News

Hong Kong Free Press goes live at noon

Tom GrundyIndependent news website Hong Kong Free Press is to go live at noon today.

The website, which is positioning itself as Hong Kong’s only truly independent English language news source, opens with 180 pieces of content produced over the last three weeks.

HKFP, founded by journalist Tom Grundy, is holding a fundraising launch event on Friday of this week, and has created a video to promote it.

The website has set up a number of new ways to sustain itself commercially: a rolling crowdfunding campaign on Fringebacker.com, the opportunity for its supporters to hold a sponsored event or fundraiser for HKFP, also via FringeBacker.com, and micro-donations accepted via Flattr and Bitcoin.

The site is open to advertisers, initially banner ads and later native advertising and other sponsorship opportunities.

Grundy said in an interview with Mumbrella recently that the site’s speed in getting independent, balanced news out in English, and the absence of a paywall, would give it an edge.

“To get an understanding of breaking news in English in Hong Kong, we have to wait for up to six hours or sometimes two days to truly understand what’s going on. We plan to get stories out in English faster than Hong Kong is used to,” he said.

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