History
Apple Daily was founded by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying on June 20, 1995. Unlike newspapers at that time, it used colour printing on all pages of the newspaper and did not allow advertisements covering the complete front page. Since then, it has attracted a large readership. Other newspapers followed suit, and a few were forced to close due to intense competition by Apple Daily. Techniques used by Apple Daily to gain readership included price warring, extensive use of written Cantonese, at a time when most Hong Kong newspapers used written vernacular Chinese, and a focus on reporting crime, celebrity news, eroticism, gambling, and drug use.
The newspaper uncovered many political scandals, including a former member of the Legislative Council not reporting conflict of interest in 2000, a former Financial Secretary Antony Leung for tax evasion on a Lexus LS 430 which saved him HK$50,000 (USD $6,400), and many others, leading to the convictions or forced resignations of those individuals.
Apple Daily often criticizes the Central Government of China and pro-China governments in Hong Kong. Just prior to July 1, 2003, the newspaper encouraged people to take to the street and protest against the government. On that day of protest, it prepared banners and newspaper front pages for the public to carry and protest. The 2003 protest drew 500,000 citizens (the third largest protest ever seen in Hong Kong) to the Hong Kong July 1 marches. Since then, it has been viewed as the newspaper that helped carry the message of protest against the government.
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“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
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