Thread by @JeromeTaylor

Interesting piece looking at some of the tensions within @SCMPNews newsroom as China tightens its grip on Hong Kong

theatlantic.com/international/…

“Journalists who spent hours, sometimes in a haze of tear gas saw their work drastically altered by editors before running in print & online. Police were typically portrayed as hero, the protesters villains, with little explanation or context of each side’s motives & grievances”

“At least three major Western news organizations, including the Times and The Wall Street Journal, are facing delays in securing new visas or visa renewals for their staff, according to people familiar with the details.”

“While SCMP veterans often speak of a bygone golden era in which the paper was more critical, there have in fact long been instances that gave rise to questions about its editorial stance and censorship.”

“When Alibaba purchased the paper in 2015, the company brought an infusion of much-needed cash. The SCMP hired additional staff, moved into new offices... The SCMP has seen a sharp rise in readership.”

“When it comes to china, the SCMP’s overall coverage remains far from Communist Party mouthpieces such as China Daily or Global Times. Indeed, its website—like that of other major Western publications is blocked on mainland China.”

“More illustrative has been its coverage of the Hong Kong protests, which proved to be an unexpected test for the paper.”

“There are choices of language and vocabulary that are in themselves a reflection of bias,” said Louisa Lim, a former Beijing correspondent pointing to the use of terms like riot and rampage that often made it into the final versions of stories recounting protests.”

The piece spends significant time looking at the paper’s chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo who also writes a regular column that is often critical of the protests and supportive of the government.

“In May 16 column, Lhatoo urged Hong Kong’s chief executive to take a page from Donald Trump’s book and strike back at “malicious journalists” by labeling them “fake news” and a “disgrace.” One former reporter likened it to “asking for an attack on press freedom itself.””

An SCMP spokesperson “despite not having seen the comments themselves, (said) that remarks made by current and former SCMP employees to me were “quite libelous” and that Lhatoo had become the target of a “hate campaign,” something Lhatoo has addressed in his column.”

Another spox said The Atlantic “was biased against the SCMP and... challenged the sourcing of this story, the timeline of when The Atlantic contacted the SCMP for comment, and defended the paper’s protest coverage as well as its editorial standards and newsroom culture.”

“‘We occupy the middle ground; that means some people are bound to feel like their views are not the dominant views and they feel resentful for that,’” the Atlantic reporter quotes the SCMP spox as saying.

Now that Beijing has passed its national security law “How (the SCMP) manages the balance between these new, blurry, red lines and Hong Kong’s history of a free and open press will matter far beyond the territory’s borders.”

Here endeth today’s thread.

Suffice to say as soon as this @TMclaughlin3 piece dropped tonight the Hong Kong journo Whtsapp groups have blown up 😂