Headline Daily

Headline Daily was launched on July 12, 2005 by Sing Tao Newspaper Group Limited and became the second free Chinese newspaper published officially in Hong Kong . The paper is only distributed on weekdays and is aimed at the working class. The estimated average daily circulation of the paper is around 500,000. The paper provides local and international news as well as articles on business news, entertainment, lifestyle and sports.

Reasons for the launch of the newspaper

The newspaper was launched as the Chairman of , Charles Ho Tsu Kwok, felt there was room for the further development of free newspapers in Hong Kong in terms of content, distribution network and advertising formats.

The pace of life in Hong Kong is so fast and people are so busy that ''Headline Daily'' was established to meet the people's needs by providing them with first-hand information on the hottest daily topics in a manner as concise and lively as possible, while attempting to portray a "positive" and "lively" image to readers.

In terms of market competition, the ''Headline Daily'' was also launched in a bid to gain a greater market share of the territory's for and to explore a new source of income for the corporation.

Distribution

Daily issues are distributed during morning peak hours from Monday to Friday, except on . It is distributed in more than 600 different places, among which there are now three fixed distribution media: , , and nearly 500 residential estates. Moreover, the papers are distributed at more than 100 fixed or non-fixed spots, including commercial buildings, bus/mini-bus stops and shopping malls all around Hong Kong. Readers may simply get a free issue from the eye-catching red shelfs at most locations or from the staff at certain locations.

Readership

The newspaper targets the working population, who are usually too busy to read a large number of pages nor to read every piece of news in detail. However, these people are likely to grasp every chance to read newspapers for a short period when travelling or having breakfast.

In August 2005, a market research survey was conducted by , comparing the readership of 3 free newspapers in Hong Kong. The result shows that in the first three weeks of August, ''Metropolis Daily'', ''Headline Daily'' and ''am730'' respectively achieved 16%, 18% and 8% of the market shares. ''Headline Daily'' gains the leading readership of 893,000, compared with ''Metropolis Daily's'' 820,000 and ''am730's'' 401,000.

Contents

"Headline Daily" shares news sources with the ''Sing Tao Daily''.
The paper aims to present the most important news of the day in a concise way so as to provide readers with up-to-date, yet comprehensive, news and information on different areas in a short read. It usually has around 24 to 30 pages and has a layout similar to the following formats:

*Headlines
*Local Mews
*China News
*International news
*Financial news
*Sports news
*Lifestyle
*Entertainment
*The remaining pages are used for advertisements.


In a comment by Sing Tao chief executive Lo Wing-hung, he claimed that the average number of pages could be increased to 40 pages if its readership increases significantly over time. However, so far, more than three months after the first publication, the newspaper only consists of around 24 pages on the average.

Marketing strategies

As more and more free newspapers are appearing to fight for room in the local newspaper market, ''Headline Daily'' distinguishes itself by bringing new experiences to its readers. It tries to be competitive by implementing marketing strategies to attract readers' interest, such as:

* ''"lucky draws"'' & ''""''

* ''"apple-shaped pellet"'': a , which working class readers can use to relax themselves and relieve their stress, was once offered to readers along with their newspaper

* ''"happy lucky reader"'': one reader is randomly-chosen in public areas and awarded HK$500 on a daily basis

Moreover, to extend the market to overseas, a softcopy version ''Headline Daily'' is made accessible on line.

Public relations

In order to build up a good relationship with readers, ''Headline Daily'' invites readers to submit news articles for publication in return for rewards as a sign of its cooperation with the public. According to the , readers can become reporters for ''Headline Daily'' by handing in any information. While this information should be deemed to be news-worthy, other guidelines are provided on what type of news should be submitted. Particularly, the paper states that it has no interest in collecting any commentaries from the public. Meanwhile, the usage of any material submitted is solely dependent on the newspaper's discretion. The paper rewards any readers whose materials are published or utilized with a one-time sum of $100, regardless of how many times the paper utilizes these pieces of news.

