Hong Kong Free Press


Hong Kong Free Press is a free, non-profit news website based in Hong Kong. It was founded by independent journalists in response to concerns over declining press freedom in the territory; to provide an alternative to the dominant English-language news source, the South China Morning Post; and to provide quicker English coverage of local news.
Tom Grundy has been the editor-in-chief since 29 June 2015.
Beginning in late 2015, Chinese authorities blocked access to the site from mainland China. In a 2019 survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKFP was the third most credible online news outlet in Hong Kong with a credibility rating of 5.56 out of 10.

History

Before founding Hong Kong Free Press in 2015, Grundy was a social activist and a blogger. He wrote the blog Hong Wrong and ran the HK Helper's Campaign, a group advocating for rights of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. He and co-director Evan Fowler established HKFP in response to concerns about worsening freedom of the press and media self-censorship in Hong Kong. HKFP also aimed to provide quick news reports with context, which Grundy said Hong Kong's largest English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, does not do.
Crowdfunding for HKFP took place on Fringebacker and aimed to raise $150,000 in a month to support two journalists. The amount was raised in two days and the goal was raised to $500,000. The fundraising campaign concluded in June 2015 with more than $600,000 raised. HKFP recruited more journalists and contributors and established headquarters in the offices of D100 Radio in Cyberport. The full website was launched on 29 June 2015.
In its first year of operation, HKFP published 4,400 news articles and commentaries and had over 3.5 million unique visitors.
HKFP relocated from Cyberport to a co-working space in Kennedy Town in late 2017.
In early 2020, HKFP suspended its coverage for a website relaunch. In the relaunch, HKFP introduced its code of ethics and fact-checking policy and recruited two reporters.

Content

In the long term, HKFP plans to achieve financial sustainability through "continued crowdfunding efforts, advertising and sponsorship events" and by operating with minimal overhead costs. Tom Grundy, a freelance journalist who co-founded the website, stated that the site would "start with simple local news, and investigative pieces about Hong Kong" and that "we have no political agenda. We simply aim to be credible".