This was a lie: "The Standard's editor-in-chief Ivan Tong Kam-piu said the staff's initial reaction to the new business strategy was "very, very positive." He said the number of staff will not change."
What Tong didn't add was that the same day they announced the Standard was becoming a giveaway, is that they also axed its one redeeming feature, The Weekend Standard magazine and canned its editor and his assistant.
Later announcements by Executive Editor Steve "Stepinfetchit Gweilo" Shellum to the staff that no one who leaves will be asked to stay and that the freebie Standard is a blow to the Post's "jugular" were met with general disgust and derision.