Apple Daily is a Hong-Kong-based tabloid

Tabloid

A tabloid is a newspaper with compact page size smaller than broadsheet, although there is no standard for the precise dimensions of the tabloid newspaper format...

-style newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 founded in 1995 by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying

Lai Chee Ying

Lai Chee-Ying is a serial entrepreneur...

 and is published

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 by its company, Next Media

Next Media

Next Media Limited , founded by serial entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, has more than 3,600 employees and is the largest-listed media company in Hong Kong....

. A sister publication carrying the same name is published in Taiwan, Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

 under a joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 between Next Media and other Taiwanese companies. The publications take an unrelenting stance of economic and political freedom, as a consequence the publications are banned in People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 and its websites are blocked by the great firewall of China.

Apple Dailys main sections include "Local News", "Foreign News", "Finance", "Entertainment", "Sports" and "Others"—including technology

Technology

Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, travel

Travel

Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...

, eating, cooking

Cooking

Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...

, fashion

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

 and more provocative material generating much of its popularity and controversy. Apple Daily's popularity as Hong Kong's second best selling newspaper, according to AC Nielsen, is derived from its concentration on celebrity coverage, brash news style, sensationalist news reportage and its anti-government political positions.

Its founder brainstormed the name of this newspaper, stating that "if Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

 didn't eat the apple

Forbidden fruit

Forbidden fruit is any object of desire whose appeal is a direct result of knowledge that cannot or should not be obtained or something that someone may want but is forbidden to have....

, there would be no evil or wrongdoings in this world, which made news a non-existing term".

History

Apple Daily was founded by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying on June 20, 1995. Unlike newspapers at that time, it used colour printing on all pages of the newspaper and did not allow advertisements covering the complete front page. Since then, it has attracted a large readership. Other newspapers followed suit, and a few were forced to close due to intense competition by Apple Daily.

The newspaper uncovered many political scandals, including a former member of the Legislative Council

Legislative Council of Hong Kong

The Legislative Council is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong.-History:The Legislative Council of Hong Kong was set up in 1843 as a colonial legislature under British rule...

 not reporting conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

 in 2000, a former Financial Secretary Antony Leung

Antony Leung

Antony Leung Kam-chung GBS JP was the former Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region...

 for tax evasion on a Lexus LS 430

Lexus LS

The Lexus LS is a full-size luxury sedan that serves as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. Four generations of the sedan have been produced, all equipped with V8 engines and rear-wheel drive, although since 2006 all-wheel drive, hybrid, and long-wheelbase variants have also...

 which saved him HK$50,000 (USD $6,400), and many others, leading to the convictions or forced resignations of those individuals.

Just prior to July 1, 2003, the newspaper encouraged people to take to the street and protest against the government. On that day of protest, it prepared banners and newspaper front pages for the public to carry and protest. The 2003 protest drew 500,000 citizens (the third largest protest ever seen in Hong Kong) to the Hong Kong July 1 marches

Hong Kong July 1 marches

The Hong Kong 1 July march is an annual protest rally originally led by the Civil Human Rights Front since the 1997 handover on the HKSAR establishment day. However, it was not until 2003 that the march drew large public attention by opposing the legislation of Basic Law Article 23...

. Since then, it has been viewed as the newspaper that helped carry the message of protest against the government.

Others

David Tang

David Tang

Sir David Tang, KBE is a Hong Kong businessman and socialite best known as the founder of the Shanghai Tang fashion chain, which he sold in 2006 to Richemont.Tang's grandfather "founded the Kowloon bus company and became one of Hong Kong’s greatest philanthropists"...

, bon vivant and founder of Shanghai Tang

Shanghai Tang

Shanghai Tang is an international clothing chain company, founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang Wing Cheung and now controlled by Richemont.David Tang claimed that Shanghai Tang is a Chinese label that set out to rejuvenate Chinese fashion...

 writes a weekly column for Apple Daily in English, a selection which were published in book as An Apple a Week.

In September, 2003, veteran columnist To Kit

To Kit

Chip Tsao , also known by his pen name To Kit and epithet First Wit of Hong Kong, is a multilingual Hong Kong-based columnist, broadcaster, and writer. He is well-known for his sarcasm and wry sense of humour....

 (陶傑) joined the newspaper, and publishes his daily column "The Golden Adventure" (黃金冒險號) and a weekly editorial called "Sunday Rest" (星期日休息) at the newspaper.

Popular food critic, travel writer and former movie producer Chua Lam

Chua Lam

Chua Lam is a columnist, food critic and occasional television host in Hong Kong and Japan...

 writes a regular column for the newspaper.

Popular writer/doctor Au Lok Man

Au Lok Man

Dr. Au Lok Man is a Hong Kong writer. He writes a column for the Apple Daily in Hong Kong. His columns have been combined to create 10 books to date. Three of them have been voted as "10 Good Books for Secondary Students" in Hong Kong....

also writes articles for the newspaper's leisure section on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.