 | |
 SCMP front page on 7 February 2018 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Alibaba Group |
| Founders |
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| Publisher | SCMP Publishers |
| President | Catherine So, CEO |
| Editor-in-chief | Chow Chung-yan |
| Managing editor | Zuraidah Ibrahim (executive), Yonden Lhatoo, Eugene Tang |
| Opinion editor | Robert Haddow |
| Sports editor | Joshua Ball (acting) |
| Photo editor | Robert Ng |
| Executive editor | Chow Chung-yan |
| Founded | 6 November 1903; 122 years ago (1903-11-06) (44,579 issues) |
| Headquarters | Global: Morning Post Centre 22 Dai Fat Street Tai Po Industrial Estate Tai Po,New Territories Hong Kong Overseas: 56Mott Street New York,NY 10013 U.S. |
| ISSN | 1021-6731 (print) 1563-9371 (web) |
| OCLC number | 648902513 |
| Website | www |
| South China Morning Post | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 南華早報 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 南华早报 | ||||||||||||
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TheSouth China Morning Post (SCMP), with its Sunday edition, theSunday Morning Post, is aHong Kong–based English-languagenewspaper owned byAlibaba Group.[1][2] Founded in 1903 byTse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained Hong Kong'snewspaper of record since British colonial rule.[3][4]: 251 Editor-in-chief Tammy Tam succeeded Wang Xiangwei in 2016. TheSCMP prints paper editions in Hong Kong and operates anonline news website that is blocked inmainland China.
Thenewspaper's circulation has been relatively stable for years, totaling about 100,000 daily copies as of 2025.[5] In a 2019 survey by theChinese University of Hong Kong, theSCMP was regarded relatively as the most credible paid newspaper in Hong Kong.[6]The Guardian has described theSCMP as "Hong Kong's most prestigious English-language newspaper," and it reaches 35 million readers across multiple platforms (as of September 2024).[7]
TheSCMP was owned byRupert Murdoch'sNews Corporation from 1986 until it was acquired byMalaysian real estate tycoonRobert Kuok in 1993.[2] On 5 April 2016, Alibaba Group acquired the media properties of the SCMP Group, including theSCMP.[1][8] In January 2017, formerDigg CEO Gary Liu became theSCMP'schief executive officer.[9]
Since the change ofownership in 2016, concerns have been raised about the paper's editorial independence and self-censorship. Critics includingThe New York Times,Der Spiegel, andThe Atlantic have alleged that the paper is on a mission to promoteChina's soft power abroad.[10][11]
Anti-Qing revolutionaryTse Tsan-tai and British journalist Alfred Cunningham (克寧漢) founded theSouth China Morning Post in 1903,[12]: 25 publishing its first issue on 6 November 1903.
The purpose of founding theSCMP is disputed, although it has been attributed to supporting the reform movement in the late-Qing Empire.[13]: 27
Early editorials were mainly written by British journalists, such as Cunningham, Douglas Story and Thomas Petrie, while Tse attracted business to the newspaper.[14]: 27 The editors maintained a good relationship with the Hong Kong government.[14]: 27 In 1904, the newspaper's circulation was 300 copies.[15]: 71
The newspaper faced competition from three English-language newspapers: theHong Kong Daily Press,China Mail, andHong Kong Telegraph.
