The Standard was originally named the
Hong Kong Tiger Standard. The newspaper was founded by Tycoon
Aw Boon Haw after the end of the
Chinese Civil War. He incorporated the publisher The Tiger Standard Limited on 23 May 1947. On the back of financially successful
Sing Tao Daily and
Tiger Balm, he attacked the English-language newspaper market by launching the paper on 1 March 1949 to give a Chinese voice to the world and to advance the interests of Chinese in all their endeavours and defend them against all kinds of inequalities, challenging the pro-colonial establishment press. It started life as a broadsheet, largely edited and run by Chinese, though not to the exclusion of other nationals. During the 1990s, when
Sally Aw (Aw Sian, adopted daughter of Aw Boon Haw) chaired
Sing Tao News Corporation Limited,
The Standard was the only English newspaper in Hong Kong that was allowed to be circulated in China. In 1994 a third English-language newspaper, the
Eastern Express, appeared. Its bold headlines and large photographs provoked a radical redesign at the Standard, which also suffered the loss of a great many reporters, sub-editors, and advertising to the Eastern Express, tempted by its boasts of generous pay. The new paper quickly pushed the Standard into third place for full-price sales. The Standard adopted a distinctive orange and black masthead and an advertising campaign that used a carrot logo and the maxim "clearer vision." Meanwhile, an emergency recruitment drive brought in new staff from the
UK and
Tasmania, mostly from regional newspapers and on fixed contracts. Its Sunday supplement, Hong Kong Life, began free distribution in bars and clubs. On 27 May 2000, facing challenges from its biggest competitor the
South China Morning Post, to attract more younger readers,
Circulation fraud In August 1996 the
Independent Commission Against Corruption in Hong Kong found that 14,000 copies of the paper had been discarded at
Wan Chai Pier and therefore started an investigation. The ICAC discovered that from 1994 to 1997 the circulation figures of the
Hong Kong Sunday Standard and the
Hongkong Standard had been routinely and substantially exaggerated, in order to attract advertisers and to raise the revenue of the newspapers. Circulation figures had always been somewhat obscure, owing to the Sing Tao group's longstanding agreements with hotels and clubs where the newspaper was distributed free. As a result, the ICAC arrested three staff members of the
Hongkong Standard and investigated Aw Sian as co-conspirator. The case was heard from 23 November 1998 to 20 January 1999, at the conclusion of which all three were found guilty and sentenced to 4 to 6 months in jail. Aw Sian was not charged, after the secretary of justice
Elsie Leung decided not to prosecute her owing to insufficient evidence and in the
public interest. The decision generated controversy among a skeptical public who saw this as discrimination in favour of the powerful and well-connected. ==References==