FactWire - Hong Kong's first News Agency

For four years, Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein dogged the funding mischief behind Nixon's presidential campaign.  Their toil finally earned them a niche in the journalism Hall of Fame.

The "Woodstein"  story underlines a cardinal Press Room axiom: quality journalism IS persistent hard work.

But in the pervasive reign of fast food culture and social media today, where shallow and sloppy reporting is rampant just to quench the fast-paced city dwellers' thirst for instant information, does serious reporting still has its market?

We believe it does.
 

FactWire does investigative journalism

And by this leap of faith, we are starting FactWire --- Hong Kong's first and foremost news agency specializing in investigative journalism.  We claim this virgin territory where no contemporary Hong Kong press has ever laid their hands on before.

We do it because YOU deserve it.

Hong Kong is one of the few places where information flows almost completely freely.  If Paris has Agence France-Presse, New York has the Associated Press, London has Reuter, why Hong Kong should not have FactWire?

If you are weary of the pompous sensational or copycat stories that flood mainstream media headlines every day, if you are repulsed by the political squabbles constantly being fired across platforms, and if you are annoyed at being pushed around by advertisers shrouded in the guise of “edutainment”...

Then FactWire is for YOU.

We sniff around for social signals.  We mine Big Data for facts.  We investigate backgrounds.  We research for knowledge.  We work hard and persistently to bring you the full picture of the truth behind the news.  

FactWire can deliver.  We can deliver because we put the best people on the job.  Good reporters are irreplaceable, definitely not by apathetic web-crawling Internet robot of this information age.  We deliver by our skills, our experience, our professionalism, and our steadfast belief in solid and rigorous efforts.

That's us.  That's FactWire, independent, impartial, and nonpartisan.

FactWire, independent, impartial, and nonpartisan

But FactWire remains an idea, until YOU make it real.

A news agency is expensive.  A truly independent, impartial, and nonpartisan news agency costs even more.  We do not seek patronage from investors because FactWire should not be swayed by their business whims and preferences.  We  will never rely on advertisers because FactWire does not compromise editorial freedom and integrity for promotion budget.

We choose to raise fund by public donation.  We choose YOU to be part of our courageous endeavour.  When FactWire materializes, you will share our pride as Hong Kong's first and foremost news agency.

Every cents of your donations will be credited into the FactWire Press Foundation under whose trusteeship FactWire is run.  We believe this is the best way to protect FactWire's independence and integrity.

FactWire can thrive by public donation

We aim to raise HK$3 million through a 60-day campaign.  This capital will be good for the first 12 months of remuneration for seasoned and mission-bounded journalists, and will leave a comfortable margin for as severance payment and other contingencies.

Establishment and budget

Our immediate plan

We have already identified Hong Kong's top journalists to be FactWire's first ensemble of investigators, and will open-recruit one to two interns as front-line reporters.  When the funds are ready, we will be able to assemble the team with whom FactWire can set sail its venture as early as December this year.

All reports FactWire releases will be in English and Chinese.  For the first year, FactWire's news services will be free for both professional clients (including all mainstream and non-mainstream media) and the public.  Professional clients will receive FactWire's reports instantly as they are released, while public readers may access the full contents of the materials a few hours thereafter.

Medium and long-term plans

We plan to launch another fund-raising campaign after the first year.  If resources permit, we plan to install our first correspondent outpost in Europe to expand FactWire's regional coverage.

We will also begin to charge annual subscriptions from professional clients and to build a privileged service for them.  A free service will still be maintained, although public subscribers may have to wait a little longer for FactWire's dispatches.

With your continued support, we believe we can afford to invest more on training and grooming of talents, and to expand our pool of reporters and correspondents.  We will map out, and progressively implement, a longer-term strategy of building a network of correspondents in different parts of the world to enhance and enrich FactWire's global investigation capacity.

For this is our vision: to build FactWire as the equal of Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, and Reuter, and the beacon of truth and democracy for humankind.

About Mr. Ng Hiu-tung (吳曉東)

When Mr Ng was still in high school, he has set his life-goal as a journalist.  In his sophomore year in university, he went on his first assignments, at his own expense, in the Myanmar and Thai border as well as in Cambodia and Vietnam. 

(Photo: Mr. Ng Hiu-tung, left, interviewed Burmese students rebels in the Thai-Burmese border jungle)

Mr Ng has worked for a number of local newspapers including the Hong Kong Daily News, Wah Kiu Yat Po and the South China Morning Post before serving in the TVB's newsroom.  During his tenure in TVB, Mr Ng's assignments covered North Korea, East Timor, Afghanistan, London and Washington.

(Photo: Mr. Ng Hiu-tung, 2nd right, posed with news crew after live report from the helicopter for TVB News)

(Photo: Mr. Ng Hiu-tung interviewed U.S soldiers during the U.S-Iraq war)

After he left TVB, Mr Ng joined the China desk of Cable News, and was assigned to Baghdad and Kuwait during the US invasion in Iraq.

Mr Ng has received many international journalism awards, including the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award, New York Film Festival Gold Award, and the Human Rights Award.

Mr Ng Hui-tung left Cable News in 2007 when he founded EyePress Pressphoto Agency, a photojournalism agency in Asia, where he is now the Agency's chief news director.  Mr Ng has been a contributor to RTHK's programme“The Blue Planet" and the host of the documentary, “Under the Same Sky," broadcasted by RTHK. 

Here is a clip of Mr Ng's talk in a photojournalism workshop organized by Yahoo and Flickr.