Controversies raised

Professionalism of the free press

On the first day of its publication, ''Headline Daily'' claimed that "Headline news is important news, and different sections of the newspaper should have headlines. Not only the serious news has headlines, but also for entertainment news, let alone love affairs." This statement raised a controversy on whether ''Headline Daily'' is providing good journalism, which requires verification and objectivity rather than exaggerating the facts by making them headlines.

Reduction of newspaper hawkers’ income

Two days after the first publication of ''Headline Daily'', the Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association accused ''Headline Daily'' of having an adverse impact on the business of newspaper hawkers. They claimed that the free distribution of ''Headline Daily'' had resulted in a general drop in newspaper transactions of around 10% to 20%.

Effect on price and selling of the current newspapers

In addition, the Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association pointed out that under the current market conditions, it might be infeasible to decrease the prices of newspapers in order to maintain or increase their sales. Subsequently, they claimed to have considered taking ''Sing Tao Daily'' off their shelves in order to counter the threat posed by it.

On another front, the vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association, Lam, gave an example of the impact. Ten years ago, an ice-cutting competition which was initiated by ''Apple Daily'' had resulted in the elimination of several old-fashioned newspapers. Drawing a parallel with that phenomenon, Lam speculated that if the current situation of free distribution of newspapers continued, newspapers run by small corporations might eventually be eliminated. This might in turn result in the undesirable situation of reducing choice for newspaper readers.

Three months after the launch of ''Headline Daily'', ''The Sun Daily'' was the first newspaper that initiated a price-cutting campaign as a response. On October 19, 2005, The Oriental Daily Group followed suit by cutting down the price of ''The Sun Daily'' to 50% from $6 to $3.

After the launch of the two new free papers, ''Sing Tao Daily's'' advertising revenue dropped by 12% in August , while ''Ming Pao Daily News'' and ''Sing Pao Daily News'' also suffered from a reduction in advertising revenues of 7% and 5% respectively.

Nevertheless, research figures indicate that the majority of free newspaper readers are 'new' readers or readers of both paid and free papers. The research concludes that even though the launch of free newspapers seems to have a negative causal effect on single copy sales of paid newspapers, the overall effect on readership and choices of newspapers might not be detrimental.

Also, it is suggested that readers who buy a paper everyday for its style and reputation are unlikely to change. Free newspapers would only lead to the repositioning or position enhancement of an individual newspaper. Free newspapers focus on the low-end market, while the priced newspapers target the middle-income class and professionals.

An obstacle to human traffic

The Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association suggested that the free distribution of ''Headline Daily'' outside MTR stations might affect the smoothness of human flow along the passageways. The Association suggested that Sing Tao News Corporation should improve the method of distribution and requested the government to interfere and deal with the problem seriously.

Environmental problems

Moreover, some critics also think that free distribution may lead to greater wastage of paper. For example, a family with a few sets of free newspapers might end up throwing all of them into the dustbin directly without using them for other purposes as they did not pay for the newspapers. According to Friends of the Earth, on average, only 32% of newspaper-readers will dump their unwanted newspapers into recycle boxes. Since there are 500,000 issues of ''Headline Daily'' published every Monday to Friday, the wastage of paper and disposal problems may contribute significantly to the worsening of Hong Kong's pollution.

Articles

*'''' - ''The Standard'', Mark Lee.
*''''- ''The Standard'', Wong Ka-chun.
*'''' - '''', Frederick Yeung.
*'''' - ''Asia Review'', James Borton.
*'''' - ''JINN'', Coral Hui.

Eastern Express

Eastern Express was an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, started by the Oriental Daily group in 1994.

It was the third English language daily in the territory . The editor at its founding was Stephen Vines and the operation included two dozen reporters, mainly veterans of the ''South China Morning Post'' , The Standard and the ''Far Eastern Economic Review''.

