Chapter 189: This is Cheating!

Hong Kong's media industry is highly developed, with numerous newspapers. If one wants a clear understanding, the different newspapers can be categorized by their credibility in various fields.

In the field of financial media, the most prominent is *Hong Kong Economic Journal*, followed by *Hong Kong Commercial Daily*, and then *Sing Tao Daily*. Others of lesser prominence can be disregarded.

In political media, the most prominent is *Shing Pao*, followed by *Ming Pao*, *Sing Tao Daily*, *Ta Kung Pao*, and others.

As for news concerning people's livelihood, nearly every newspaper covers it.

Of course, there is one exception: *Sing Tao Daily*.

*Sing Tao Daily* has channels spread throughout Southeast Asia and is the most powerful. Its advantage lies in the fact that it publishes political and economic news about Southeast Asia in the Hong Kong edition of *Sing Tao Daily*. Given this factor, *Sing Tao Daily* is also highly authoritative.

However, in Hong Kong and Macau, *Sing Tao Daily* is not the top-tier newspaper in either financial or political media, though it covers both areas at a high level.

When these factors are combined, *Sing Tao Daily*'s sales in Hong Kong and Macau surpass those of *Shing Pao*, *Ming Pao*, *Hong Kong Economic Journal*, and others.

In fact, this has made *Sing Tao Daily* an embryonic form of an international news publication, but because its coverage was limited to Southeast Asia and the content was not extensive, it did not develop a clear distinction.

It wasn't until the advent of the internet era, when spatial distance shrank dramatically in the face of the internet, that *Sing Tao Daily* realized the potential and quickly seized the opportunity to expand globally, eventually becoming a Chinese-language newspaper that covered the global Chinese community.

However, at that time, the print media industry faced a huge impact from the internet, and the overall market sales inevitably declined. Even though *Sing Tao Daily* seized the opportunity, it was still blocked by a continually lowering ceiling.

The root cause was that, before the internet appeared, it had not realized the potential and had remained like a frog in a well, with its vision limited to Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia.

But in this life, *Sing Tao Daily* will definitely not follow its original path; it will wake up in time because, in this life, *Fengyun Daily* will emerge and surely awaken it.

In the previous life, *Sing Tao Daily* was the first among Hong Kong newspapers to respond and reaped the first benefits, but in this life, with *Fengyun Daily* present, *Sing Tao Daily* is destined to be no more than a second-best.

Thus, the question becomes whether *Sing Tao Daily* can break through the shadow of *Fengyun Daily*.

...

Hong Kong's major newspapers have the habit of subscribing to each other's publications to stay informed about the hottest news, avoid missing opportunities, or prevent their own newspapers from taking the wrong stance and making erroneous statements that could harm their credibility.

Another important reason is to know one's competitors; only then can one have a chance to surpass them later on.

So, on this morning, when *Jiuding Daily* was routinely published, it was immediately delivered to the major newspaper offices.

*Shing Pao*'s editor-in-chief, Luo Yanming, arrived at the office, made a cup of tea, and took a sip before picking up one of the newspapers from the pile. He saw the title and noticed that it was *Jiuding Daily*.

There was no other way; *Jiuding Daily* dominated the market, with sales in Hong Kong and Macau alone crushing all other newspapers. Even the combined sales of the second-place *Sing Tao Daily* and third-place *Ming Pao* were lower than *Jiuding Daily*.

Moreover, *Jiuding Daily*'s sales in Southeast Asia were increasing day by day. The total daily sales had reached 940,000 copies, and the glory of being the first newspaper to reach one million daily sales in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong was within *Jiuding Daily*'s grasp.

Other newspapers couldn't help but feel envious, but envy alone was useless. Learning from *Jiuding Daily* to increase their own sales was the right path.

As a result, *Jiuding Daily* became a must-subscribe newspaper for all Hong Kong newspaper offices, and its importance was firmly ranked first. If there was no time, other newspapers could be ignored, but *Jiuding Daily* had to be read.

Today, Luo Yanming, as usual, habitually started reading *Jiuding Daily*.

At first, he was a bit indifferent, but when his eyes caught a headline, his entire body jolted, and the cup in his hand shook, spilling some tea on his thigh, causing him to gasp in pain.

"Hiss..."

But he endured the pain, his brows furrowing, and his eyes fixated on that headline on the newspaper, his fists unconsciously clenching, and he gritted his teeth, speaking word by word.

"Trouble has come, after all this waiting, it's finally here!"

"Stay indoors and watch the changing world unfold! *Fengyun Daily* will open your eyes to the world!"

This line was placed on the first page of *Jiuding Daily*, with the headline in enlarged and bold font, extremely eye-catching. As long as one saw the newspaper, they would be immediately drawn to this headline.

But this headline made Luo Yanming, the editor-in-chief of *Shing Pao*, feel a chill down his spine.

He took a deep breath and continued reading, harboring a faint hope in his heart.

But after reading, he realized that he shouldn't have had any expectations; reality was too cruel. Jiuding Newspaper Company, after *Jiuding Daily*, finally launched a new newspaper after a few months, named *Fengyun Daily*.

The newspaper focuses on political, social, and international news, with the mission of "fairness, professionalism, depth, and breadth."

The following article even elaborated on this mission, especially the term "breadth," which claimed that every day it would report heavyweight news from around the world, with daily scoops.

Luo Yanming's rational mind told him that just this one point, if *Fengyun Daily* could achieve it, would make it invincible.

And the troubling part was, *Fengyun Daily* really could achieve it!

After all, Jiuding Newspaper Company is the leader in Hong Kong's media industry, and its every move naturally attracts the attention of countless peers and sparks their speculation.

When Jiuding Newspaper Company aggressively established Jiuding News Agency, they didn't deliberately conceal it, so it was immediately noticed by their peers.

Upon learning that Jiuding Newspaper Company wanted to establish a global news network, they became worried. They also researched news agencies and discovered that most powerful news agencies had a nation supporting them, and the barrier to entry was especially high. They doubted whether Jiuding Newspaper Company could succeed!

But after more than a month with no news, they gradually stopped paying much attention. They never expected that just as Luo Yanming was about to forget, news about Jiuding News Agency would reappear before him.

And it brought such a terrible message!

*Shing Pao* had already been affected by *Jiuding Daily*, but fortunately, *Jiuding Daily* was a financial newspaper, so the impact was limited.

But this time, *Fengyun Daily*, which is set to launch in three days, is coming directly for newspapers like *Shing Pao* that focus on politics and economics. How could he not be nervous?

He knew danger was approaching, but there was nothing he could do!

Even though his mind was racing, the few countermeasures he came up with all died as soon as he saw the news in *Jiuding Daily*.

"It's just... unexpected. Before it even launches, it already has *Jiuding Daily* with sales of 940,000 copies paving the way. Sigh..."

"This is cheating!"

Luo Yanming slapped the table in frustration and said in exasperation.