East Week

East Week (Chinese: 東周刊, Jyutping: dung1 zau1 hon1) is a Hong Kong-based weekly Chinese language magazine which was established by Oriental Press Group (the publisher of Oriental Daily News) on 29 October 1992 and sold to the Emperor Group in September 2001. It is now owned by Sing Tao News Corporation (former name: Global China Group Holdings), and published by China Touch Media Solutions & Services Limited.

East Week
Year founded1992 by Oriental Press Group
First issue29 October 1992
Company
CountryHong Kong
LanguageChinese/Cantonese (in Traditional Chinese character)
Websitehttps://eastweek.my-magazine.me/

Development

Upon its establishment, East Week has been viewed as the direct competitor against Next Magazine of Next Media Limited. However, East Week could not beat Next Magazine throughout the years as Next Magazine still remained as the top-sold magazine with around 150 thousand publications for each issue. So, Ma Ching Fat, Chairman of Oriental Group finally decided to sell the magazine to Emperor Group, owned by Albert Yeung.

After Yeung had taken over East Week, a revolution of the magazine took place. There was a significant change in the type of news story and the reporting method. Since it took advantage of the "freedom of democracy", it always used very sensational and controversial topics to attract customers. It reported stories like the sex life of the businessman Law Siu Fai (羅兆輝) and the extramarital affairs of David Li Kwok-po. Such stories became the gossip of the town after the reporting and aroused huge public awareness. However, its way of reporting such news has stirred up fierce social echoes. Law Siu Fai alleged that he had been cheated him in this issue. Also, Donald Tsang, the Chief Secretary of the HKSAR Government, was angry with a news story in which his old chef was interviewed. This is because his private life was reported in that interview without his approval. At last, East Week apologised to the public and Donald Tsang, and paid 120 thousand Hong Kong dollars to Tsang as compensation, to avoid lawsuit.

Another tide of trouble came on 29 October 2002, the day of its 10th anniversary, the issue demonstrated a nude picture of a famous Hong Kong actress, Carina Lau Ka Ling. It was believed to be taken 12 years ago when she had been kidnapped in distress.[1] The issue was sold out soon in the afternoon, and its price went up to $50 or $100. But there was no extra issue. It outraged the public, showbiz professionals, politicians and government officials. The showbiz professionals gathered together to go on strike and attacked the immorality of the magazine.[2] Ms Lau was praised by the public for her bravery to come up and clarify the case.[1]

The Chairman of Emperor Group, Albert Yeung, requested East Week to stop publication at 4pm on 1 November 2002. The Director of East Week, Mr. Chan Yiu On, announced East Week to stop publication an hour later, and this 'East Week Scandal' marked a temporary suspension of the 10-year-long publication.

Meanwhile, East Week apologised to the actress and the public through ads in various Hong Kong newspapers, regretting the inconsiderate publication of controversy. On the other hand, the local entertainment industry also published in full-page ads their criticism and dissatisfaction on East Week's approach. And people started to think of the issue of the so-called 'freedom of democracy' seriously. Jackie Chan even condemned the Press in Hong Kong as immoral and nearly all as paparazzi which only aimed at revealing the private life and dark side of artists but failed to report the good side of them. The reason for this is that only reporting these things could there be a great number of readers.[3] On 3 September 2003, East Week was back on sale in the market with a renewed image to become an apparent rival of the entertainment magazines. The publication's ownership had switched from Albert Yeung's Emperor Group to Charles Ho Tsu Kwok's (何柱國)'s Global China Group Holdings Limited, which has its influence over several local newspapers, such as Sing Tao Daily and Hong Kong Standard. Mr. Ho Kwok Fai (何國輝), CEO of China Touch, said that Mr. Lai Ting Yiu (黎廷瑤), who was the Executive Chief Editor of Sing Tao News Corporation, had been appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of East Week to oversee the overall operations and editorial matters. The acquisition of East Week was because of its great business potential. It had grasped wide readership base and support from advertisers in the past ten years. It was believed that the new East Week would be capable of capturing a noteworthy market share after its re-launch. Ho Kowk Fai added that the investment to East Week was about 40 to 50 million Hong Kong dollars. Any money loss of the first four issues would be borne by a well-known supermarket chain, but its name was undisclosed. He expected that the company would start to make a profit within 1.5 to 2 years.

Besides ownership, East Week also seeks change in terms of editorial positioning. According to the official website, a balanced and objective approach would be adopted. Coverage of celebrity news would also aim to be more content-driven. Its task is to reveal the truth and concerns of all Hong Kong people. Ho Tsu Kowk said whether East Week entered the China market would depend on the regulations and laws of the mainland government.

With a new design and layout, the first issue of the revived magazine on 3 September 2003 featured Carina Lau, the actress of former controversy, in a discussion of her new movie, Infernal Affairs II, and Anita Mui, in discussion of her seeking a famous oncologist.

Publishing details

East Week is published every Wednesday, in three sections:

  • Entertainment
  • Political, Social and Financial Issues
  • Discovering Food in Hong Kong.

The cover price is HK$20.

A condensed edition of East Week (one book) is included every Saturday or Sunday in Sing Tao Daily's overseas editions.

See also

References
  1. Edition.cnn. "Edition.cnn." Media shakeup after topless shots. Retrieved on 17 February 2008.
  2. Taipeitimes. "Taipeitimes." Journalism requires ethics: expert. Retrieved on 17 February 2008.
  3. 香港某女星受虐待裸照被刊登引爆娛樂圈. huaxia.com (in Chinese). 11 June 2002. Retrieved 11 November 2007.
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