Kenneth Lau
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
A financial news and analysis website - offering political, cultural and lifestyle stories as well - will be launched on Friday to fill the void left by the shutdown of House News.
Media commentator and founder Simon Lee Chao-fu said he originally planned to launch Hong Kong Citizens' Media in late October but brought the date forward to fill the void.
"The closure of House News makes it all the more necessary to have a platform for dialogue," Lee told The Standard yesterday.
Lee said he was not worried about either the current tense political atmosphere or insufficient revenue from advertisements, reasons given for the closure of House News.
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He said several advertisers have already promised support if the website is fair.
"Indeed, I am confident, which is why I have started the platform," Lee said, adding he planned to invite several bloggers who lost their columns when House News closed.
Lee said there is demand for prompt and high-quality analysis in the fast flow of market information and people also need a platform to make comments and to enter discussions.
"House News was based on the American online news website Huffington Post model but this one will be based on the model used by the US business and technology news website Business Insider," Lee said.
Business Insider acts as an aggregator of business news and analysis from around the web. It also provides political, cultural and lifestyle news and stories.
The text version of Citizens' Media will be launched first with the video part set up later.
The new media will also have accounts on Facebook and Twitter. A weekly or biweekly printed version of Citizens' Media will be distributed first in Central as a pilot scheme starting from the middle of next month.
Lee and two friends have invested about HK$200,000 in the start-up.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=11&art_id=147810&sid=42703069&con_type=1&d_str=20140729&fc=2