After theSecond World War, theHong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) bought majority shares in the newspaper.[12]: 25 It was listed on theHong Kong Stock Exchange in November 1971, but was privatised again in 1987 after being bought by theNews Corporation in 1986 for HK$2.2 billion (US$284.4 million).[16]SCMP relisted in 1990.[12]: 25
Reading theSCMP has been described as a status symbol in the 20th century, when the newspaper represented the interests of Hong Kong elites and the British government.[17]: 323 Editors of theSCMP attended regular meetings at theGovernment House for disclosures that aimed to influence public opinion and received business briefings from the HSBC.[17]: 323
For most of the 1990s, theSCMP was the world's most profitable newspaper.[18] By 1993, theSCMP's daily circulation exceeded 100,000 and posted profits of HK$586 million (US$75.6 million) from mid-1992 to mid-1993.[19]
In September 1993, Murdoch was in negotiations to sell his 50 percent interest in theSCMP as part of a scheme to increase the News Corporation's investments in the Asian electronic media industry.[19] News Corporation then announced that it would sell 34.9 per cent stake – a controlling interest – for US$375 million to Kerry Media owned by Malaysian businessmanRobert Kuok.[20][16]
Kuok's son, Kuok Khoon Ean, took over as chairman at the end of 1997.[21] Kuok Khoon Ean's sister, Kuok Hui Kwong, was named chief executive officer on 1 January 2009.[22] Kuok launched a general offer for the remaining shares in September 2007, and increased his stake to 74 per cent at US$209 million.[20] It was delisted in 2013 when the shares' free float fell below the required 25 per cent.[20]
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Jonathan Fenby served as editor until 1999, when he was replaced by Robert Keatley fromThe Wall Street Journal, who became interim editor. Mark Ländler ofThe New York Times wrote that under Fenby, theSCMP was "sharply critical of the Hong Kong government" and that this may have been a factor behind Fenby being replaced.[23] TheSCMP has had 10 editors from 2000 to 2011.[24] Mark Clifford, editor-in-chief ofThe Standard from 2004 to 2006, was hired as editor-in-chief in February 2006.[25] Clifford brought with him several staffers fromThe Standard, including business section editor Stuart Jackson, who departed after seven turbulent months.[26] He presided over the controversial dismissal of several journalists over an internal prank,[27][28] and himself resigned with effect 1 April 2007.[29] FollowingGina Chua's short-lived tenure at the Post, from 2009 to April 2011, and deputy editor, Cliff Buddle served as acting editor-in-chief for 10 months.[30][31]
Wang Xiangwei [zh], a member of theJilin Provincial Committee of theChinese People's Political Consultative Conference, succeeded him in 2012.[32] Tammy Tam, senior editor of the China section, was promoted to deputy editor under Wang.[24] In May 2015, theSCMP told columnists Philip Bowring, Steve Vines, Kevin Rafferty and Frank Ching – all of whom have criticised the government in commentaries to varying degrees on different subjects over the years – that their services would no longer be needed. The manner of their dismissal generated criticism, as well as speculation as to who had instigated the removals.[33][34][35]
In 2016, Tam was promoted to the newspaper's editor-in-chief.[31][36] In October 2025, Tam became theSCMP's publisher, while Chow Chung-yan was promoted to editor-in-chief.[37] The move united theSCMP's editorial and business operations.[38]
During Alibaba's failed attempt at securing aninitial public offering on theHong Kong Stock Exchange, theSCMP published articles questioning the business practices of the platform, including incidents involving counterfeit goods.[2]
On 11 December 2015,Alibaba Group announced that it would acquire the media assets of SCMP Group, includingSCMP, for HK$2 billion (US$266 million).[8][39]
Alibaba's ownership ofSCMP led to concerns that the newspaper would become a mouthpiece of theChinese government. Among the possible motives of the Alibaba acquisition was to make media coverage of China "fair and accurate" and not in the optic of Western news outlets.[40] Alibaba said that the newspaper'seditorial independence would be upheld.[41][42]
Joseph Tsai, executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group, said that the fear that Alibaba's ownership would compromise editorial independence "reflects a bias of its own, as if to say newspaper owners must espouse certain views, while those that hold opposing views are 'unfit'. In fact, that is exactly why we think the world needs a plurality of views when it comes to China coverage. China's rise as an economic power and its importance to world stability is too important for there to be a singular thesis."[42] He also said, "Today when I see mainstream western news organisations cover China, they cover it through a very particular lens. It is through the lens that China is a communist state and everything kind of follows from that. A lot of journalists working with these western media organisations may not agree with the system of governance in China and that taints their view of coverage."[41]