Stephen Vines boasted openly about the salaries paid at the Eastern Express, which at HK$25,000 a month for a news sub-editor were very much above the industry standard of the time. Staff also enjoyed a private bar and other comforts. On the territory's TVB News programme, Vines stated: "If you pay peanuts, you tend to get monkeys".

The newspaper concentrated on large, high-quality photographs, witty headlines, amusing features by accomplished journalists such as the Australian Jason Gagliardi and a controversial, even argumentative stance on public affairs in columns such as "Dystopia". In this, Liam Fitzpatrick would accuse various civic leaders of being "misguided" or "sociopathic". It put its support firmly behind pro-democracy activists such as Martin Lee and Szeto Wah and against the emergent cadre of pro-China businessmen. It also criticised anti-British gestures such as the banning of the BBC channel from Robert Kuok's Star TV . This was in stark contrast to the SCMP and Standard, which had become somewhat circumspect in their criticism of China in the runup to the end of British sovereignty on June 31, 1997.

Although the newspaper's sleek design and editorial boldness quickly made a favourable impression among expatriates and gained the second-largest newsstand sales, it was not able to gain a significant share of the market. The SCMP at this time was one of the wealthiest newspapers in the world, mostly because of its Saturday classifieds section which often ran to 300 pages. The English-speaking Chinese readership, moreover, remained loyal to the SCMP. The Eastern Express closed operations suddenly at the end of 1996.

Chinese Serial

Chinese Serial was the first newspaper in Hong Kong, since the Treaty of Nanjing. Founded in August 1853 and published by Ying Wa College in binding-book style, it introduced Western history, geography and sciences to Chinese readers, as well as reporting the latest news in China and the West. The paper was written mainly in Chinese, although some stories were in English. The paper is the first Chinese newspaper to have s.

Walter Henry Medhurst, a London-born missionary to China, was the first editor-in-chief of the paper. The publication terminated in May 1856 as Medhurst's successor James Legge, the then principal of Ying Wa College, was occupied by school management.

A complete facsimile edition of the paper has been published in 2006.

Studies

* 松浦章，內田慶市，沈国威，『遐邇貫珍の研究』，吹田市: 関西大学出版部，平成16 .

Career Times

Career Times, an -language recruitment weekly for business executives, has been published by Hong Kong Economic Times Limited every Friday since 1997. With an average weekly circulation of 210,000 copies, it is currently the market leader in quality job postings especially in the Banking & Finance, Engineering, Information Technology, Merchandising and Sales sectors.

Careertimes.com.hk, the online version of Career Times was launched in 1999 as an alternative recruitment and information portal for jobseekers and human resources professionals. It offers full editorial contents in sync with Career Times, including recruitment related information, self-improvement, industry insights, exclusive interviews and many more. With more than 435,000 members, 673,000 daily page views and thousands of corporate openings, careertimes.com.hk has come a long way and become one of the leading recruitment portals in Hong Kong.

Apple Daily

''This article is about the Hong Kong version of the newspaper. For the Taiwan version of the newspaper, see Apple Daily ''

Apple Daily is a Hong-Kong-based newspaper that was founded by in 1995 and is by its company, Next Media. A sister publication carrying the same name is published in Taiwan under a joint venture in Taiwan between Next Media and other companies. The publications take an unrelenting stance of economic and political freedom, as a consequence the publications are banned in China and websites blocked by the great firewall of China.

''Apple Daily'''s main sections include "Local News", "Foreign News", "Finance", "Entertainment", "Sports" and "Others"—including technology, travel, eating, cooking, fashion and more provocative material generating much of its popularity and controversy. Apple Daily's popularity as Hong Kong's second best selling newspaper, according to AC Nielsen, is derived from its concentration on celebrity coverage, brash news style, sensationalist news reportage and its anti-government political positions.

Its founder brainstormed the name of this newspaper, stating that "if Adam and Eve didn't eat the apple, there would be no evil or wrongdoings in this world, which made news a non-existing term".

