Concept

South China Morning Post

Overview

The South China Morning Post (SCMP), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong–based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained Hong Kong's newspaper of record since British colonial rule. Editor-in-chief Tammy Tam succeeded Wang Xiangwei in 2016. The SCMP prints paper editions in Hong Kong and operates an online news website that is blocked in mainland China.

The newspaper's circulation has been relatively stable for years, totaling about 100,000 daily copies as of 2015. In a 2019 survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the SCMP was regarded relatively as the most credible paid newspaper in Hong Kong. The Guardian has described the SCMP as "Hong Kong's most prestigious English-language newspaper," and it reaches 35 million monthly readers across multiple platforms (as of September 2024).

The SCMP was owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation from 1986 until it was acquired by Malaysian real estate tycoon Robert Kuok in 1993. On 5 April 2016, Alibaba Group acquired the media properties of the SCMP Group, including the SCMP. In January 2017, former Digg CEO Gary Liu became the SCMP's chief executive officer.

Since the change of ownership in 2016, concerns have been raised about the paper's editorial independence and self-censorship. Critics, including The New York Times, Der Spiegel, and The Atlantic have alleged that the paper is on a mission to promote China's soft power abroad. Academic studies have found that the newspaper has since shifted its editorial stance closer to a position of the Chinese government and portrays the country in a positive light. A 2021 content analysis found SCMP to be a more effective conveyor of China's soft power than state media due to its tone and style.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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The revolutionary members of the old parliament never recognized the legality of their dispersal, and consequently refused to admit the legal status of the new parliament, called by them the bogus parliament, and of the president elected by it, especially as the new legislative body was not elected according to the rules laid down by the constitution. Under the lead of some of the old members, the old parliament…
John Dewey, China, Japan and the U.S.A.
Close in meaning to South China Morning Post; the term itself is not named.
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Now-a-days all this is changed. Telegraph, telephone, and wireless make it easy to transmit orders from a centre: railways and steamers make it easy to transport troops in case the orders are disobeyed. Modern methods of printing and advertising make it enormously cheaper to produce and distribute one newspaper with a large circulation than many with small circulations; consequently, in so far as the Press controls…
Bertrand Russell, Icarus
Close in meaning to South China Morning Post; the term itself is not named.
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In fact, they have conformed very closely to the maxims of Chuang-Tze. The result has been that the population has been happy except where civil war brought misery; that subject nations have been allowed autonomy; and that foreign nations have had no need to fear China, in spite of its immense population and resources. Comparing the civilization of China with that of Europe, one finds in China most of what was to be…
Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China
Close in meaning to South China Morning Post; the term itself is not named.
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Philosophers who discussed South China Morning Post

Aleksandr Dugin

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition

Part of Chinese philosophy.

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