本文探讨报人、报业与社会变迁的关系，并以香港在近五十多年来兴起的三份主要报纸作为研究个案。查良镛在1959年创办《明报》，当时香港报业以政党报及小报为主，香港社会仍颇落后。林行止在1973年成立《信报》，正值香港经济起飞，社会重现视财经信息。黎智英在1995年创立《苹果日报》，打破了报业闷局，但其编采方针又惹来不少争议。此后，三份报纸的路向和发展各异，这均和香港社会不同时期的情况有关。

This article explores the relationships among newspaper owners, news industry and social changes. Three case studies are used to illustrate the changes in the past 50 years. When Louis Cha established Ming Pao in 1959, both the newspaper scene and society in Hong Kong were rather backward. Lam Hang-chi’s Hong Kong Economic Journal was launched in 1973 as the economy of Hong Kong was about to take off. Significant number of citizens then craved for financial news and information. Jimmy Lai put forward Apple Daily in 1995 with the effect of shaking up the established order of the news industry. His editorial policy led to a lot of controversies since then. These three newspapers have had different developments and they are very much related to the social situations at different times.