Ming Pao removes chief editor

Ming Pao’s chief editor Chun To Lau has been removed from his role and handed a new position in the publication.The newspaper released a statement saying the decision was made “to cope with Ming Pao’s new business structure”.“Lau will take on important responsibilities in his new position and will continue to generate new business for the publication.”It went on to say that Ming Pao’s chief editor spot has gone through several shuffles but its editorial policy will stay consistent.Lau expressed on Ming Pao that he has no intention to leave the group and has already set himself about preparing to take on the new position.Reacting to Lau’s abrupt departure, Ming Pao editorial team is now working on a joint statement to express their shock and require for an explanation from the management team.Lau, the chief editor of Ming Pao since 2012, is reported to be succeeded by a journalist from Malaysia, according to Wei Ling Li, the host of Commercial Radio show The Tipping Point.Speculation about his new role centred around coverage of the free-to-air TV licensing saga with HKTV.Since the licensing spat erupted on 15 October last year, Ming Pao led with the news for nine straight days. In total, the licensing saga occupied the newspaper’s headline for 15 days in a month.Coincidently, a few days before Lau’s relocation, Ming Pao fell from second to third place in this year’s media credibility survey conducted by Chinese University.Out of 22 local print media, Ming Pao was edged out by Hong Kong Economic Times, which has gained number one spot in media credibility among Chinese newspapers.Perry Mak, managing director and executive director of Hong Kong Economic Times, said: “Each newspaper has her own stance and principle about how to allocate her editorial resources. Overall speaking, we believe Ming Pao strives for the benefit of readers and it’s best for her readers to judge.”“We always put the benefits of Hong Kong people and sustainability of Hong Kong economy top of mind. As many HKET readers commented during our regular surveys, they favour reading HKET due to our unbiased news reports,” he added.Ivan Tong, editor-in-chief of The Standard, the English-language newspaper which closely ranked following Ming Pao as the forth this year, said it is normal for a overwhelming reports on the recent HKTV saga as it is the most talked-about topic.“It is okay to report overwhelmingly on the topic that the public care most about, as long as the articles can maintain neutrality.”Instead, he expressed concern over the declining public trust to the media in general.“The study is a creditable one since 1997, but recently the trust in the media saw a big slip mainly due to the emerging internet news, which is known for its lack of accuracy,” Tong said.Tong added that Hong Kongers have a tendency to trust English-language publication over Chinese-language media, which may partly explain the high-ranking for both SCMP and The Standard.The full result on print media from the report: Public Evaluation on Media Credibility 2013.1 South China Morning Post2 Hong Kong Economic Times3 Ming Pao4 The Standard5 Hong Kong Economic Journal6 Singtao Daily7 Headline Daily8 Oriental Daily9 Am73010 House News11 Sing Pao12 Metro Daily13 Hong Kong Daily News14 Sky Post15 Hong Kong Commercial Daily16 The Sun (Hong Kong)17 Apple Daily18 New Evening Post19 Wen Wei Po20 Ta Kung Pao21 Sharp Daily22 Tin Tin Daily News*