刊).
Zaobao Digital
The newspaper is available in Southeast Asia, China, Hong Kong as well as organisations such as the United Nations. The online version of the paper Zaobao.com was launched in August 1995 under the name of "Lianhe Zaobao Online". It serves as a news portal drawing news not just from the Lianhe Zaobao, but also from other Chinese newspapers in the region, numbering as much as 100 sources in total.[ citation needed ] A large proportion of Lianhe Zaobao's daily readership is derived from China, with the official website cites a monthly online readership of 4 million originating from China. [20]
Zaobao.com is targeted at audiences in Greater China, while Zaobao.sg (re-launched in September 2016) targets local and non-China readers. [21]
ZBSchools.sg is an online portal hosting several publications targeted at students such as zbCOMMA (早报逗号), Thumbs Up (大拇指), Thumbs Up Junior (小拇指) and Thumbs Up Little Junior (小小拇指). zbCOMMA is targeted at secondary school students, Thumbs Up at upper primary students, Thumbs Up Junior at lower primary students and Thumbs Up Little Junior at kindergarten students.
zbCOMMA used to be known as Friday Weekly (星期5周报) before its revamp on 7 January 2009. It consists of follow-ups on news on Lianhe Zaobao, articles written by Zaobao reporters and blurbs for Zaobao news that serve to connect students with Zaobao. [22]
Thumbs Up reports both international and local news. It has a section with mock examination questions to help students prepare for examinations. Thumbs Up promotes arts education by featuring art pieces selected by local artistic guides. It also has a section for fun and games, which features Chinese comics contributed by readers, as well as a weekly cartoon story on the mascot of the paper.
The Zaobao online website is occasionally blocked in mainland China, or has its posts removed on Sina Weibo. [23] In 2009, the Zaobao website was temporarily blocked in China, analysts in China believed it was likely related to an article Lianhe Zaobao ran headlined "Cyber Crackdown in China Angers Netizens" which sparked the temporary ban, as discourse against the Chinese government is often censored in Mainland China. [24] The paper was again reportedly blocked in 2017 with no official reasons cited. [25] [26] In 2019, the paper's WeChat account was suspended amidst the Hong Kong protests.
Sin Chew Daily, formerly known as Sin Chew Jit Poh, is a leading Chinese-language newspaper in Malaysia. According to report from the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the period ending 31 December 2011, Sin Chew Daily has an average daily circulation of almost 500,000 copies and also the largest-selling Chinese-language newspaper outside Greater China. It is only on Sundays that the circulation of the Malay-language papers exceeds that of Sin Chew Daily.
Nanyang Siang Pau or Nanyang Business Daily was founded by philanthropist-entrepreneur Tan Kah Kee on 6 September 1923 in Straits Settlements, currently published in Malaysia. Nanyang Siang Pau is one of the oldest Chinese-language newspapers in the country, with only Kwong Wah Yit Poh having been published longer. It has been published continuously except for four months in 1923 and 1924 and during the World War II between 1942 and 1945, before publication resumed on 8 September 1945.
Sin Chew Jit Poh was a Singapore newspaper. It was founded by Aw Boon Haw in Singapore. In the 1960s, it started its Malaysian bureau in Petaling Jaya, with full function printing house. Malaysian edition started to become a separate sister newspaper since they have the full function from news report writing to printing. Due to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act enacted in 1974, starting from 1975, the two newspaper in Singapore and Malaysia had a separate ownership, which the Singapore edition was owned by Sin Chew Jit Poh (Singapore) Limited; the Malaysian edition was sold by Sin Poh Amalgamated in 1982.
Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) is a junior college in Singapore next to Lorong Chuan MRT station, offering two-year pre-university courses leading up to the GCE Advanced Level examinations.
Nanyang Siang Pau was a newspaper in Singapore that was founded by philanthropist-entrepreneur Tan Kah Kee on 6 September 1923. It had a circulation across the Straits Settlement.
Li Wenhai is a veteran Singaporean actor. He has acted in various Singaporean television dramas.
Zhang Haijie is a China-born Singaporean news anchor contracted under Mediacorp.