History

Apple Daily was founded by Jimmy Lai Chee Ying on June 20, 1995. Unlike newspapers at that time, it used colour printing on all pages of the newspaper and didn't allow advertisements covering the complete frontpage. Since then, it attracted a large amount of readership. Other newspapers followed its suit and a few were forced to close due to intense competition by Apple Daily.

The newspaper uncovered many political scandals, including a former member for not reporting conflict of interest in 2000, former Financial Secretary Antony Leung for tax evasion on a which saved him HK$50,000 , and many others, which caused those individuals went into jail or forced to resign.

Just prior to July 1, 2003, the newspaper encouraged people to go on the street and protest against the government. On that day of protest, it prepared banners and newspaper front pages for the public to carry and protest. The 2003 protest drew 500,000 citizens to the Hong Kong July 1 marches. Since then, it was viewed as the newspaper that helped carried the message of protest against the government.

Others

David Tang, ''bon vivant'' and founder of Shanghai Tang writes a weekly column for Apple Daily in English, a selection which were published in book as An Apple a Week.

In September, 2003, veteran columnist To Kit joined the newspaper, and publishes his daily column "The Golden Adventure" and a weekly editorial called "Sunday Rest" at the newspaper.

Popular food critic, travel writer and former movie producer Chua Lam writes a regular column for the newspaper.

Popular writer/doctor Au Lok Man also writes articles for the newspaper's leisure section on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Am730

am730, operated by AM730 Media Limited, is the third newspaper in Hong Kong, the prior two being ''Headline Daily'' and ''Metropolis Daily''. Shih Wing-ching, chairman of the ''Centaline Holdings'' property agency, is the founder of the newspaper. Shih introduced the new paper due to the unprecedented success of ''Metropolis Daily'', the pioneer in this market. ''Metropolis Daily'' was founded in 2002, and was so successful that it broke even in only fourteen months. Realising the profitability of the market, Shih established ''am730'' in late July 2005

Shih believes free newspapers have become a worldwide trend that will gain more and more market share. He agrees that free newspapers will in the near future become the way people are informed about daily events around the world, as a free newspaper avoids the conflict of interest which exists between the for-pay newspapers and their readers. As the primary income of a free newspaper is the advertisements and the income of those who advertise comes from the readers, this suggests that a newspaper's mostly valuable asset should be its readers; thus, readers should not be charged for the news.

Overview

am730 launched its first publication on July 30, 2005. Initially, ''am730'' was scheduled to be launched in September, but it was re-scheduled to July 30th for two primary reasons. First, it intends to keep up with one of its competitors, ''Headline Daily'', which was launched on July 12, 2005. Second is the convenient coincidence that the date of July 30th corresponds with the name of the newspaper. Two hundred thousand copies of ''am730'' were issued at its first publication and its current volume is around three hundred thousand copies daily.

The name of the newspaper is intended to suggest a fresh approach towards the methodology of naming newspapers. It does not incorporate the term "daily" because this word reflects the conventional way of naming a news journal. The name literally states the newspaper's aim to distribute the publication during rush hour, which is approximately 7:30am.

According to Shih, the newspaper is tailored to young people. 7:30am is about when the sun rises; it signals vitality, just like the young people who are at the start of a long journey through life. It is a new vision aimed to change the old quality of Hong Kong newspapers. In its first week, ''am730'' sold one hundred thousand copies. Eventually, it aims to increase circulation to three hundred thousand copies, which is similar to the other two free newspapers

Language and style

''am730'' tends to adopt internet slang and other expressions which are widely used on the Internet and popular among youth. The newspaper official says it is advisable to use internet slang and does not think that colloquial expressions in newspaper articles will affect young people's language proficiency. What is more crucial is using popular language to convey messages. ''am730'' intends to offer a fresh sensation in news to its readers; it aims to widen the horizon of its readers, both internationally and culturally, and to promote an optimistic outlook on life and hopes for the future.

