On Monday, letters arrived at the Discovery Bay home of two Hong Kong journalists, Chris Foley and his wife Cathy Daltry. They were from the management of the Eastern Express, the newspaper which employed them until its final working day, on Friday last week.
The couple had both applied recently for pay rises. The letter to Chris said that regretfully, it had been decided that his applied-for pay rise would not be granted. The letter to Cathy congratulated her on her $1,000 pay rise.
Well, it's the thought that counts.
The fact that absurd letters such as these were sent to staff suggests that the rug was pulled from under the feet of chairman Ma Ching-kwan rather unexpectedly.
Chris knew something was up on Friday night last week when the front page was altered at the last minute, with blank spaces left for a secret announcement. (This ploy had been used before to inform the world about staff matters without the courtesy of telling staff.) Suspecting the worst, Chris confronted editor Chip Tsao. Tsao came clean. Yes, the paper was folding.
The editor then warned him not to tell anyone, and indicated that if he did, Chris could lose his job.