Pressure of Truth
Exposing the spin on all sides of the news.
Outlet profile

South China Morning Post (Opinion)

Hong Kong/Beijing-aligned, English-language

Owned byAlibaba Group (Chinese technology conglomerate), which acquired SCMP in April 2016 for approximately US$266 million
FundingPrimarily advertising (roughly 60% of revenue) and digital subscriptions (roughly 30%), with events making up the remainder; the outlet operates under its Alibaba parent with no state subsidy declared
On the administrationmixed

Background

The South China Morning Post was founded on November 6, 1903, by anti-Qing revolutionary Tse Tsan-tai and British journalist Alfred Cunningham, making it one of Hong Kong's oldest English-language papers. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired it in 1986 and sold it in 1993 to Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok's Kerry Media for roughly US$349 million. In April 2016, Alibaba Group purchased the outlet for approximately US$266 million; Alibaba's then-chairman Jack Ma stated the goal was to give the world a less 'biased' view of China and counter negative Western coverage. Since the acquisition, press-freedom organizations have raised concerns about self-censorship on topics sensitive to Beijing—such as the Tiananmen Square anniversary and Hong Kong protest coverage—though SCMP management has consistently insisted editorial decisions remain with its newsroom. Reporters Without Borders ranked Hong Kong 140th out of 180 countries in its 2025 World Press Freedom Index, a sharp fall from 18th place in 2002. The paper relaunched a digital paywall in recent years and earns the majority of its revenue from advertising, supplemented by subscriptions and events. Its opinion section publishes a wide range of outside contributors but its framing of U.S.-China relations and global trade regularly reflects perspectives that align more closely with Chinese government positions than with Western editorial consensus.

Sources

  1. South China Morning Post – Wikipedia
  2. South China Morning Post – Media Bias/Fact Check
  3. Alibaba to Buy South China Morning Post – Time
  4. Who Bought the South China Morning Post? – Al Jazeera
  5. China's Crackdown on Jack Ma Reaches SCMP – Quartz
  6. Alibaba's Threat to Press Freedom in Hong Kong – Newsweek
  7. South China Morning Post Finds Revenue Success by Focusing on Core – WAN-IFRA
  8. How Kompas and SCMP Balance Subscriptions and Advertising – WAN-IFRA
  9. Echoes of Truth: Hong Kong's Independent Media Amidst Repression – Oxford Political Review
  10. Opinion: Trump's Latest Tariff Tantrum Unlikely to End Well for the US – SCMP

Profile compiled 2026-07-28; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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