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.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,