The web is not sugar...or a hotel

The South China Morning Post's very 1998 view of how to develop its online presence is a source of deep irritation to many around the region. It appears that, despite the best efforts of a series of editors and business managers, the company's owners, the Kuoks, having made their fortune in sugar and Shangri-Las, remain unconvinced that giving away content they have paid for represents good business. Pretty much everything sits behind a wall and is available only to the newspapers' paying subscribers or those who subscribe directly to the web site. We assume not many do.

The site was recently revamped but, according to a Brand Republic article quoted by Shanghaiist, the man responsible for that exercise has quit, exasperated at the owners' unwillingness to accept that their business model is doomed. Dan Washington notes:

Subscription-only ... in 2007. They just don't get it. Even the Wall Street Journal gives us something for free. But based on what we hear from SCMP readers, we non-subscribers really aren't missing much.

He's right. It's a pretty miserable web site. Like many in Hong Kong, I have a subscription to the newspaper and so do get to see the web site. I'd score it a D-. If you want to follow what's going on in Hong Kong, the newly-free Standard's web-site isn't bad.