Jump to content

Headline Daily

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 0101Zhaoh (talk | contribs) at 12:50, 13 October 2005 (add the comparison of the 3 free newspapers in HK). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
File:HeadlineDailyIssue.jpg
"Headline Daily" (Issue: 07/10/2005)
File:HeadlineDailyAd.jpg
An on-wall advertisement for Headline Daily in a subway.

Headline Daily (Traditional Chinese: 頭條日報) is launched as Hong Kong's second free traditional Chinese newspaper, following Metropolis Daily (TC: 都市日報) by Sing Tao News Corporation of Hong Kong. The first issue was published on 12 July, 2005, and the initial editing team had about 20 members only. The initial daily number of publication was 400,000 copies. Claimed to be focusing on meeting the needs of Hong Kong people, letting them to grasp the current topics in Hong Kong with the shortest time, the paper selects the most important news of the day and presents them in a concise and lively manner to the readers. Other than local, national and international headlines, the newspaper also provides news on business, entertainment, lifestyle and sports.

Reason for the launch of the newspaper

According to the Chairman Sing Tao Charles Ho Tsu-Kwok, there was still a lot of room for the development of free newspapers, in terms of content, distribution network and advertising formats. This new free newspaper was launched in a bid to gain a greater share of the territory's advertising market, that is to explore a new source of income of the corporation.

File:First launch.jpg

Daily Distribution

Daily issues are distributed during morning peak hours (07:00-09:30) from Monday to Friday, except on public holidays. It is distributed in more than 600 different places.There are now three fixed distribution media of the papers: Mcdonald's restaurants, KCR stations, Caltex service stations, commercial buildings and 500 residential estates. Moreover the papers are distributed at more than 50 non-fixed spots all around Hong Kong. Readers can obtain a free issue from either a company staff or a newspaper shelf at the distribution spots.

The Newspaper's Target

In terms of readership, the newspaper target readers with high consumption power, especially the working population. With regards to advertisers, it's advertisments are targeted mainly at brand-conscious consumers with high spending power.

Contents

The first publication had 24 pages, within which 5 pages for local news, 4 to 5 pages for entertainment news, 1 to 2 pages for sports,financial, national and international news seperately and 1 page for the timetable of television programme. The remaining pages were for advertisements. Sing Tao chief executive Lo Wing-hung said that Headlind Daily could be increased up to 40 pages if it can attracts more customers. Moreover, the newspaper share news sources with Sing Tao. It also invites readers to submit news articles for publication in return of rewards.

Marketing Strategies

As there are more and more free newspapers coming up into the market and to strive for a market place in newspaper industry, Headline Daily distinct itself by selling gimmick which includes lucky draw, voting games, etc.It tires to be competent by providing new experience to its customers. It once offered a toy called "精華壓力波"(one apple shape pellet which is used for working class to reduce pressure) along with its newspaper to customers. Also it chooses the "happy" lucky reader to have its 500 HKD award by telephone everyday.

Controversies raised

After two days of the first publishing of Headline Daily, Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association (TC:香港報販協會) questioned Headline Daily might affect the business of newspaper hawkers. They said that there was a general drop in newspaper transaction around 10 to 20% due to the free distribution of Headline Daily. However, they pointed out that there might be no rooms in the market for the decrease in price of the newspapers in order to maintain or increase sale.

Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association also indicates that free distribution of Headline Daily outside MTR stations may affect the smoothness of the passageways. The Association suggests Sing Tao News Corporation to improve the way of distribution and request the government to handle the problem seriously.

On the other hand, some criticizers also think that free distribution may lead to greater wastage of paper. One family may have more than one piece of free newspapers, which will be thrown into the dustbin directly.

Besides, the vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Newspaper Hawker Association, Lam, points out that the “price-cutting-competition” ten years ago cause an elimination of some of the “old” newspapers. Lam thinks that if the situation of free distribution of newspaper continues, newspapers from small corporations may be eliminated; citizens’ choice may be getting fewer and fewer.

It claimed on the first day of publishing that "Headline news are important news, and different sections of the newspaper should have headlines.Not only the serious news have headlines, entertainment news also have headlines, let alone love affairs." 「頭條新聞是重要新聞，報紙不同版面都有頭條，不但嚴肅新聞有頭條，娛樂新聞有頭條，即使風花雪月的八卦新聞皆有頭條」 This also raises the controversy on whether Headline Daily is making a good journalism, which requires verification and objectivity rather than exaggerating the facts by making them headlines.

Comparison of the three free newspapers in Hong Kong

Am730 shares a style similar to Metropolis Daily,while the latter one owns the largest amount of advertisements of the three. Headline Daily is more focused on entertainment news with abundant pictures put on.

[3]

See also

Reference

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Headline_Daily&oldid=25429491"