TFIPOST हिन्दी
TFIPOST Global
Tfipost.com
Tfipost.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Same Seat, Same Miracle: Thai Singer’s 11A Survival Mirrors Air India Tragedy

    Thai Singer Reveals Chilling Link to Air India Crash Survivor: Both Sat in Seat 11A

    Operation Rising Lion: Israel’s Covert Strike on Iran and Mossad’s Expanding Footprint

    Israel’s Covert Strike on Iran and Mossad’s Expanding Footprint

    India’s Shubhanshu Shukla to Make Historic Journey to ISS on June 19

    Axiom Space to Launch Indian Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla to ISS on June 19

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    India’s Air Defence Proves Its Worth: Insights from Both Pakistan Standoff and Israel-Iran Conflict

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    PM Narendra Modia

    11 Years of Modi Govt: Making Welfare Seamless with Direct Benefit Transfers, DigiLocker, UMANG

    India Ranks 2nd Globally in Social Security Coverage for the Poor, Says ILO

    India Ranks 2nd Globally in Social Security Coverage for the Poor, Says ILO

    real estate

    India Retains Top Spot Among Global Investment Hubs for Land and Development Projects

    How a Compound Interest Calculator Can Boost Your Returns in India?

    How a Compound Interest Calculator Can Boost Your Returns in India?

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    congress leader likens operation sindoor to a computer game

    Congress’ Patole terms Operation Sindoor as ‘Video Game’, Sparks Controversy

    India-Russia Pact on the Su‑57 as a Leap of Strategic Trust

    From Buyer to Partner: What the Su‑57 Means for India’s Military Autonomy Inside Russia’s Su‑57 Gamble with India

    Dassault and Tata to Begin Rafale Fuselage Production in India

    Dassault and Tata to Begin Rafale Fuselage Production in India, Marking Major Milestone in Defence Manufacturing

    Mock Drills Under ‘Operation Shield’ Scheduled Today in Border States and UTs

    Mock Drills Under ‘Operation Shield’ Scheduled Today in Border States and UTs

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    top officials killed in Iran

    Israel’s Operation ‘Rising Lion’ Strikes Iran, Decimates Top Military and Nuclear Command in a Single Night

    The Dismantling of Iran’s Revolutionary Grip and What India Can Learn from Israel

    The Dismantling of Iran’s Revolutionary Grip and What India Can Learn from Israel

    israel iran tensions escalate

    Air India Flights Diverted or Recalled as Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates; India Issues Advisory to Citizens in Israel

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • Education
    • History
    • Indology
    jagannath rath yatra

    Everything You Need to Know About Jagannath Rath Yatra: History, Significance, Rituals, and Celebrations

    Bobby Mukkamala Becomes 1st Indian-American President of AMA

    Bobby Mukkamala Becomes First Indian-American President of the American Medical Association

    The Vedic Ethos: A Civilization of Knowledge and Inquiry

    From Rigvedic Wisdom to Modern Decay: How Islamisation Crushed a Knowledge Civilization

    Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha 2.0

    Thousands Gather in Ayodhya for Ram Darbar Pran Pratishtha Ceremony

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Games
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    ODI highest score team: A record-breaking journey Through cricket’s biggest totals

    ODI highest score team: A record-breaking journey Through cricket’s biggest totals

    Bangalore: High Court of Karnataka in Bangalore. (Photo: IANS)

    RCB Moves HC to Quash FIR in Bengaluru Stampede Case, Cites Govt Approval for Celebration

    Slot Machines for Indian Players: Exclusive Gameplay for Real Money

    Slot Machines for Indian Players: Exclusive Gameplay for Real Money

    In December 2024, D. Gukesh Dommaraju, then just 18, became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion

    The Gukesh Effect: How a Teen Grandmaster Is Reshaping Indian Chess and Reclaiming Its Ancient Legacy

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
Tfipost.com
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Same Seat, Same Miracle: Thai Singer’s 11A Survival Mirrors Air India Tragedy

    Thai Singer Reveals Chilling Link to Air India Crash Survivor: Both Sat in Seat 11A

    Operation Rising Lion: Israel’s Covert Strike on Iran and Mossad’s Expanding Footprint

    Israel’s Covert Strike on Iran and Mossad’s Expanding Footprint

    India’s Shubhanshu Shukla to Make Historic Journey to ISS on June 19

    Axiom Space to Launch Indian Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla to ISS on June 19

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    India’s Air Defence Proves Its Worth: Insights from Both Pakistan Standoff and Israel-Iran Conflict

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    PM Narendra Modia

    11 Years of Modi Govt: Making Welfare Seamless with Direct Benefit Transfers, DigiLocker, UMANG

    India Ranks 2nd Globally in Social Security Coverage for the Poor, Says ILO

    India Ranks 2nd Globally in Social Security Coverage for the Poor, Says ILO

    real estate

    India Retains Top Spot Among Global Investment Hubs for Land and Development Projects

    How a Compound Interest Calculator Can Boost Your Returns in India?