While being consistent with market regulations, ''am730'' is a real newspaper which offers more attention to principles. Unlike numerous other newspapers, ''am730'' is against the idea of indecent news as the selling point. It wants to provide a newspaper with accurate, simple news reports targeted to youth who have just begun their careers. The fresh, youthful style of ''am730'' is designed to encourage more young people to read newspapers. Shih hopes that through this free newspaper, young people in Hong Kong will cultivate a greater interest in the news and in the future of Hong Kong.

''Headline Daily'', a newspaper which belongs to ''Sing Tao'', is the primary competition for ''am730''. Shih admits that ''Headline Daily'' has more resources than the privately investigated ''am730'' because of its attachment to ''Sing Tao Daily'', but that dependence on Sing Tao would harm the independence of its organization.

Contents

In many ways, ''am730'' is similar to a traditional newspaper. Like most newspapers, the contents of the paper include local, China, international, financial, entertainment and sports news. Additionally, Shih Wing Ching writes a column called "C Viewpoint" in which he gives his daily commentary on local or international news. "730 Angle" is also a commentary column, but for people from all walks of life. Differing opinions are welcome for critical discussions. Moreover, "Snapshot Hong Kong" is a column which cold-contacts youngsters on the street to ask their opinions. Hence, there is no doubt that the major target of ''am730'' is the young working class and it defines itself as a youth publication in the newspaper market. The reason for this, in Shih's own words, is because young people are full of hope: "Local papers follow the view in that they will only report bad things, as if there is no hope in this world, yet hope is what young people mostly need." The design and layout of the paper are colourful and appealing.

The detailed layout of the newspaper is as follows:

*Front page
The lead story of the day occupies almost the entire page of the paper, filled in with colourful illustrations. The other stories vary from local top stories to China and international news.

Similar to a traditional newspaper, on the left corner is a column which briefly highlights the news of secondary importance that is available inside the paper. The highlights vary, including local, China, international, entertainment and sport news. At the bottom of the column is a display of the Mark Six results.



*Local
Typically, around three to four pages are allocated to the local news section. More important news such as politics and policies are reported in greater length than city news such as accidents and events. To maximise space usage, even the banner at the top of the page is used to cover brief news accounts. Shih's personal column, "C Viewpoint," can also be found in this section.

There is also a column for weather forecasts for local, China and international locations. The banner of this section is sky-blue in colour.

*China
News from China and related to China's interests takes up about one to two pages of the paper. The banner colour of this section is khaki.

*International
The international section covers major news around the world. The banner colour of this section is dark blue.

*Features
When this section appears, it is placed in the middle of the paper and covers two pages, but it is not always printed. At times, the middle pages are occupied by a full-page advertisement. Feature stories, when available, offer in-depth reports and analysis.

*Finance
This is a short, concise one-page section on financial and business news, both locally and on the international arena. The banner colour of this section is dark green.

*Sports
The Sports section covers both the local and the international sports scene. On average it provides a scoreboard summary of final scores and, on occasion, a brief schedule of live sports coverage on television. The banner colour of this section is light green.

*I.T.
The section is dedicated to news of advancement and electronic products, including mobile phones, computers, television and much more. Not to be missed is news of the Internet and recommended websites. The banner colour of this section is light green.

*Notes
The Notes section usually offers articles of interesting, sometimes absurd events happening around the world. The banner colour of this section is purple.

*OL and Health
This section is dedicated to young working women, similar to those offered in popular women's magazines. Besides tips and advice on women's health and beauty, there is also a section dedicated to relationship advice for women readers with personal problems. The banner colour of this section is pink.

*Entertainment
This section offers entertainment news regarding celebrities, music and movies. There are usually two pages dedicated to this section. One page focuses on local Hong Kong celebrities, while the other covers international celebrities. There are occasional extras in this section such as movie reviews and basic introductions of a foreign language. The banner colour of this section is mustard yellow.