The acquisition by Alibaba was completed on 5 April 2016.[1] Following the acquisition,SCMP took down thepaywall to its website.[43][44][45]
According to a 2016 public survey conducted by the Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey at theChinese University of Hong Kong, theSCMP received a credibility rating of 6.54, the highest credibility score among the various paid newspapers in Hong Kong.[46]
In July 2020, SCMP announced that it would return to a subscription model in August 2020.[47][48]
In March 2021, it was reported that the Chinese government was pressuring Alibaba to sell SCMP, due to concerns over the company's influence over public opinion in Hong Kong. Critics say this is designed to move the paper under the ownership of Chinese state-owned firm or an associated billionaire, placing it under the influence of theChinese Communist Party (CCP).[49][50] In a leaked internal November 2021 memo, SCMP CEO Gary Liu denied any sale was in the works.[51]
Since the Alibaba acquisition, theSCMP has discontinued several subsidiary publications, including its Chinese-language edition, the48 HOURS weekend magazine, and the popularHK Magazine alternative weekly. The48 HOURS staff continue to write on otherSCMP platforms. Zach Hines, former editor-in-chief ofHK Magazine from 2000 to 2015, said that closing the magazine is an effort to shift the focus away from Hong Kong to mainland China and target western readers.[52] Hines wrote in theHong Kong Free Press of its closure:[53]
TheSouth China Morning Post purchased us at the right time, and for sensible reasons. The media landscape was changing dramatically, as it continues to do, and their ownership bought us a few final years of life. But, like "One Country, Two Systems", this odd and uncomfortable marriage was never going to last.To be a truly independent press, you cannot be beholden to anyone except your readers. But, to my great dismay, this is becoming an increasing impossibility in Hong Kong, in both the mainstream Chinese and much-smaller English media. SCMP is owned by Alibaba, perhaps the biggest pro-China organization in the world, if you don't count the Communist Party. The paper's business interests are also drifting away from Hong Kong, and toward readers in the United States and the rest of the west. HK Magazine is a canary in the coal mine. [...]
Initially SCMP stated that theHK Magazine website would be deleted from the internet,[54] but the move was criticised. TheHong Kong Journalists Association lodged an inquiry with SCMP management. Hines stated, "It is unthinkable that a newspaper of record would ever consider deleting content from its archive. The SCMP should be held to proper journalistic standards. HK Magazine was an important feature of Hong Kong's media landscape, and it must be preserved. Deleting it would be an utter travesty of journalistic principles – and a slap in the face to SCMP's readers and to Hong Kong society in general."[55] Following the negative reaction, SCMP stated thatHK Magazine content would be migrated to theSouth China Morning Post website before theHK Magazine website was deleted.[56] Additionally, Hong Kong data scientist Mart van de Ven launched a public appeal to help archive back issues of the magazine, expressing doubt that SCMP would preserve the full archive.[57] He found that he was unable to access issue 1,103, which featuredLeung Chun-ying on the cover.[57]
The paper's average audited circulation for the first half of 2007 stood at 106,054; while its Sunday edition, theSunday Morning Post, has a readership of 80,865. In 2012, the readership of theSCMP and theSunday Morning Post was estimated at 396,000.[58] Its readership outside Hong Kong remains at some 6,825 copies for the same period, again, relatively unchanged.[59] It also had the position as the most profitable newspaper in the world on a per reader basis, profit declined since peaking in 1997 at HK$805 million.[60] Its average audited circulation for the first half of 2015 stood at 101,652 copies, with the print edition representing 75 percent of the number of copies;[61] the Sunday edition registered 80,779 copies on average during the same period.[62]
The Group reported net profit of HK$338 million for the year 2006 (2005 = HK$246m), the operating profit of HK$419m (2005 = HK$306m) was attributable mainly to the newspaper operation.[63]
The selling price of the paper is HK$9 each from Monday to Saturday, and HK$10 for theSunday Morning Post. A discounted student subscription is also available. It was increased 14.5% (from HK$7) and 25% (from HK$8) respectively in August 2011.
