article: Its last issue came out on 7 October, leaving former colleagues, friends and many others mourning something that had become beloved. HK Magazine was one of only a few English-language magazines in Hong Kong and had earned a reputation as fun, independent and free-thinking. Although it listed the hippest new restaurants, bars and spas, it also reported on issues such as Hong Kong's relationship with mainland China, the staggering income inequality found in the city and LGBT issues, at a time when few mainstream outlets were interested. My three-year stint at HK Magazine was a dream for a rookie journalist. Right after graduation, I was given absolute freedom to chase the topics that interested me. I once travelled to a remote part of the city to talk to street hawkers who were being hassled by authorities during the early hours. I also did my very first interview with Joshua Wong for the magazine. He was only 15 at that time, but would go on to make global headlines - and the cover of TIME magazine - as the public face of Hong Kong's democracy movement. HK Magazine was by no means the most influential weekly in town. It targeted a niche but loyal audience: expatriates and those Hong Kongers with fluent English. Many Chinese-speaking locals with little English would never have heard of it. "I don't think HK Magazine had much cultural or political influence, but it did have a fun and fresh take on Hong Kong, through young expat eyes," said Yan Sham-Shackleton, a writer who was once based in Hong Kong. "It captured the zeitgeist of that subculture, and I think if we read the magazine... it would bring back a lot of memories and a smile." HK Magazine was bought by the English-language South China Morning Post in 2013. An SCMP said it now had to shut down because it faced "very challenging market conditions" which were especially dire for English-language lifestyle media. "The volatile advertising landscape, diminishing profitability from display advertising and event business further thwarted the magazine's sustainability in the foreseeable future," the statement added. It did not come as a total surprise. Even before I left the magazine three years ago there were signs of trouble. Advertising sales, as well as circulation figures, had been falling for a while. In the first six months of 2006, HK Magazine boasted a weekly distribution of about 80,000. Last year, that plummeted to about 40,000. "It reflects the demise of the print media. All print media are losing circulation or they are closing for one reason or another. This is another one," said Ying Chan, the founding director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong's competitive media landscape has become unforgiving in the digital age. Even Chinese-language gossip magazines like FACE and Sudden Weekly could not escape the same fate. HK Magazine will certainly not be the last casualty. It is obvious that HK Magazine has faced difficult times, but the closure still prompted questions from some who believed the magazine
summary: Last week I woke up to the news that HK Magazine, irreverent and wry and which gave me my first full-time job in journalism, is to be closed down after 25 years.