The Power News (勁晚報) evening newspaper last Thursday surprised the nation by shutting down after two-and-a-half years of circulation. Marketing analysts say the shut-down was caused by the management's inability to establish circulation channels, but former editors of the paper claim that the founder's unfamiliarity with journalism led to the closure.
The Hsiang Shan group established the Power News evening newspaper in 1999, after it invested in the Independence Evening Post (自立晚報) but failed to win the controlling rights of the newspaper.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Power News founder, Chiang Tao-sheng (江道生), promised to break even within three years, but decided to shut down the newspaper after a loss of up to NT$1.6 billion. Its managing-level editors had promised to make the paper better than rivals, the United Evening News (聯合晚報) and the China Times Express (中時晚報), with a unique editing style, colorful pages and punchy writing, but most quit before the Power News closed.
Rumors indicated that the Power News had lost NT$80 million to NT$90 million every month since it started publishing, and marketing experts said that the losses were caused by a lack of circulation channels.
"The newspaper's inability to establish its circulation channels resulted in its closure," said Chai Chung-chin (翟仲勤), a senior media buyer.
The Power News had suffered many setbacks in the establishment of its circulation channels. It alleged that its two rival newspapers, the United Evening News and the China Times Express, obstructed its process of establishing circulation channels.
According to statistics from advertising agencies, circulation of the United Evening News and the China Times Express are 250,000 each. The Power News' circulation was claimed to be 200,000, and the Independence Evening Post's circulation was about 150,000.
Chen Chi-fang (
"We tried to produce a different evening newspaper, but the idea was not accepted by the newspaper's management. Senior editors from other newspapers even commented that we were qualified enough for daily newspaper printing. It just needs time and patience," Chen said.
Chen also said that Chiang rose to fame and wealth through starting a successful kindergarten chain, but that this doesn't mean that he is a qualified media operator.
"He deeply believes that effective financial and administrative management would result in good newspaper production, but something else is more important to make a new newspaper, such as style and the establishment of a good reputation," Chen said.
The Power News is not the first paper to fold in the last six months. The Independence Evening Post was shut down at the end of last year.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS