A group of journalists concerned at lack of press freedom secured launch funding after just two days

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A crowdfunded online newspaper is to be launched in Hong Kong to combat the lack of diversity and add what the organisers say will be “a truly independent voice”.

To be called Hong Kong Free Press, the free English-language newspaper will have its soft launch in June and start regular publication by 1 July – the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

A group of independent journalists behind the venture says it has had a very enthusiastic response to a crowdfunding appeal to set up the paper.

“Our aim was to raise HK$150,000 [£12,500] in one month in order to start operations. We raised that in two days,” explained Tom Grundy, a freelance journalist and the co-director of the new project.

The crowdfunding, through the Fringe Backer website which specialises in media, charity and arts-related projects, has now entered its second phase, whereby every additional HK$50,000 raised will ensure one more month of publication, said Grundy.

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The aim is to then become sustainable through continued crowdfunding efforts, advertising and sponsorship events.

“We know that none of these can work individually, but we are hoping that by adding them all together, we may last longer,” said Grundy.

With a staff of fewer than a dozen bilingual people, and a strong reliance on the possibilities offered by new information technologies, Hong Kong Free Press plans to operate with very little overhead costs and concentrate on local news.

The project was conceived before last year’s protests for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, but gained greater momentum after the “umbrella revolution” brought tens of thousands of people on to the streets – and sparked a reaction from pro-government forces that has made the issue of censorship and self-censorship all the more acute.

As the denunciations of increased pressure on freedom of the press in Hong Kong have been growing, many independent Chinese language news portals have been trying to gain a foothold in the local media landscape, but nothing has emerged in English so far.

“English being the global lingua franca, we felt that it was important to provide a platform with a diversity of voices. Normally, it takes from six hours to two days for news in the Chinese media to percolate through in English. We want to fill that gap. Even during the Occupy protests it was really tough to find out what was going on on the ground for those who were not fluent in Chinese,” said Grundy, adding that the aim is “to start with simple local news, and investigative pieces about Hong Kong”.

For years, the English-language media landscape has been dominated by one player, the South China Morning Post, founded in 1903 and today controlled by Kerry Group Limited (part of the Kuok Group).

Various attempts over the years at breaking this monopoly have all succumbed to financial pressures, which is one of the main reasons behind the idea of a not-for-profit news outlet.

A number of English-language weeklies, which included at one point prestigious names such as the Far Eastern Economic Review and Asiaweek, have all folded due to earnings judged insufficient by their parent companies.

Hong Kong publications that have a clear pro-democracy editorial line, like the Chinese-language Apple Daily, also suffer from a lack of advertising revenue, as companies keen on doing business with China are discouraged from buying ad space.