*Readers
"730 Angle" offers letters and readers' opinions on various issues. There is also a small section on events and book reviews. On the right hand corner is a "snapshot" section dedicated to teen fashion and trends, including the mobile phones they use.

*Leisure
This section that relates tips and overviews of leisure activities. Generally this section contains comics, western horoscopes, predictions of the future, and cooking tips and recipes.

*Television
This section provides a selected schedule of programmes offered on both local and cable television. At the bottom section, there is a review of some recommended programs. Last but not least are the credits of the editorial team as well as a list of contacts for the newspaper.

*Back page
The back page of the paper is typically occupied by a full-page advertisement.

Generally, the news accounts presented are brief and limited, due at least in part to space limitations. As ''am730'' is a free newspaper, the operating cost largely depends on the advertisement revenue. A full-page advertisement appears on every other page, mainly placed between the local news section and the finance section. Smaller advertisements are scattered throughout the newspaper. Nevertheless, the newspaper remains an effective and rapid way to inform commuters about current issues in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

Editorial team

Currently, the editorial team consists of 50 people. The key players of the team are :

*President: Alan Lo
*Vice President: Danny Fung and Ricky Lo
*Sales and Marketing Director: Ray Lee
*Associate Managing Editor: Dominic Leung
*Marketing Manager: Agnes Chen
*Chief Reporter: Kenneth Dai
*General Chief Reporter: Ray Tsang
*Photography Director: Edmond Wong
*Arts Director: Spring Kwok

Shih once said that ''am730'' would only be a success depending on the efforts of the staff. If the revenue and expenditures could be balanced within the first year, Shih promised he would pay his staff seven more months of salary.

Distribution points

''am370'' is widely distributed from Mondays to Fridays at around 287 locations. Distribution locations include railway stations along the and , the entrances of Mass Transit Railway stations, private residential areas, and many points in the Central business district .

Due to limited human resources and the specific target group of ''am730'', early distribution points were not as efficient. Its main focus is now in the commercial districts of Hong Kong such as , Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Operation Cost

The initial launch of the newspaper cost up to HK$100 million. It was Shih's private investment. At the first stage, working capital was just HK$50 million; another HK$50 million will be invested if the operation proves successful. Shih Wing-ching expects that revenue and expenditures will be balanced after a year of publication.

As a free newspaper, the major operational revenue is gained from advertisements. After the first month of publication, the revenue gained from commercial advertisements was HK$100 million while ''am730'' still needed to bear HK$100 million to HK$200 million in losses everyday. The advertising rates in ''am730'' are estimated to be HK$24,000 - HK$30,000, 30% to 40% lower than ''Metropolis Daily'''s rates of HK$32,000 to HK$40,000. This is a strategic action to attract more advertisements.

Other Services

Online papers

''am730'' is also easily accessible online for the IT-savvy public. Besides viewing the most recent issue, readers can also view archived issues of ''am730'' online. The is formatted in such a way that it resembles the actual printed paper.

Club 730

''Club 730'' invites its readers to become involved with activities organized by the newspaper. Membership in this club gives the readers special benefits and privileges. It also cultivates brand loyalty among the readers. The application form for ''Club 730'' can be downloaded from the ''am730'' official website; membership cards will be delivered around two weeks after submitting the form. Members enjoy benefits like shopping discounts and will be invited to join exclusive activities organized by ''am730''.

Other special offers

''am730'' frequently offers free coupons. Readers can enjoy special offers by cutting the coupons published in the paper. One example was the ''Delifrance'' tea set offer on October 10th, 2005.