As of 26 August 2010,[update] SCMP Group posted a profit of $52.3 million in the first half of 2010.[64]
The printed version of theSCMP is in a broadsheet format, in sections: Main, City, Sport, Business, Classifieds, Property (Wednesday), Racing (Wednesday), Technology (Tuesday), Education (Saturday), Style magazine (first Friday of every month); the Sunday edition contains Main, a Review section, a Post Magazine, Racing, "At Your Service", a services directory, and "Young Post", targeted at younger readers.
On 26 March 2007, theSCMP was given a facelift, with new presentation andfonts.[65] Another redesign in 2011 changed the typefaces toFarnham andAmplitude for headlines,Utopia for text, andFreight for headers.[66]
SCMP.com had started out as asubscription-only service, which also allows the retrieval ofarchive articles dating back from 1993. It was launched online in December 1996. On 30 May 2007, SCMP.com relaunched with a new look, features, and multimedia content. Headlines and the introduction to stories were now free to view, while the full articles are available to subscribers. Archive photos and articles are available for purchase.
On 16 July 2007, SCMP.com launched its first-ever viral video marketing campaign targeting a global audience and highlighting the new multimedia features of the website.
At present,SCMP also provides free subscription to "The South China Morning Post iPad edition" for theApple iPad.[67] SCMP.com launched a major redesign on 20 April 2015.[41]
It was announced in December 2015 that the new owners would remove thepaywall,[41] and it was removed on the night of 4 April 2016. By doing so,SCMP said it wished to increase its readership globally and allow the global community to have access to its news of China. It vowed to better adapt to the reading habits of the readers.[45] The news site remains blocked in mainland China as of 2018.[68][10]
SCMP also provided a "China-focused" Chinese-language version of The Post, nanzao.com, but was shut down in 2016.[69]
The previous owners of the publication, Kerry Group's Robert Kuok and his family, are claimed to be inclined towards theChinese government, and questions were raised over the paper's editorial independence and self-censorship.[60] The paper's editors nevertheless did assert their independence during Kuok's ownership. There have been concerns, denied by Kuok, over the forced departures, in rapid succession, of several staff and contributors who were considered critical of China's government or its supporters in Hong Kong. These included, in the mid-1990s, cartoonistLarry Feign, humour columnistNury Vittachi, and numerous China-desk staff, namely 2000–01 editorial pages editor Danny Gittings, Beijing correspondent Jasper Becker and China pages editorWilly Lam.[70][71][72][73]
Not long after Kuok's purchase of the newspaper, and after running several cartoons about theculling of human body parts from Chinese prisoners, Larry Feign was abruptly dismissed and his satirical comic strip "Lily Wong" axed in 1995. His firing was defended as "cost cutting", but was widely viewed as political self-censorship in the face of the imminenthandover of Hong Kong to the PRC.[74] In his bookNorth Wind, Hong Kong authorNury Vittachi documented that then-editorJonathan Fenby, who had joined fromThe Observer of London, suppressed letters querying the disappearance of the popular strip and then busied himself writing letters to international media that had covered the Feign case defending the sacking.[75][76][77] Vittachi explained his own departure from the journal in his book, linking it to the pressures he – and other contributors – faced from top management and editors to abstain from writing on topics that were deemed "sensitive", basically in denial of the free speech rights enshrined in theHong Kong Basic Law and theone country, two systems policy.[78]
In 2000, Fenby was succeeded by Robert Keatley, a formerWall Street Journal journalist. After the paper ran a story byWilly Lam on its front page about a delegation of Hong Kong tycoons meeting withGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyJiang Zemin,[2] in which it was reported that business opportunities in China were being offered as a quid pro quo for the tycoons' political support, the Chinese Liaison Office raised objections of insensitivity as well as incurring the owner's wrath.[2] Kuok berated Keatley in his office and wrote a two-page letter, which Keatley published in the letters section of the paper. Kuok stepped down as group chairman that year.[2]
Editorial page editor Gittings complained that in January 2001 he was told to take a "realistic" view of editorial independence and ordered not to run extracts of theTiananmen Papers, though ultimately was allowed, after protesting "strenuously", to do so. The editor stated that there had already been sufficient coverage.[79]
