Гонконг газеті «The Standard» және айналымды жалған көрсету ісі

Hong Kong English language newspaper

The Standard is an English language free newspaper in Hong Kong with a daily circulation of 200,450 in 2012. It was formerly called the Hongkong Standard and changed to HKiMail during the Internet boom but partially reverted to The Standard in 2001. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) is its main local competitor.

The Standard is printed in tabloid format rather than in broadsheet. It is published daily from Monday to Friday.

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.