    How a Compound Interest Calculator Can Boost Your Returns in India?

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    congress leader likens operation sindoor to a computer game

    Congress’ Patole terms Operation Sindoor as ‘Video Game’, Sparks Controversy

    India-Russia Pact on the Su‑57 as a Leap of Strategic Trust

    From Buyer to Partner: What the Su‑57 Means for India’s Military Autonomy Inside Russia’s Su‑57 Gamble with India

    Dassault and Tata to Begin Rafale Fuselage Production in India

    Dassault and Tata to Begin Rafale Fuselage Production in India, Marking Major Milestone in Defence Manufacturing

    Mock Drills Under ‘Operation Shield’ Scheduled Today in Border States and UTs

    Mock Drills Under ‘Operation Shield’ Scheduled Today in Border States and UTs

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    top officials killed in Iran

    Israel’s Operation ‘Rising Lion’ Strikes Iran, Decimates Top Military and Nuclear Command in a Single Night

    The Dismantling of Iran’s Revolutionary Grip and What India Can Learn from Israel

    The Dismantling of Iran’s Revolutionary Grip and What India Can Learn from Israel

    israel iran tensions escalate

    Air India Flights Diverted or Recalled as Iran-Israel Conflict Escalates; India Issues Advisory to Citizens in Israel

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes on Iran; Explosions Reported in Tehran

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • Education
    • History
    • Indology
    jagannath rath yatra

    Everything You Need to Know About Jagannath Rath Yatra: History, Significance, Rituals, and Celebrations

    Bobby Mukkamala Becomes 1st Indian-American President of AMA

    Bobby Mukkamala Becomes First Indian-American President of the American Medical Association

    The Vedic Ethos: A Civilization of Knowledge and Inquiry

    From Rigvedic Wisdom to Modern Decay: How Islamisation Crushed a Knowledge Civilization

    Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha 2.0

    Thousands Gather in Ayodhya for Ram Darbar Pran Pratishtha Ceremony

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Entertainment
    • Food
    • Games
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    ODI highest score team: A record-breaking journey Through cricket’s biggest totals

    ODI highest score team: A record-breaking journey Through cricket’s biggest totals

    Bangalore: High Court of Karnataka in Bangalore. (Photo: IANS)

    RCB Moves HC to Quash FIR in Bengaluru Stampede Case, Cites Govt Approval for Celebration

    Slot Machines for Indian Players: Exclusive Gameplay for Real Money

    Slot Machines for Indian Players: Exclusive Gameplay for Real Money

    In December 2024, D. Gukesh Dommaraju, then just 18, became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion

    The Gukesh Effect: How a Teen Grandmaster Is Reshaping Indian Chess and Reclaiming Its Ancient Legacy

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
Tfipost.com
Tfipost.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Defense
  • Geopolitics
  • Knowledge
  • Law
  • Lounge

How Alibaba strategically invested in South China Morning Post and turned it into yet another CCP rag

Akshay Narang by Akshay Narang
5 July 2020
in Asia Pacific
How Alibaba strategically invested in South China Morning Post and turned it into yet another CCP rag
Share on FacebookShare on X

What do you do when you want to uproot an old democratic system governed by the rule of law? You buy out or trample upon the freedoms of media outlets- credible newspapers and op-ed magazines are the first ones to face the onslaught. Beijing is murdering democracy in Hong Kong right now, but the process had started several years ago- 2015 to be precise, when South China Morning Post (SCMP), a leading source of credible news on the Indo-Pacific region, started to turn bipolar- torn between the pro-CCP line and the pro-democracy one.

By the autumn of 2015, there were rumours that Jack Ma, the founder of Chinese tech giant Alibaba, would take over SCMP, a reputed Hong Kong daily founded in the year 1903 when the city was still a British colony. Ma is himself a CCP member, who has promised to happily hand over all his businesses to the party if it so desires.

RelatedPosts

India, China agree to expedite resumption of direct flights

Why the US Inviting Pakistan’s Army Chief Matters — And What It Could Mean for the Neighbourhood?

Congress Shelved 1995 Nuclear Test Under US Pressure, Alleges BJP MP Nishikant Dubey

Load More

Eventually, the takeover of the newspaper happened in December 2015. The CCP used a part of Alibaba’s business to influence a leading opinion-maker and independent voice in Hong Kong. For more than a century, SCMP reported accurately on Southeast Asia and the Greater China Region broadly encompassing Macau, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, apart from opinion pieces on global issues. But it now stands severely compromised.

But matters had to change with Alibaba, led by a CCP loyalist, taking over as the parent company of the newspaper. SCMP was earlier a voice that distinguished between democracy and autocracy. But now it puts out dozens of stories about China, many of which try to promote the Communist country’s soft power. It has gone bipolar and borders on propaganda as opposed to independent journalism.

