After two and a half years in circulation, the evening newspaper Power News (勁晚報) made a surprise announcement yesterday that the paper was shutting down and would stop publishing today.
Power News is Taiwan's second evening newspaper to fold in the last six months.
The announcement was made in a front-page message that appeared in yesterday's issue of the paper.
"Advertising revenue could not keep up with the cost of producing high-quality news and content,'' it said.
The paper said it will give severance pay to its staff in accordance with the Labor Standards Law (
The newspaper's staff said they will not rule out staging protests if the paper fails to give them proper severance pay.
Other papers that closed in recent months include Taiwan's oldest afternoon newspaper, the Independence Evening Post (自立晚報), and Taiwan's only sports paper, The Great Sports Daily (大成體育報).
Power News was launched in July 1999 by the Hsiang Shan group (象山集團), which also owns the cable TV station Power TV and the radio station Power 98.9.
The company said the paper's closure would not affect operations at the TV and radio stations.
Over the past two and a half years, the paper has tried to attract readers with colorful pages and punchy writing. It also lowered its price from NT$15 to NT$10, and later lowered it again to NT$5 per copy.
The Hsiang Shan group has reportedly lost up to NT$1 billion through its media businesses. It also suffered a major blow in September when floods brought by Typhoon Nari destroyed some of the group's media hardware facilities in Taipei City.
The Hsiang Shan group was established by Chiang Tao-sheng (江道生), who rose to fame and wealth with a successful kindergarten chain that now has 22 branches in Taipei City and County.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS