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| December 1999 Finding Raindrops in the Sahara Cultural Magazines Struggle to Survive There are at least 600 magazines in Hong Kong. However, with the demise of cultural magazines like Breakthrough and Xpression. Hong Kong's market has lost some of its diversity. But publishers are still optimistic and new magazines have come rushing in. By Ritly Ma Wandering around newsstands, it is not difficult to find magazines about gossip, fashion and automobiles. However, cultural magazines are always out of sight. Xpression was a government-aided cultural magazine that published in-depth cultural news and critiques. The magazine has been terminated, its sponsorship from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council having expired. Mr. Leung Man Tao, chief editor of Xpression, said that the unpopularity of the cultural magazines was related to the nature of the market. Said Mr. Leung: “The local magazine market is not diversified enough. It gives little space for the survival of cultural magazines. “Readers usually prefer popular cultural magazines. They do not accept any alternative.” According to Mr. Leung, there are many problems that publishers face in running cultural magazines. And the lack of professional writers in Hong Kong is one of them. Said he: “Not only is it difficult in attracting readers, but also in recruiting professional writers.” Mr. Leung said that his team had considered doing in-depth and original reports on controversial issues. However, they had to give up the idea as their manpower was too limited. For example, Xpression had planned to analyze what human hands can do in dances, dramas and drawings, but they finally gave up as they could not find suitable writers to write about the topic. Besides the difficulty in finding professional writers, inadequate funding is another problem that cultural magazines are facing. In Taiwan and the United States, it is common for big companies and tycoons to sponsor arts and cultural activities. However, according to Mr. Daniel Ge, one of the founders of a new cross-cultural magazine called Tofu, such kinds of sponsorship are hard to find in Hong Kong. Explained Mr. Ge: “Even if there are some companies who are willing to sponsor us, we may not accept them as we only want sponsors that fit the style of our magazine. “In fact, it is quite hard for us to find sponsors. We tried to apply for funding from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, but they refused to sponsor us.” The Hong Kong Arts Development Council does sponsor cultural magazines. However, its sponsorship has many constraints. The one that raises the most controversy is the “impartiality principle”. This means the sponsorship is one-off, as the Hong Kong Arts Development Council wants to be fair to other applicants. Xpression chief editor Mr. Leung said the policy is actually not fair. He said, “No matter how great our job is, the sponsorship contract ends after a period of time. The sponsorship won’t be continued.” Mr. Leung added that the Hong Kong Arts Development Council expects cultural magazines to become financially independent after the sponsorship contract is ended. However, he said that if a magazine has to rely on sponsorship in the beginning already, it is almost impossible for it to make a profit after the contract is over. Mr. Ma Kwok Ming, a commentator on cultural issues, also agreed that the sponsorship span is too short. He said that a magazine could not survive if it did not have enough time to gain market recognition. According to Mr. Ma, a cultural magazine takes at least 2 years to develop its own readership. This means that if a cultural magazine is not sponsored for 2 years, the magazine will probably be unable to survive afterwards. However, getting sponsorship may also mean trouble, especially when the sponsorship comes from commercial sectors. According to Mr. Leung, the marketing and distribution strategies of Xpression were greatly influenced by a local daily newspaper. He said that as some copies of Xpression were distributed with the newspaper, the newspaper required Xpression to have the same advertising rate as theirs. The newspaper also refused to put copies of Xpression in certain popular bookstores which are the best channel to promote the magazine. In fact, not only sponsors from commercial sectors will influence the running of cultural magazines. Some editors suspect that the Hong Kong Arts Development Council also puts pressure on the magazines they sponsor. For example, Mr. Leung, chief editor of Xpression, said he believed the heavy criticism they made of the government’s cultural policies were the main reason for the termination of their sponsorship. He said, “The council’s explanation of the termination is not logical. Some staff said Xpression is too alternative, while some said it is too conventional.” Mr. Leung also said, “We are attacking decision-makers in the hierarchy when we criticize cultural policies of the government. “And those decision makers are the ones who have the say on whether the sponsorship contract will be renewed.” But the Hong Kong Arts Development Council has not stopped sponsoring cultural magazines. In fact, it is planning to sponsor a new magazine that includes both print and electronic versions. However, the council requires that policy commentary should not be more than one-third of the magazine’s content. This makes people suspect that the Hong Kong Arts Development Council will practice censorship on the new magazine. Mr. Leung of Xpression magazine said, “I have a feeling that this rule is specially set up to warn those who want to create another Xpression.” Ms. Harina Tang, the corporate affairs executive officer of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, refused to comment on this issue as it is now at critical moment in deciding on the proposal of the new magazine. However, she emphasized that the new project was proposed long before the termination of Xpression magazine. She also said that the council is definitely willing to support local cultural magazines and they will try their best to increase cultural magazines’ popularity. Apart from sponsorship, cultural magazines face another big problem. According to Mr. Ma, the cultural issue commentator, people nowadays only want to know basic information and they do not like to analyze things. Therefore, people do not enjoy reading cultural magazines. The content is too in-depth for them. Mr. Ma gave an example: “ESPN, the sports channel, always broadcasts live soccer matches. But they never get deep into the issue. “What is the history of soccer? What are its sociological implications? “These questions are not the information people want to know and so they are ignored.” With so many obstacles, it seems that cultural magazines are really unable to survive. Shop assistant of Point-of-View Bookstore Mr. Canice Wong, a regular reader of Hong Kong magazines, agreed. Said he: “I am not too optimistic about the survival of cultural magazines. The demand for them is just too limited. “Moreover, cultural magazines now try to change their style to fit the needs of the readers, which is not a wise thing to do. “The editors of cultural magazines should not be influenced in selecting what the magazines should cover.” Mr. Leung said that putting cultural magazines online might be in the future. “Online magazines are much more economical. And they involve interactive materials. “With audio and visual software, it is much more interesting to read cultural magazines.” |
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