The
Sankei Shimbun was created by the merger of two older newspapers:
Jiji News and
Nihon Kogyō Shimbun.
Jiji News was founded in 1882 by author, translator, and journalist
Fukuzawa Yukichi, who also founded
Keio University.
Nihon Kogyō Shimbun, founded in 1933 by Hisakichi Maeda, specialized in business and was published by the
Minami-Osaka Shimbun (the
South Osaka Evening newspaper). In 1941, the
Osaka Shimbun (renamed from
Minami-Osaka Shimbun) merged with
Osaka Jiji Shimpō (
Jiji-Shimpō Osaka edition). The following year,
Nihon Kogyō Shimbun merged with other business newspapers in Western Japan, and changed its name to the
Sangyō Keizai Shimbun (or the
Sankei). In 1955, the
Sankei merged with
Jiji Shimpō. In 1959, the
Sankei and
Jiji Shimpō were placed under the
Sankei Shimbun masthead. In 1958, the
Sankei was acquired by Shigeo Mizuno and Nobutaka Shikanai. After financial difficulties, it changed direction from being liberal to being conservative (
Tenkō). Both Mizuno and Shikanai would go on to found
Fuji Television a year later. The
Sankei Shimbun started two
online newspapers in 1996:
Sankei Web, in website style, and
E-NEWS, in
personal digital assistant style. In 2001, the
Sankei Shimbun started a new electronic newspaper delivery edition,
NEWSVUE. In 2002, the
Sankei Shimbun merged with
Osaka Shimbun. Both editions were placed under the
Sankei Shimbun masthead. In 2005, the
Sankei Shimbun added video to its digital edition, suitable for
smartphone, and renamed it as
Sankei NetView. In 2007, the
Sankei Shimbun started a new online newspaper, , in collaboration with
Microsoft. In 2014 the
Sankei Shimbun rebranded its online news as
Sankei News. The article in question covered several rumors about Park during the
sinking of MV Sewol, referring to Korean news reports in the conservative newspaper
The Chosun Ilbo; however, only the
Sankei was charged with defamation, considered an anti-Korean newspaper in Korea. The Japanese media assumed the suit was a warning to the
Sankei. Kato, who was eventually acquitted of defamation charges in December 2015, was under prosecution without detention for a year and two months. The South Korean court said press freedoms were taken into consideration in arriving at Kato's acquittal. In December 2014, the newspaper apologized after running an advert for
antisemitic books by conspiracy theorist Richard Koshimizu. On February 11, 2015, regular columnist
Ayako Sono wrote an opinion piece opining that though she considered it necessary for Japan to accept more immigrants to bolster its decreasing workforce, it would also be necessary for Japan to take steps to ensure the separation of immigrants in regards to living conditions, citing South African
apartheid as an example of how to achieve this goal. In 2017,
Sankei Shimbun launched the English language online website
Japan Forward. ==Ownership==