Initium Media (Chinese: 端傳媒) is a Singapore-based Chinese-language digital media outlet. Launched in August 2015 in Hong Kong, the media moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2021.[3] Initium Media mainly provides in-depths news, opinions and lifestyle content with the aim of staking out neutral terrain among Chinese readers worldwide.[4]
Initium Media sourced its name from the writings of Mencius in which the word "端" (Jyutping: dyun1, "beginning", or "initium" in Latin) is significant.[5][a]
Ownership and funding
Initium Media's major shareholder is Will Cai, a Stanford-trained lawyer operating the company as a sideline to his duties at Skadden Arps, an investment he considered "better than buying a sports car."[7][8]
On December 2, 2015, Initium Media received a preferred share financing led by WI Harper Group, a leading global venture capital firm.[9] On April 6, 2017, the company announced it would be restructuring due to cash flow difficulties and staff would be laid off.[10] Cai stepped down from his position at Initium Media when the media platform implemented its restructuring plan in April 2017.[11] In July 2017, Initium Media kicked off a subscription model to charge readers for in-depth contents. The subscription divided into two memberships which are the normal membership and the premium one.[12]
Editorial team
Its founding editor was Annie Zhang, who previously worked for Yazhou Zhoukan, iSun Affairs Magazine, and City Magazine.[13] In April 2018, Taiwanese reporter Lee Chih-Te took over the chief executive editor,[14] and left in 2020. Jing Wu became the chief executive editor in 2020, and was succeeded by Hui (Lulu) Ning in 2022.[15]
Coverage
Initium Media currently has 10 channels, which are Daily News, Opinions, International News, Hong Kong News, China News, Taiwan News, Culture, City, Parenting and Photos.
Since its launch, Initium Media has been criticized both for being too antagonistic of the Chinese Communist Party and too supportive. Apple Daily, a Hong Kong newspaper owned by Jimmy Lai and critical of China's Communist Party rulers, accused Cai of having secret ties to mainland backers and Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping.[16] Some media observers say that Initium Media has demonstrated its independence with in-depth reports such as these.[17]
2020 raid
On 10 August 2020, the Hong Kong offices of Apple Daily were searched by over 200 national security officers in a large-scale police raid, following Lai's arrest for alleged violations of the recently implemented national security law.[18]
Journalists interviewed 7 reporters from AppleDaily that night and concluded up an article for restoring the experiences and thoughts of the reporters that day when they saw the company was searched by great number of polices and alleging violations of the national security law. [19]
Tianjin explosion
On August 12, 2015, a series of major explosions swept across the Binhai New Area, a busy port just 40 kilometres east of the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. The explosions occurred less than one kilometre from several high-density residential areas, and damage extended as far as two kilometres from the blast site.
Initium Media was one of the very few Hong Kong media that dispatched journalists to the scene, where toxic chemicals stored in a warehouse had erupted in a fireball that spewed debris and poisons over nearby apartments. The reporters slipped past security cordons to write about the disaster that claimed more than 150 lives and then reported on the connections of the warehouse owner.[7] Initium Media also released an investigative report to trace the individuals behind this tragedy.[20]
Application development
Initium Media has an in-house data journalist team. One of its works is the Legco matrix project, through which they analyze over 200,000 voting records of Hong Kong legislative council and visualize the recent movement and voting trends of lawmakers.[21] It also dedicated a project in anticipation of the 2016 LegCo election.[22]
Awards and recognition
Initium Medium won numerous recognitions at the SOPA Awards 2020.[23]
^“The sense of concern for others is the starting point of Humaneness. The feeling of shame and disgust is the starting point of Fairness. The sense of humility and deference is the starting point of Propriety and the sense of right and wrong is the starting point of Wisdom.”[6]
