South China Morning Post is alive, if not well

The South China Morning Post and its Sunday edition are Hong Kong-based English-language newspapers owned by the Alibaba Group. The SCMP,founded in 1903, has served as Hong Kong’s paper of record since British Colonial rule. The paper's online edition is blocked in mainland China.

The paper's reported circultaion in 2016 averaged at 100,000. A 2019 survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong rated it as the most reliable paper in Hong Kong.

The South China Morning Post owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation from 1986 to 2016 before a Malaysian tycoon acquired it. Questions have been raised about the paper’s independence after its 2016 change in ownership. Critics call it a propaganda tool.

British journalists wrote the earliest editorials. Today the newspaper faces competition from other English-language papers.

After World War Two, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation took ownership, turning the paper into a public company. But, after News Corporation acquired it in 1986, its status changed to private. In 1990, it became publically traded again, building it into the world's most profitable paper for most of the 1990s.

In 1993 its daily circulation exceeded 100,000. Sections include Main, City, Sport, Business, Classifieds, Technology, Education, Style, and a section for younger readers.

The paper is said to be sharply critical of the Hong Kong government. In 2016 Alibaba announced it would acquire the newspaper. China’s government attempted to buy the SCMP and place it under Chinese Communist Party control.

Alibaba closed its Chinese-language edition. The online edition still operates despite moves to close it. In mid-year 2016 the paper reported profits of more than $50 million USD. It received numerous awards for its reporting. However, many questions have arisen about the SCMP and its alleged alliance with and influence from the Chinese Communist Party. Sources

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