So, when Beijing brutally enforced the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, or the controversial National Security Law that criminalises all forms of dissent, SCMP started writing positive stories about why the National Security Law is actually good for Hong Kong.

One of the stories published by SCMP read, “With the national security law in place, Hong Kong’s future is more promising than ever.” While another story, though not as celebratory, stated, “Why national security law will not be the death of Hong Kong, just as the handover wasn’t.”

SCMP, China, Hong Kong, JAck Ma, Alibaba
SCMP, China, Hong Kong, JAck Ma, Alibaba

But then SCMP became tendentious in its editorial line well before the National Security Law came up. Even on matters concerning India, it has been publishing op-eds and reports that clearly toe Beijing’s line.

Ajai Shukla, a Business Standard author who has been writing vitriolic, propaganda stories against India amidst the ongoing military stand-off between India and China, has also written for SCMP in the past. And the line he has taken is incredibly anti-India.

One of the pieces read “‘Surgical Strikes’: As Modi plays politics with Indian Army, soldiers pay with their lives.”

Another article concerns India-China equations more closely. It is about the Doklam stand-off of 2017. It read, “Doklam a year on: Bhutan more worried about India than China”. There are other pieces on military affairs, all of them casting aspersions on India.

SCMP keeps publishing editorials in between that are not favourable towards China. The media outlet hasn’t really become a mouthpiece but it is not very critical of China either. Loopholes keep emerging. In 2016 itself, it was accused of extracting a forced media confession from an activist detained by Chinese authorities.

SCMP interviewed the activist, Zhao Wei, shortly after her reported release. However, Zhao’s defence lawyer and husband maintained that they were unable to contact her. How did SCMP access her then? The English-language newspaper never disclosed that. However, it quoted Zhao as saying, “I have come to realise that I have taken the wrong path.” She added, “I repent for what I did. I’m now a brand new person.”

The Guardian quoted a former SCMP employee as saying, “It’s just so sad. A newspaper that used to be one of the best in Asia is now becoming a mouthpiece.” A former editor of the 117-year old newspaper also said, “This one does smell very, very fishy.” A newsroom insider too revealed, “People are upset and angry.”

The CCP is using SCMP’s credibility to systematically push its own propaganda from within Hong Kong. Buying SCMP through Alibaba is quite a strategic investment because this is the main international voice from within the city. In fact, at the time of takeover Jack Ma had claimed that his generous initiative was aimed at ensuring SCMP’s digital transition.

He also argued that the newspaper was “uniquely positioned to report on China with objectivity, depth and insight.” But as Benjamin Ismail, Head of Asia-Pacific Desk, Reporters without Borders puts it, “In China, the term (objectivity) is anything but neutral. In Hong Kong it could soon mean objectivity that is “positive for all media owners with interests in China,” of whom there are many.“

However, the print edition of the SCMP that circulates in Hong Kong is becoming more and more of a pro-Beijing voice, while the digital version remains bipolar in order to save some of its credibility. Thus, before Hong Kong fell to an authoritarian Beijing, it was the South China Morning Post, an erstwhile independent newspaper of the city that fell prey to a Communist Beijing and got reduced into another CCP rag.

Tags: AlibabaChinaHong KongJack MaSCMP
Share187TweetSend
Previous Post

‘Not cutting any process, we are cutting the red tape,’ ICMR slams rumours over Covaxin launch date

Next Post

Chabahar Port: India’s gateway to Central Asia with Russia’s full backing is going to save 20% costs

Related Posts

Honoring Women in Combat: A Tribute to Tanushka Singh and Shivangi Singh on International Women’s Day
Asia Pacific

Honoring Women in Combat: A Tribute to Tanushka Singh and Shivangi Singh on International Women’s Day

8 March 2025

On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the remarkable achievements of women across all spheres of life, acknowledging their strength,...

CHINA-PAK CPEC
Asia Pacific

INDIA MONITORS CHINA-PAK UPGRADE OF CPEC

18 October 2024

China and Pakistan put on an act of friendly partnership over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) when their...

Maldives Islamic
Asia Pacific

Maldives is the New Pakistan

15 January 2024

The situation in Maldives is worrying for India. Political groups and Islamic Organizations in Maldives are increasingly speaking against...

Load More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Currently Playing

Marriage gone murderous: expert explains the gruesome murder case.

Marriage gone murderous: expert explains the gruesome murder case.

00:13:01

An Israeli tells why Israel hit Iran | Middle East Crisis |

00:33:03

From parliament to primetime: smriti irani is Tulsi again!

00:03:24

Islam is on the track to become the fastest growing religion in the world.

00:09:34

BJP, bakrid and the cow. CM Manik Saha in eye of the storm.

00:03:56
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
tfipostTfipost.com
Right Wing | News Analysis | Indian Opinion
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap

©2025 TFI Media Private Limited

No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
TFIPOST हिन्दी
TFIPOST Global

©2025 TFI Media Private Limited