Ordinary Gweilo

Yesterday I rushed out to buy my copy of the new re-designed SCMP, but somehow it has take me until now to find anything to say about.

What’s the point of re-designing a newspaper if you aren’t going to change the contents?  Actually, they haven’t really re-designed it  – all they have done is introduce a new typeface.   

So we still have Hong Kong news in the main paper and then again at the front of the “City” section (if there’s any left).  This was widely criticized as illogical when one of the previous editors introduced it, but somehow it’s still like that.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to have all the news (and sport) in the main paper, and then have a tabloid features section?  Like, for example, The Guardian’s G2 (though this has now shrunk to magazine size since the main paper switched to the compact format).

Not that it seems to matter, as the SCMP seems to be making lots of money for its owners (Ad revenue lifts SCMP profit 37pc – subscription required).  That’s what happens when there’s no competition.

Of course, there was a time about a dozen years ago when Hong Kong had three English-language daily newspapers – The Hong Kong Standard was a rather duller version of the SCMP, and the Eastern Express was quite lightweight (and seemingly very reliant on articles sourced from the Daily Telegraph).  EE didn’t last very long, but the HK Standard has struggled on, briefly becoming the iMail (which was at least a bit livelier) and then The Standard, which is allegedly a business newspaper.  It seems to be painfully thin these days, with local news limited to 4 (tabloid) pages last time I picked it up, and I really can’t see why anyone buys it.

There was talk last year that The Standard might switch to free distribution.  One other possibility that occurs to me is a tie-up with the IHT.  In many other Asian cities, the IHT comes with a local newspaper that supplements its regional and international coverage.  I don’t think they have one in Hong Kong, and The Standard would probably fit the bill.