At the launch of a joint report published by the Hong Kong Journalists' Association and Article 19 in July 2001, the chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists' Association said: "More and more newspapers self-censor themselves because they are controlled by either a businessman with close ties to Beijing, or part of a large enterprise, which has financial interests over the border."[70]
Editor-in-chief Wang Xiangwei, appointed by the owner in 2012 after consultation with the Liaison Office, was criticised for his decision to reduce the paper's coverage of thedeath of Li Wangyang on 7 June 2012.[33] Wang, who had left the office for the day, reportedly returned to the paper after midnight to reverse the staff editors' decision to run a full story. TheSCMP published a two-paragraph report inside the paper; other news media reported it prominently.[80] A senior staff member who sought to understand the decision circulated the resulting email exchanges, that indicate he received a stern rebuff from Wang.[81][82] Wang made a statement on 21 June, in which he said he understood the "huge responsibility to deliver news... [and]... the journalistic heritage we have inherited". and said that his decision not to pursue extensive coverage as the story broke was pending "more facts and details surrounding the circumstances of this case".[83] Wang admitted that his decision on Li Wangyang was a bad one in retrospect.[84]
Reporter Paul Mooney said that the Li Wangyang story was not an isolated incident: Wang Xiangwei has "long had a reputation as being a censor of the news...Talk to anyone on the China reporting team at theSouth China Morning Post and they'll tell you a story about how Wang has cut their stories, or asked them to do an uninteresting story that was favorable to [mainland] China." Mooney, whose contract with the paper was not renewed in May 2012 reportedly because of budgetary reasons, said he had won more journalism awards than anyone else in the news team, but that for seven months prior to his departure from the newspaper, Wang had marginalised him by blocking him from writing any China stories, and then reportedly hiring several new young reporters, many from mainland China, after he had been ousted.[85]
Despite the reported sentiments of the owners, theSCMP does report oncommemorations of the Tiananmen Square Massacre,[86] and ran an editorial criticising theone-child policy in 2013.[87] TheSCMP published an interview withJack Ma, founder of Alibaba and a member of the CCP, in which Ma defended late Chinese leaderDeng Xiaoping's decision to crack down on pro-democracy student protests, saying it was "the most correct decision". The relevant remark was deleted not long after the article was published; the reporter responsible for the interview was suspended and later was resigned. Alibaba said that Ma had been quoted "improperly", and demanded a rectification, but the editor-in-chief refused.[2][88]The New York Times stated that Alibaba is steering the newspaper into promoting the PRC'ssoft power, and several critical stories about China'scurrent administration have been rewritten in an act ofself-censorship by the top editors.[89] However, a few academics pointed out in 2013, 2016 and 2021 that there was a negative or discriminatory discourse present inSCMP's coverage of mainland Chinese people.[90][91][92][93]
Questions were raised about the relationship between the publication and Chinese authorities after theSCMP was able to secure an interview withZhao Wei, the legal assistant of human rights defenderLi Heping, who was in the custody of Chinese police.[94] TheSCMP was able to make contact with Zhao Wei a few days after her release from prison while she was still in the custody of Chinese security forces and at a time when neither her husband nor lawyer was able to reach her. The interview quoted Zhao giving what was taken to be a telephone confession, including "I have come to realise that I have taken the wrong path... I repent for what I did. I'm now a brand new person."[94]
On 22 July 2017, SCMP published acommentary by Shirley Yam insinuating that Li Qianxin, a woman with anuncommon surname (estimated 300,000 in China), is the daughter ofLi Zhanshu, aclose ally ofGeneral Secretary of the Chinese Communist PartyXi Jinping.[95] It also showed public records connecting Li Qianxin to a Singaporean investor named Chua Hwa Por. The piece was later removed by SCMP and replaced with a statement citing "multiple unverifiable insinuations".[96][97] Yam eventually resigned.[98]
In 2018 theSouth China Morning Post published an interview withGui Minhai, who was detained in China at the time. This raised concerns about the interview being fake or scripted, which caused backlash against SCMP. Magnus Fiskesjö, an associate professor atCornell University and friend of Gui,[99] commented that:[100]
[...] the spectacle's producers included not just the usual propaganda arms of the regime (e.g. the Xinhua News Agency, etc.), but also the formerly independentSouth China Morning Post (SCMP) of Hong Kong. In agreeing to "interview" a torture victim in between the torture sessions, the paper gave in to pressure from China.
