Its share of Hong Kong's total newspaper readership may be negligible at just 2 per cent, but ever since it hit the streets in 1973 the Hong Kong Economic Journal has punched well above its circulation's weight.
As a quality newspaper commenting on business and politics, the Journal's reputation has been built upon its independent, rational and critical approach.
It is therefore no surprise that many shared feelings of anxiety mixed with helplessness when it was revealed last week that the newspaper's owners, founder Lam Shan-muk and columnist Cho Chi-ming, were in talks about a sale to a consortium including tycoon Richard Li Tzar-kai.
This was not so much because of concern over a possible breach of a government ban on cross-media ownership. Mr Li is the majority shareholder of PCCW, which runs PCCW Media, licensee of local pay-TV service NOW Broadband. And under the law, a media owner cannot hold a majority stake in other media without the consent of the Executive Council.
Nor it is because of Mr Li's family background - he is, of course, the second son of Li Ka-shing, probably Hong Kong's most influential businessman - although there are fears that big entrepreneurs will buy up more of the media, which could mean fewer real choices for the people of Hong Kong. The reason for the sense of unease in some educated quarters is the fear that they may be about to lose a newspaper of independent opinions and news values, which has remained unmoved by the gale of political change. Activity on the complex interface between newspaper proprietors and the worlds of business and politics has already tarnished newspapers' independent image. And, in this, perception is reality.
In the aftermath of the July 1, 2003 rally, there was speculation the Journal had been tagged as hostile by Beijing and that the central government would act on its game plan to counter democratic forces in the gallery of public opinion. The cold wind that swept across the media and society at large in the rally's aftermath may have eased, but the seismic changes in the city's political and economic landscape since then seem already to have limited the space for critical viewpoints.
It is against this background that the fate of the Journal has generated much interest in political circles. Unconfirmed press reports said former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang had been tipped to sit on an editorial committee for the daily to help assuage fears about its editorial independence under a new boss. She had dismissed this as speculation.
