ReadWrite Coffee Corner continues to pay attention to the development of the decentralized media ecosystem

June 24 this year marks the first anniversary of the "killing" of Apple Daily. On that day last year, the reluctance and sadness of Hong Kong people are still vivid in my mind. By the end of last year, "Stand News" and "Zhongxin" also closed. Recently, Factwire, the only investigative reporting agency in Hong Kong, announced its closure.

When the conscience media are falling one after another, it is also time to think about whether the operation of the media needs a more flexible new style. In view of the major earthquake in Hong Kong's media ecology, I published an article earlier this year, " Let's Get Away - Can We Have a Media that is Newer than New Media? " The article is precisely to explore the possibility of developing decentralized media.

The so-called decentralized media means that there is no traditionally defined media organization. A small team of independent reporters or reporters collaborates with other professional practitioners, including editors, photographers, designers, and even readers to engage in various reports or publications. . In an environment where "no big platform" is used as a protective umbrella, different stakeholders need to be more proactive, play their roles well, and create an ecology conducive to the growth of decentralized media.

In this regard, Matters officials are very visionary. As early as last year, they launched the "Presence Nonfiction Writing Fellowship" program, which supports independent journalists or recorders to pursue their own report writing projects. The award-winning writing project announced in the first issue has already shown a variety of reports. Among the winners, some wrote about mainland China, some wrote about Taiwan, some wrote about Hong Kong, and some wrote about the Middle East. The way of reporting is also different. There are anthropological fieldwork, there are focus group interviews, and observations of living in a distant place. These writers and reporters have fully demonstrated independence and professionalism without the support of media organizations. The quality of the articles is not inferior to that of professional journalists. The Presence Nonfiction Writing Fellowship Program is an attempt to support independent reporters with financial and editorial professional services. It has made pioneering contributions in creating an ecosystem that is conducive to the growth of decentralized media. So how can we, as readers or amateur writers, contribute to this ecology?

I think that when the media becomes less powerful, readers need to be more proactive in finding quality reporting. And don't hesitate to share it with other readers around you. This is also what my "Reading and Writing Coffee Corner" around the fireplace would like to do.

As a Hong Konger, what I pay most attention to is the writers and reporters who write with their hearts on Hong Kong. During this time, I was fortunate enough to discover some high-quality reporting teams, as well as independent journalists/writers. Let me introduce to you here. In the future, they will select their articles to recommend to you.

1. @CourtLineThe Witness: This is a team formed by a group of ex-journalists to report on Hong Kong court news. They regularly publish a compilation of court news, each containing multiple pieces of the day's court news. Readers can read relevant news according to the events they care about. The team started operations in May this year, and there are still not many followers here. I hope friends who follow Hong Kong court news will support them.

Two, @shusheng: Good at analyzing current affairs. The educational background of the philosophy department makes his work coherent, detailed and clear. In addition, he is meticulous in reporting from different angles of the same topic, so the content of the current affairs commentary produced is quite high-quality.

3. @赵云: One of the winners of the "Present Non-Fiction Writing Scholarship Program". Through interviews with Mirror fans, she will read the face of the times behind the star chasing.

Fourth, @张晓晨A writer who has newly joined Matt City. The stories she writes about the little people in Hong Kong are particularly touching. I will introduce my favorite works to you in the future. Why don't you go to her homepage before I recommend the works, and discover the works you like!

Almost all of Hong Kong's conscientious media fell. The Hong Kong Journalists Association is also under enormous pressure to disband. But the people of Hong Kong have learned the truth that goodness is like water. May new types of media develop here and continue to undertake the mission delivered in this era.