Updated Tuesday, July 20, 2010
TAKEAWAY: This is a newspaper city, and 17 newspapers go out into heavy traffic each day trying to seduce readers, who line up to get the free newspapers. Look for my HK reports this week.
Front page of the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language daily in Hong Kong
The Standard’s front page: the other English-language daily of Hong Kong, and distributed free
Readers line up at 7 am to get a copy of the free, English-language The Standard
The view outside my window Monday morning in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s colorful broadsheet: Apple Daily
The Hong Kong newspaper scene is definitely a crowded one——so are the streets and highways of this exciting place with the breathtaking views. Not to mention that finding a parking spot here is, well, mostly out of the question.
With 17 newspapers out in the streets each day, the Hong Kong story has plenty of journalists echoing it. Like the city itself, these newspapers represent a large variety of styles, but perhaps none as colorful as the Apple Daily, a broadsheet that sings the high notes of a happy tabloid—-reminiscent of Germany’s Bild Zeitung.
The way newspapers are consumed here could be the envy of editors and publishers in many parts of the world.
Newspaper facts in Hong Kong
Hong Kong population: 7 million
Number of copies of newspapers printed daily: 2.7 million and, as one circulation manager put it to me today, “still growing”.
Free newspapers: 3, with a total of 1.1 million copies printed and distributed
Average time readers spend on their daily newspaper: 40 minutes Monday-Friday (high by global standards)
Language: 88% of the newspapers are published in Chinese, 12% in English
Only two newspapers are published in English—the South China Morning Post, a classic-styled broadsheet—-and The Standard, which is freely distributed along bus and train routes, as well as in the entrance to the heavily populated ferries. See photo of potential readers lining up to get their copy of The Standard. However, as one local editor put it to me, “many of them simply wish to get a copy to recycle it and get money for it. It is big business here.”
Some curious observations
Comic book style: Editors of some of the dailies here, especially the Chinese language ones, are not intimidated by lack of photography to accompany their stories. When photos are not there, they turn to illustrations, for any story, using what I would describe as comic book style for illustratations
It’s all about Hong Kong: With few exceptions, the newspapers here are totally concerned with Hong Kong news, especially murder, violence and mayhem, and have much less interest in what happens in China or the rest of the world.
Luxury in the midst of chaos: While the look of many of the Chinese language dailies is what one would call downmarket, that does not keep the advertising departments from seeling to luxury brands that would never be associated with such publications elsewhere.
As my work brings me here this week, I shall report on my observations and findings.
TheMarioBlog post #596
The value of design for newspapers
Just in case anyone needed to be reminded of this obvious truth, the officers of the Society of News Design put it perfectly well in an open letter that everyone in the business should read then pass on to publishers, CEOs and anyone in charge of looking at how money is spent!
Please read the SND letter and forward the link:
http://www.snd.org/2010/07/the-value-of-design/
TheMarioBlog post #596