Shin Min Daily News is a Singapore Chinese-language afternoon newspaper currently published by SPH Media. First started on 18 March 1967, by Singapore businessman Liang Runzhi (梁潤之) and the renowned Hong Kong writer Louis Cha as an offshoot of Hong Kong's Ming Pao, it featured exclusive serializations of some of Cha's wuxia novels in its early days. In the early 1980s, Cha sold his shares in the paper after the Singapore government ruled that foreigners could only hold up to 3% of shares in locally based papers.
Lianhe Wanbao was a Singapore Chinese afternoon newspaper published daily by SPH Media from 16 March 1983 after the merger between the Singaporean editions of Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh.
Darren Lim is a Singaporean actor and television host, who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1997 to 2016.
Evelyn Tan Yuit Yin is a Singaporean actress, host, educator and former singer.
Sin Poh Amalgamated Limited was a Singapore publisher, which published Sin Chew Jit Poh in Singapore and Malaysia, as well as Sin Pin Jit Poh in Penang, Malaysia.
Aw family is the family member of Aw Chu Kin and his descendant. Aw Chu Kin started his business in Burma, which his two sons expanded it into a multi-national conglomerate that from Chinese medicines to newspaper, as well as bank, insurance and real estate. However, the family started to decline in the third generation, by the takeover of family-owned listed company Haw Par Brothers International in Singapore in 1971, which saw Sin Poh Amalgamated, Chung Khiaw Bank and Haw Par Brothers (Thailand) were spin-off from the listed company. Before the dismantle, the key position of the business empire was served by third-generation member and their spouse, which they were removed after the takeover. However, Sally Aw, granddaughter of Aw Chu Kin, remained as one of the influential media tycoon in Hong Kong in 1990s, until forced to sell her Sing Tao Holdings in 1999 due to financial difficulties.
SPH Media is a media organisation with businesses in newspaper, magazine, radio, and other media in Singapore. It is wholly owned by SPH Media Trust (SMT) which is legally a company limited by guarantee. SPH Media was incorporated on 19 July 2021, and began operations on 1 December 2021 after Singapore Press Holdings completed the transfer of its media business.
NewspaperSG is an online newspaper archive launched in 2010 containing newspapers distributed in Singapore, including those published in the 19th century.
Chen Huihui is a Singaporean actress, known for her supporting roles in various television series, including Tofu Street, Hainan Kopi Tales, The Guest People, The Wing of Desire, Moving On and Viva Le Famille, as well as for starring in the television series Perfect Women, Over the Horizons and A Toast of Love, a Viva Le Famillle spin-off. She won the Star Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Wing of Desire, and was nominated for the award five other times for her performances in Tofu Street, The Guest People, Stepping Out, Hainan Kopi Tales and Love Me, Love Me Not.
Shero is a 2023 Singaporean action drama series starring Joanne Peh, Romeo Tan, Carrie Wong and Nick Teo. It follows the story of a woman who decides to join her missing sister's bodyguard company to search for her parents' murderer and to continue her sister's legacy. It began airing on Mediacorp Channel 8 from 12 June 2023.
Ezann Lee is a Singaporean actress and television host, who is best known for her roles in the television series Destiny (2005) and Making Miracles (2007). She has also appeared in the film Be with Me (2005), directed by Eric Khoo.
Bernard Tan Thuan Tjer is a Singaporean actor and insurance dealer. He has starred in the television series Bond of Love (1994), Silk and Romance (1995), A Romance in Shanghai (1996), The Other Parent (1997) and Point of Entry (2010−2014).
Lianhe Zaobao is read in mainland China and has in recent years been known for its pro-Beijing coverage.
To counter such influences, it is critical for Zaobao to maintain a clear editorial stance and have sufficient independent content, so that it can continue to speak for Singapore and safeguard our interests. Zaobao must not be used by others to put out views that are detrimental to Singapore's interests or are not aligned with our national sentiment. When publishing articles or commentaries by foreign contributors, Zaobao should also ensure that its readers are aware who these writers are speaking for and recognise that these views do not represent Zaobao's stance. Otherwise, readers may question if Zaobao has lost its independence or is choosing sides.