As Hong Kong’s print media crumbles around our ears due to a lack of advertising revenue, yet another journalism startup has been funded by the public.
FactWire, which is set to become the territory’s first investigative journalism hub, reached its HKD3 million target on FringeBacker on Tuesday, nine days ahead of the 60-day deadline.
More than 2,400 people contributed money for the project which promises to be “truly independent, not swayed by investors, and with no reliance on advertisers”.
The ethos of non-commercial “public service” journalism is similar to that of the Hong Kong Free Press, which launched in June after raising an initial HKD150,000, also through crowd-funding.
FactWire will be headed by veteran Hong Kong journalist Ng Hiu-tung, who previously worked for TVB news and Cable News.
“We are doing this because the community deserves it. We do not seek patronage from investors because FactWire should not be swayed by business whims and preferences, and will never rely on advertisers,” FactWire said in a press release.
They do, however, want your input, not only of more cash by the FringeBacker deadline of Aug. 28, but also to come up with the best Chinese name for the bilingual news agency. An online poll will be launched from the FringeBacker page once the campaign is over.
Photo: Screenshot from FactWire promo vid
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