If in doubt, just glance at the front pages of market leaders, Oriental Daily News and Apple Daily.
It's an editorial philosophy that appears to work very well for Hong Kong. The pair respectively hold the first two slots for advertising spend and circulation in what has become a sellers market as six other contenders battle for a bigger share.
But is this editorial philosophy really working? Apple Daily's circulation for the year to date has plummeted to 354,000 copies. Ditto for Oriental Daily. Perhaps local readers have had their fill of murder and celebrity scandals. That, along with a deep downturn - the second since the late 90s financial crisis erupted - have made even the simple act of buying newspapers something of a small luxury for Hong Kong's growing ranks of unemployed.
Against this backdrop, Sing Tao Daily's move to reposition itself as a paper for the middle class is not only a logical step but a crucial measure in ensuring its longer-term survival. The print market is in the doldrums, with adspend rising a negligible 0.3 per cent in 2001 and recovery still far from certain. For a minor player like Sing Tao - ranked sixth in adspend takings for the year-to-date - its future lies in carving a clear and distinct identity for itself.
Its focus on Hong Kong's largely voiceless but sizeable middle class market is a brave move in the right direction. Judging by the largely sensationalist fare dished up by the two market leaders, the middle class market is under-served. Sing Tao's repositioning - so long as its extends beyond its advertising tagline and follows through in its editorial fare - will give it a first-to-market edge at a time where there is little, aside from the mastheads, to tell the market leaders apart.
