Financial portal E-finet.com plans to launch a free Chinese-language newspaper early next month, stirring up a media market already reeling from savage competition and the arrival of the Internet.
The four-colour tabloid, to be called CN Markets Express, is to hit the streets at 6pm every trading day. It will carry eight pages of financial news and analysis written by the Web site's existing team of 22 journalists and eight securities analysts.
Hong Kong's newspaper market has seen price wars, circulation scandals and lay-offs in recent years, with more than one paper forced to print its last edition.
Finet Online news director Ken Lee Kin-man said: 'Everyone knows the Chinese-language newspaper business is cut-throat. So why do we want to go there? We have long-term aspirations to be multimedia.' Web sites seek to distinguish themselves with fancy graphics, audio, live Webcasts and interactive video. Traditional media outlets are rushing on to the Web in order to avoid being left behind as newspaper readers and television watchers spend more time online.
But the most forward-looking in both new-media and old-media camps are preparing for the not-too-distant day when Internet access is available through a variety of appliances, from mobile phones to palm-held devices to digital TVs.
That is why Finet Online's move into a traditional media format is unusual.
