Please introduce the Harbour Times and its editorial focus.
Harbour Times is a combination of two different products run by the same people – Harbour Times, the main site, focuses on original reads such as interviews, op-eds, columns and event coverage, while we want High Tide to be Hong Kong’s most digestible daily eDM (Electronic Direct Mail). Our content focuses on topics of culture, sustainability, politics and diplomacy. Where possible, we try to work with, rather than just report, those we cover – this is particularly possible (and more fun) with lifestyle and culture. For instance, we have an ongoing partnership with ReThink where we promote their sustainability conference, and in turn we attend to cover but also to form additional partnerships with the SMEs and start-ups. We then interview those start-ups, help them form more connections, and thus build a like-minded, value driven community. 

Although it’s the same team running both, the editorial focus is different between our site and our newsletter; the site is based on more traditional, impartial reporting and editorials. The newsletter, however, takes on a more casual tone. Our newsletter writer curates the most relevant stories of the day and summarises them for our readers in a witty and compelling manner. We even include tidbits from our social media, share recipes and make fresh homemade memes! We place a lot of importance on showcasing the unique voices of our High Tide writers. While our copyediting standards ensure editorial excellence, we are careful not to stifle each writer’s style. The point, after all, is to be engaging. 

Our overall internal editorial motto is not to take ourselves too seriously – the news is serious enough as it is. 

What is the target audience of Harbour Times? Do you welcome PR pitches?
Our current audience are largely made of young adults and business professionals who want simple and readable news, although we are open to reaching a wider market with High Tide –- particularly teenagers and university students who are catching up on news literacy on a daily basis (it’s hard and sometimes depressing). 

PR pitches are welcome. Always happy to work with cool people and cool businesses!

Why did the Harbour Times make newsletters a core editorial product?
When Harbour Times was passed to the current team, Jasmine (the then new Editor-In-Chief) felt that HT was lagging behind other more technologically and socially up-to-date publications. While we had loyal readers within the diplomatic community, the publication’s growth was stagnant. Inspired by the ‘Morning Brew’, a US-based daily eDM that covers national business news, we set out to reinvent High Tide to capture the interests of the news-savvy in Hong Kong. Morning Brew was ground-breaking in that, like us, it covered serious news but in a clever, light and digestible manner. Although we’ve not accrued the millions in readers that they have, we have seen how High Tide’s new look is resonating with our audience.

Actually, High Tide already existed far before its current incarnation but was a daily and weekly newsletter hosted on Mailchimp, meaning that it was only available to those who were already subscribed. Substack, where High Tide is currently hosted, allows anyone to search and read posts. The editorial freedom we give to our High Tide writers means that we manage to publish the newsletter much faster than articles on the Harbour Times site. It enables us to maintain a steady daily readership.

Could you share your experience with working with a young team?
Most of us are in our mid 20s. Some of our High Tide writers are just graduating from high school now. Having such a young team definitely gives us a unique work style and perspectives, such as having different connections and interests. However, the same team members often find themselves in a fluid situation - finding their first real jobs, going to university etc. We’ve had great members drop out before because they decided to focus on writing for local University publications. 

It’s definitely difficult at times, but on the other hand it means we are a revolving door for talent! 

Could you talk about Harbour Times’ social media presence?
As mentioned, High Tide was inspired by Morning Brew which uses a far more casual tone than most publications, and includes a plethora of memes in its marketing. We are quite unique in this sense. We found that many media outlets in town are either sensationalist or too serious. We wanted to do neither. While we stay impartial, particularly on sensitive topics, humour is a great way of engaging our audience and helps lighten everyone’s mood! Think about it - when you talk about the news, politics or otherwise, to your friends, you want to do it in a light-hearted and conversational way. That is what our social media aims to be …. Social…. But media.

In the future, just as we want to work with, rather than just cover, our partners; we want to communicate with, rather than just be read, by our audience. To this end, we think a lot about the pros and cons of each social media channel, and how we should run different platforms in our style. 

For instance, on Twitter, the posts are shorter and we’ll joke directly with readers who comment. On Instagram, meanwhile, there are generally fewer conversations but posts ‘last’ longer so instead we post informative visuals like weekly roundups that readers can refer to at any point.