Initium Media

Initium Media (Chinese: 端傳媒; Sidney Lau: Duen1Chuen4Mooi4) is a Hong Kong-based digital media outlet launched in August, 2015. It provides news, opinions and lifestyle content to Chinese-speaking readers worldwide with the aim of staking out neutral terrain among Chinese readers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, and abroad.[1]

Initium Media
IndustryNews
Founded3 August 2015
HeadquartersUnit 1907, Prosperity Millennia Plaza, 663 King's Road, Hong Kong
Key people
Zhang Jieping （Chief Executive Editor）
ProductsWebsite
iOS & Android Applications
Websitetheinitium.com

Initium Media has explained that its naming concept was sourced from a passage from the writings of Mencius (Chinese: 孟子; Sidney Lau: Maang6Ji2) in which the word "端" (Sidney Lau: Duen1) ("beginning", or "initium" in Latin) is significant: “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.” [2][3]

By April 2016, it was receiving 2 million monthly unique visitors to its website and had received 110,000 download requests for its applications.[4] It has users from more than 200 different countries and territories, the vast majority being in Hong Kong and Taiwan, with the rest coming from the U.S., Japan and elsewhere.[5]

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.

Ownership and editorial team

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."[6][7]

Initium Media has a global editorial and development team of nearly 70 people in Hong Kong and Taiwan who are producing daily news reports, analysis, infographics, investigative stories and video pieces from around the world.

Its Chief Executive Editor is Zhang Jieping, who previously worked for Yazhou Zhoukan, a Chinese political magazine, iSun Affairs Magazine, a current affairs publication, and City Magazine, a lifestyle magazine.[8]

Coverage

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.[9]

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.[6] Initium Media also released an investigative report to trace the individuals behind this tragedy.[10]

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.[11]

It also dedicated a project in anticipation of the 2016 LegCo election.[12]

Funding

On December 2, 2015, Initium Media received a preferred share financing led by WI Harper Group, a leading global venture capital firm.[13]

On April 6, 2017, the company announced it would be restructuring due to cash flow difficulties and staff would be laid off.[14]

References
  1. Initium’s Ambition: A Digital Magazine for All Chinese
  2. Muller, A Charles (2 December 2014). "Mencius (Selections)". Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  3. 漩渦裏的人，有責任說出漩渦的樣子
  4. China's Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown
  5. China's Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown
  6. Oster, Shai (27 April 2016). "China's Media Startups Fight Censorship Crackdown". Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  7. [獨家專訪]端傳媒神秘金主 蔡華曝光
  8. New Hong Kong media startup attempts to capture Chinese global market
  9. 【端傳媒起底】大股東蔡華 與習近平千絲萬縷
  10. 起底瑞海國際：幕後操盤手在香港持有同名公司
  11. 20萬條投票紀錄帶你解碼香港立法會
  12. 立法會GPS
  13. 端傳媒獲得台灣美商中經合集團領投優先股投資
  14. Tong, Elson (6 April 2017). "Digital Hong Kong news outlet Initium Media to lay off 'substantial' no. of staff amid funding fears". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
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