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Beijing Morning Post
November 20, 2009

The Beijing Morning Post, a daily published by the Beijing Daily Group, underwent a major redesign this week, switching from broadsheet to tabloid format and thoroughly overhauling its content.

Established on July 20, 1998, the Beijing Morning Post was the capital's first commercial morning paper and became the first to print in full color. But in today's newspaper landscape, it has to contend with the much more visible and influential Beijing Youth Daily and The Beijing News without the security of an exclusive distribution deal like the one the Beijing Daily Messenger has with the subway system.

The switch to a smaller format is reportedly intended to make the paper easier for commuters to read.

On today's front page is a photo of Zhang Hui greeting the public after winning his lawsuit against a traffic law enforcement squad in Shanghai's Minhang District Court.

On September 8, Zhang thought he was doing a good deed by giving a ride to a man complaining of stomach pains who flagged him down at the side of the road, but he ended up being slapped with a 10,000 yuan fine for operating an unregistered taxi. Zhang's ordeal turned the attention of the online and offline media onto the local squads' practice of offering rewards to civilians who turned in illegal cabs. Many critics found that the techniques used constituted entrapment.

Although the authorities retracted the fine on October 26, Zhang pressed on with his lawsuit to help other victims gain justice.

Zhang's victory means that the Minhang district traffic enforcement squad will pay his 50-yuan filing fee.