As a result of this incident, Fiskesjö said that "SCMP can no longer be trusted as an independent news organisation."[100]
In October 2022, Peter Langan, a former senior editor at the SCMP, said he resigned after the outlet rejected the publication of his three-month investigation intohuman rights abuses in China’sXinjiang region. SCMP stated that the report failed to meet its "editorial verification process and publishing standards."[101]
SCMP won three awards at the 2018WAN-IFRA Asian Digital Media Event.[102] The paper won 11 awards the next year in the same contest[103] and in 2021, won nine awards at WAN-IFRA's 20th Asian Media Awards competition.[104][105]
The newspaper won a 2019Sigma Delta Chi Award in Informational Graphics for their coverage of the2019 Hong Kong protests.[106] In 2020,SCMP won another Sigma Delta Chi award in the same category for their coverage ofCOVID-19.[107]
The newspaper won 23 awards at theSociety for News Design's 2020 Best of Digital Design competition, including three for articles covering the Hong Kong protests.[108] The newspaper also won four gold medals at the 2020Malofiej Awards, including three for the paper's coverage of the Hong Kong protests.[109]
SCMP was announced as the winner of theOnline News Association's 2020 General Excellence in Online Journalism award for large newsrooms.[110][111]
The newspaper won the grand prize at the 2020Lorenzo Natali Media Awards for its report titled "The 'thin yellow line' standing between Hong Kong police and protestors".[112][113] The newspaper was also awarded the second prize at the 2020World Press Photo Digital Storytelling Contest in the shorts category for the same story.[114]
SCMP's piece titled "Hong Kong Protests: 100 days of protests rock Hong Kong" was an honoree at the 2020Webby Awards for Best Individual Editorial Feature.[115] The paper won another Webby in 2021 for its video titled "China's Rebel City – The Hong Kong Protests".[116]
In 2025, the newspaper won WAN-IFRA's "Best Digital Subscription or Reader Revenue Project" award forSCMP Plus, specifically its exclusive China-focused content.[117]
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Native name | 南華早報出版有限公司 | ||||||||||
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| Company type | Private | ||||||||||
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| Predecessor | Great Wall Pan Asia Holdings | ||||||||||
| Headquarters | Hong Kong | ||||||||||
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| Owner | Alibaba Group | ||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 南華早報出版有限公司 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 南华早报出版有限公司 | ||||||||||
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| Website | corp | ||||||||||
Before the acquisition in 2016 by Alibaba,South China Morning Post belonged to theSCMP Group Limited, a company also involved in property investment and convenience store operation. In April 2016, the company announced that the transaction of their media businesses with Alibaba was completed. As the intellectual property rights to the name "SCMP" was also transferred, the company changed its name toArmada Holdings Limited, then toGreat Wall Pan Asia Holdings.[118][119]
Now, the current publisher for theSCMP isSouth China Morning Post Publishers Limited (still commonly known as SCMP Group), which currently publishes, along with theSouth China Morning Post andSunday Morning Post, the following newspapers, magazines and online platforms:[120]
Writers employed by the SCMP include:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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