mungouk Posted July 26, 2020 at 10:26 PM Report Share Posted July 26, 2020 at 10:26 PM In recent years this shift has become almost inevitable I guess... SCMP has just announced that it's moving behind a PayWall from August. Introducing the South China Morning Post’s new digital subscription plans Actually I think it's impressive that it survived being taken over by Alibaba but managed to continue being (apparently) independent and certainly not afraid to criticise the mainland... Recent reporting on the protests, COVID etc have all been very balanced. Whether the new security law will change this for all HK-based media remains to be seen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted July 27, 2020 at 07:26 AM Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 at 07:26 AM Definitely been using it more over the last few months, but it's not really a daily read. Will consider signing up when I can see prices (which haven't been revealed yet?), but I suspect the free articles will be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted July 27, 2020 at 09:05 AM Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 at 09:05 AM They had a hard paywall before. Maybe this time they'll have a soft one, like NYT. Actually, I find SCMP becoming less and less relevant. Stories stay up for days and days: new content is sparse for a newspaper. That and the website is slow as can be on mobile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawei3 Posted July 27, 2020 at 03:10 PM Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 at 03:10 PM I read SCMP regularly as a non-US source of Chinese news. I don't know of an equivalent. When a writer works there told me they were moving to a digital subscription model, I didn't think I would pay. However, I've found I read it so often, I would consider paying (if the cost is reasonable). She had noted that the paper has been losing money for years. Time will tell if their new model will allow SCMP to continue publishing (and whether their independent reporting will continue). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted July 27, 2020 at 11:27 PM Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 at 11:27 PM 14 hours ago, 889 said: I find SCMP becoming less and less relevant. Well, what alternatives would anyone suggest, for reading "independent" news in English about the PRC? I sometimes read Nikkei Asian Review (generally business news, also paywall after 3 articles per month) and occasionally the Straits Times, although not as often as I did when living in Singapore... plus it also has padlocks all over the place, and SPH are hardly a paragon of press freedom anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
杰.克 Posted July 28, 2020 at 07:27 AM Report Share Posted July 28, 2020 at 07:27 AM I find SCMP quite good to read actually! I have no strong views on whether its reliable or not, but I feel its the best option (in a sparse field). I read an article from their say once a week. Also the website is a lot more easy for me to navigate and visually appealing, than other Chinese newspapers! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted July 28, 2020 at 05:41 PM Report Share Posted July 28, 2020 at 05:41 PM I have subscribed to them for years. Expect I will probably continue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawei3 Posted July 28, 2020 at 07:41 PM Report Share Posted July 28, 2020 at 07:41 PM Here's what the "Media Bias/Fact Check" organization says about SCMP: "These media sources have a slight to moderate liberal bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor liberal causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation." Overall, we rate The South China Morning Post Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that moderately favor the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to poor sourcing." https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/south-china-morning-post/ Their page provides more details than I have provided. I've read their reviews of multiple media organizations and they seem quite accurate (the one on the China Daily News is quite interesting) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlo Posted July 31, 2020 at 02:00 AM Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 02:00 AM One problem I have these days is that I like reading bits and pieces of different newspapers, with different editorial biases. I try to do this on purpose, to avoid being exposed to world views that are too consistent. If everything goes behind a paywall, I need a small fortune to subscribe to a sufficiently large number of sources. What would be ideal is the equivalent of the newspaper reading room of a well-stocked library. I pay a subscription for the reading room and my cash gets divided up among all participating media. Like Spotify for news. Does something like this exist? Is it Apple News? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
杰.克 Posted July 31, 2020 at 06:41 AM Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 06:41 AM https://about.pressreader.com/ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted July 31, 2020 at 08:51 AM Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 08:51 AM You often get Pressreader access through institutions - my local library membership gets me access, and I'd imagine a lot of universities subscribe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlo Posted July 31, 2020 at 11:01 AM Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 11:01 AM Thank you! This looks exactly what I had in mind. The SCMP isn't there, but Caixin, WSJ, HBR China and 500+ business magazines sounds like a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted July 31, 2020 at 01:04 PM Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 01:04 PM 6 hours ago, 杰.克 said: https://about.pressreader.com/ Oh! I hadn't head of this and it turns out I have access through my employer (university). Nice one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
杰.克 Posted July 31, 2020 at 09:18 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2020 at 09:18 PM 8 hours ago, mungouk said: Oh! I hadn't head of this and it turns out I have access through my employer (university). Nice one! I aim to please ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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