Impact of ''am730''

According to Shih, free newspapers represent the future trend of print news because they avoid conflict between readers and newspapers. The fact that ''am730'' is convenient and free of charge has attracted a large group of readers away from the conventional newspapers. Besides the advantages of large circulation and a large group of readers, free newspapers attract many advertisers. According to a survey, ''Metropolis Daily'' advertisements ranked 6th in Hong Kong newspapers. It has thus become a big challenge for traditional newspapers to keep up with free newspapers. Starting October 19th, 2005, '''', one of the newspapers under the Oriental Press Group Limited, cut the retail price for each paper to HK$3. It is believed to be responding to the emerging competition brought up by free newspapers. Other newspaper press groups declared they would not follow this action, but would closely monitor the situation.

With the emergence of ''Headline Daily'' and ''am730'' into Hong Kong's print media industry in July 2005, the competition among the numerous newspapers is becoming increasingly stiff and unhealthy. In fact, the existence of free circulated tabloids in general can be seen as a form of "self killing" in the industry, in which free tabloids are "killing off" the traditional broadsheets in terms of readership and advertising revenue. Besides this, the saturated market of three free tabloids in Hong Kong can also result in non-profitability for weaker competitors.

Another effect of the entry of ''am730'' and other free tabloids into the market will be on the advertising revenue for traditional broadsheets. Being highly dependent on advertising revenue, traditional broadsheets now face intense competition from free tabloids that are also dependent on advertising revenue as a primary source for their survival. A major advantage of ''am730'' is its easy accessibility to its readers. This means that despite higher advertising charges, companies might be willing to advertise in these papers to guarantee a higher exposure level for their products.

There are 3 main Chinese free newspapers and millions of copies are issued every day . In a survey conducted by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong in July 2005, by interviewing 1006 residents, 60% to 65% reported they had taken free newspapers, but 48.7% would throw the newspaper into rubbish bins instead of a recycle box. This practice is not only creating waste, but is also causing damage to the natural environment; for every metric ton of paper used, 17 trees are brought down and 1,500 litres of fuel oil are consumed.

Readership

A survey on Hong Kong free tabloid readership by Synovate, a leading research company, was conducted between 1 August 2005 and 21 August 2005. ''Metro Daily'', ''Headline Daily'' and ''am730'' have 16%, 18% and 8% of the total market share, respectively. From these figures, one can see that ''am730'', with a low circulation of around 260,000 in comparison with the other two tabloids, is performing reasonably well for a starter.

Demographics

*Target readers
''am730'' aims at expanding the readership of the young working class. With its primary target of readers in the younger demographic range, ''am730'' has achieved its target; 65% of its readers are below 45 years of age, according to the survey. This could be seen as an achievement for the free tabloids whose professed aim is to raise awareness of current issues for the politically apathetic younger generation.

*Occupation
''am730'' is able to get a majority of its readers from the full-time working class, accounting for 81% of its readership according to the survey. This proves that the distribution of papers at railway stations does help in gaining accessibility to working class readers who commonly use public transportation.

Also, ''am730'' has a low readership from people in managerial positions, according to the survey. This is also true for other free tabloids. Generally, the percentage of professionals reading free tabloids only made up 7% of the total readership. In making their stories short and brief, ''am730'' and other tabloids are definitely seen as lacking depth among higher-educated individuals.

Newspaper vendors are upset because of falling sales in traditional newspapers, which directly harms their income. Hence, the vendors are seeking a deal with publishers of free newspapers to distribute the papers for a fee, and threaten to mount a noisy campaign if their requests are denied.

Wen Wei Po

Wen Wei Po is a Hong Kong-based Chinese language newspaper, which was first established in Shanghai in January 1938; its Hong Kong version was launched on September 9, 1948.

The publishing of ''Wen Wei Po'' aims at supporting the ''New China'', that is the People's Republic of China and delivering the latest development of the Mainland to readers, especially that of the recent 20 years. A rare exception was the 1989 editorial board openly objected the use of force in 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, and as a consequence the editorial was replaced shortly thereafter.

Apart from this, ''Wen Wei Po'' also delivers the latest news and development of Hong Kong in all aspects, with comments and editorials on these issues.

