Sankei Shimbun

 is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the sixth highest circulation for newspapers in Japan. It is a metropolitan newspaper along with the "Chunichi Shimbun", and was once one of the national newspapers along with the "Yomiuri Shimbun", "Asahi Shimbun", "Mainichi Shimbun", and "the Nikkei".
As of October 2020, it announced it would cease print publication outside Tokyo and the Kansai region.
Corporate profile.
The "Sankei Shimbun" is part of the Fujisankei Communications Group and is 40% owned by Fuji Media Holdings. The company is also the owner of Osaka Broadcasting Corporation (OBC, Radio Osaka).
History.
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The "Sankei Shimbun" was created by the merger of two older newspapers: "Jiji News" and "Nihon Kogyō Shimbun". "Jiji News" was founded in 1882 by author, translator, and journalist Fukuzawa Yukichi, who also founded Keio University. "Nihon Kogyō Shimbun", founded in 1933 by Hisakichi Maeda, specialized in business and was published by the "Minami-OSAKA Shimbun" (the " South Osaka Evening newspaper"). In 1941 "Osaka Shimbun" (renamed from "Minami-Osaka Shimbun") merged with Osaka Jiji shimpō (Jiji-shimpō Osaka edition). The following year, Nihon Kogyō Shimbun merged with other business newspapers in Western Japan, and changed its name to the Sangyō Keizai Shimbun (or the Sankei). In 1955 the "Sankei" merged with "Jiji shimpō." In 1959, the "Sankei" and "Jiji shimpō" were placed under the Sankei Shimbun masthead.
In 1958, the "Sankei" was acquired by Shigeo Mizuno and Nobutaka Shikanai. After financial difficulties, it changed direction from being liberal to being conservative (Tenkō).
In 1959, Mizuno and Shikanai founded Fuji Television
The "Sankei Shimbun" started two online newspapers in 1996: "Sankei Web", in website style, and , in personal digital assistant style. In 2001, the "Sankei Shimbun" started a new electronic newspaper delivery edition, "NEWSVUE". In 2002 the "Sankei Shimbun" merged with Osaka Shimbun. Both editions were placed under the Sankei Shimbun masthead. In 2005 the "Sankei Shimbun" added video to its digital edition, suitable for smartphone, and renamed it as "Sankei NetView". In 2007, the "Sankei Shimbun" started a new online newspaper, "MSN Sankei News", in collaboration with Microsoft.
In 2014 the "Sankei Shimbun" rebranded its online news as "Sankei News."
Political stance.
The "Sankei Shimbun" is a nationalist and conservative newspaper. Some media outlets have called the "Sankei Shimbun" a far-right newspaper.
Controversy.
In August 2014, South Korea filed suit against Sankei for insults against Park Geun-hye, the president of South Korea, and demanded Tatsuya Kato, head of the Seoul Bureau, present himself for questioning. The article was about several rumors about Park during the Sinking of the MV Sewol, referring to Korean news reports. Sankei referred to "Chosun Ilbo"; however, only Sankei was charged with defamation. Sankei was considered an anti-Korean newspaper in Korea. Thus, Japanese media assumed the suit was a warning to Sankei.Kato, who was eventually acquitted of defamation charges in December 2015, was under prosecution without detention for a year and two months. The South Korean court said press freedoms were taken into consideration in arriving at Kato's acquittal. 
In December 2014, the newspaper apologized after running Richard Koshimizu's ad promoting anti-Semitic books.
On February 11, 2015, regular columnist Ayako Sono wrote an opinion piece suggesting that while it will be necessary for Japan to accept more immigrants in order to bolster a decreasing workforce, Japan should take steps to ensure the separation of immigrants in regards to living conditions, citing South African apartheid as an example of how to achieve this goal.