| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Online |
| Publisher | Luis Ko |
| Founded | 1949 (as China News) |
| Political alignment | Pan-Green |
| Headquarters | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Website | www |
| Taiwan News | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 臺灣英文新聞 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 台湾英文新闻 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英文臺灣日報 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英文台湾日报 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| China News | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 英文中國日報 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 英文中国日报 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Taiwan News (formerly China News[1]) is an English-language newspapers in Taiwan published by the confectionery concern I-Mei Foods, which also publishes the Mandarin-language news weekly of the same name (Taiwan News; the title being in English).[2]
Taiwan News works closely with Internet Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd. and Wisers Information Ltd. (慧科訊業) of Hong Kong to make news reports, stories and editorials from Taiwan News available to subscribers through the databases of the two services.[citation needed]
Taiwan News was founded 6 June 1949 by James Wei[3] as China News, offering news reports and editorials printed on a stencil press. At the time it was the only English-language daily newspaper in Taiwan and it was a newspaper published in the afternoon. Later on, in order to compete with its new competitor, the China News had to change and was published in the morning in order not to lose its advertisements.[2]
In 1960, the newspaper switched to block printing in a full-size page format.[1]
The founder James Wei was with the newspaper until 1965. Wei was also a Reuters correspondent and deputy director of the Central News Agency. During his later years he was the sixth Director of the Government Information Office, serving from October 31, 1966, to June 1, 1972. Wei was a close advisor to Chiang Ching-kuo.[4][5]
In 1998, the newspaper was purchased from Simone Wei by Luis Ko, the then-CEO of I-Mei Foods, and the paper's title was changed to Taiwan News.[2] At that time, it is one of the three major English-language newspapers in Taiwan, the other two being the Taipei Times and the China Post. Since coming under the ownership of the I-Mei Group the editorial policy of the Taiwan News has been changed to be in favour of the Pan-Green coalition and pro-Taiwan independence editorial line.[2]
In 2005, Taiwan News had a very high staff turn-over rate due to perceived bad management. Experienced reporters and editors quit to preserve their integrity. English newspapers in Taiwan often release rumors of laying-off their employees or of cutting their salary.[citation needed]
On 1 January 2008, the Taiwan News started publishing in a tabloid format replacing the old broadsheet style.
On 28 February 2015, the news agency released the last print edition of its newspaper and switched to an all-digital format. It is now published online in both English and Mandarin versions.
Taiwan News is known for sensationalism and unreliable reporting, which was particularly egregious during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.[6]
On Feb 2 2020, Taiwan News published an article, claiming that a screenshot showed that Tencent's Epidemic Situation Tracker accidentally leaked the real numbers of death and infection in China, briefly showing numbers many times higher of the official figure.[7] The article was referenced by other news outlets such as Daily Mail and widely circulated on Twitter, Facebook, 4chan, sparking a wide range of conspiracy theories. A spokesman of Tencent responded saying the image was doctored and featured "false information which we never published". Justin Lessler, associate professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the numbers of the alleged "leak" are unreasonable and unrealistic, citing the case fatality rate as far lower than the 'leaked information'.[8] Keoni Everington, author of the original news article, defended and asserted the authenticity of the leak.[6] Brian Hioe and Lars Wooster of New Bloom Magazine debunked the theory from data on other websites, which were using Tencent's database to generate custom visualizations while showing none of the inflated figures appearing in the images promulgated by Taiwan News. They concluded the screenshot was digitally fabricated.[6]
On Feb 15, Taiwan News claimed there was a large rise of sulfur dioxide level in Wuhan, which indicated mass cremation and enormous COVID-19 death toll.[9] Poynter Institute later debunked it as manipulated images of satellite weather forecast in an article "Hoaxes about the coronavirus are now trying to prove human extermination".[10][6]
On February 26, Taiwan News reported that Wuhan virus patients are being bound in body bags and cremated alive based on a youtube video.[11] Factcheck organization Politifact found no evidence to confirm the allegation and rated it as false.[12]