''Wen Wei Po'' is an officially recognized newspaper for publishing legal advertisements under the direction of the government of .

Content

''Wen Wei Po'' has around 48 pages everyday and a variety of sections, including news, sports and entertainment. Compared with other newspapers in Hong Kong, it has more coverage of mainland China's politics, economy, society, education and culture, but fewer entertainment or human interest stories. Recently the newspaper has started sending journalists to gather news about PRC leaders' visits around China.

Space and military news

The ''Wenhui Journal'' is known to periodicaly leak first hand informations about the PRC's and military build up. Typical examples are the advanced launch date of the mission, information revealed on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the journal's establishment, or aircraft carrier program.

In this regard, the ''Wenhui Journal'' shares the privilege of been provided with exclusive high-tech news with newsgroups targeting the same readership such as the Hong Kong '''' （《大公报》） or the ''Beijing Youth Daily'' （《北京青年报》）.

Market/Target

''Wen Wei Po'' is authorized for distribution in Macau and mainland China. Tourists can get copies of ''Wen Wei Po'' easily from hotels in large cities of the mainland. ''Wen Wei Po'' has a greater circulation in the mainland than in Hong Kong.

As one of the most popular Hong Kong newspapers in the mainland, ''Wen Wei Po'' publishes a lot of advertisements from enterprises of different cities in the mainland. Even for the online version, there are a lot of mainland advertisements, and the newspaper's advertisement revenue is mainly supported by the mainland China market.

Style

''Wen Wei Po'' is regarded as a newspaper which is pro- Communist Party of China and the People's Republic of China government. Consequently, the reports are mainly on the "brighter" and the more positive side of China.

The paper is also considered as a "cleaner" paper as it includes fewer sensational reports and bloody pictures. Its reports on issues other than politics and China are considered as more reliable.

Credibility

The credility of ''Wen Wei Po'' can be shown in the survey conducted by the Department of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, entitled "Press Freedom and Political Transition in Hong Kong:A Summary of the Hong Kong Journalist Survey 1996". ''Wen Wei Po'' gained a mean of 4.68 mark, where the maximum mark is 10, among local media organizations.

''Press Freedom and Political Transition in Hong Kong:A Summary of the Hong Kong Journalist Survey 1996'':
*http://www.cuhk.hk/97event/research/renglish.html

Wen Wei Po in the world

Its 33 official agencies in the mainland, including Beijing, Shanghai and Yunnan, help the paper gather news in the mainland and establish relationships with local officials/advertisers. It also has correspondents in major cities in the world, such as Tokyo, London and New York.

''Wen Wei Po'' has 5 overseas editions. The latest edition is the Philippines edition, which was established in Manila on October 8, 2003. The other overseas editions are published in San Francisco , USA, Jakarta in Indonesia, Toronto in Canada and Bangkok in Thailand. It also has a European edition and a flight edition.

DVD Archives of ''Wen Wei Po''

''Wen Wei Po'' distributes a set of 13 DVD which contains all the content, including text, graphs and photographs of the newspaper in the period 1939-1998. Users can search the information they want by keywords.

Shanghai Wen Hui Bao

The Shanghai ''Wen Hui Bao'', with the same Chinese name 文汇报, is another newspaper and independent from the Hong Kong ''Wen Wei Po''. In 1997, ''Wen Hui Bao'' merged with the ''Shanghai Xinmin Evening News'' to form Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group ; the hearsay has been the fact that the former was in need of financial assistance.

''Shanghai Xinmin Evening News'' is the most popular evening post in China which has a huge market share. Shanghai ''Wen Hui Bao'', as an official newspaper in Shanghai which often contained conservative and dull ideas, had lost many of its readers. As a result, these two newspapers combined together under economic considerations, with a backdown of political considerations. Hong Kong ''Wen Wei Po'' has a different management team and does not belong to Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group.