According to today's Hong Kong Chinese-language newspapers Apple Daily and Ming Pao, two senior editors at the English-language South China Morning Post were summarily sacked on Friday, 10 November 2006.
For more details, EastSouthWestNorth
UPDATE: Oh, and you'd be well advised to read the Comments (below) for some other inside information as well as the Mark Clifford (SCMP editor-in-chief) email to staff. Thanks, Anonymous!
UPDATE: Further stuff about SCMP kerfuffle is here at Mister B: sackings no joke and also here Mister B: scmp and other four-letter words as well as Mister B: Stand off at SCMP and the very latest, Mister B: Clash
For much newer (2007) posts, please click on scmp in Labels. Thank you.
104 comments:
Here is what happened: Mark Clifford sacked Niall Fraser, but then sent an e-mail to staff praising Niall and his work and saying Niall had unfortunately resigned. He said the changes were because Sunday Morning Post was being folded into the the daily paper's operation, but in fact nothing has changed and a new Sunday editor was appointed. Everyone on staff saw through Mark's transparency. On Niall's leaving page, which is a tradition, Mark was referred to as a "cunt".
Mark then called everyone into his office who had a hand in producing the page. Also present were a company lawyer and HR rep. The purpose was to find out who was responsible for the "cunt" remark.
Then on Friday, Mark fired the two senior editors in question. As the article noted, a letter of support has been signed and will be given to Mr Kuok.
Mark also sent this e-mail to staff:
The South China Morning Post name is one of our most valuable assets. Thousands of people have worked to build one of Asia's most prominent and powerful newspapers over the past century. The name symbolises quality, trust and integrity. We are a good newspaper on our way to becoming a great one.
Becoming great requires effort and thought from each of us, in everything we do. We're lucky that so many of us do our best in every aspect of our professional lives. I have been enormously impressed by the intensity, the integrity and the pursuit of excellence by so many of you that I've seen in the seven months I've been here.
Unfortunately, not everyone understands what it takes for us to ratchet up to the next level. Some of this I understand. Change is hard. Newsrooms are conducive to grumbling. And excellence takes effort.
But some behaviour I cannot accept and will not tolerate. There is no room here for people who flout journalistic ethics of fairness and accuracy, no room for people who treat the company's name and property as if it were their own. And there are basic standards of decency that need to be respected in any modern company, standards that are enshrined in our code of ethics.
Journalism occupies a very special place in free societies. We have unusual legal rights and we enjoy many privileges. But we have this because we have the support of society. Trust is fragile and trust in journalists has dropped sharply. If we at the South China Morning Post are to keep society's trust, to keep our reader's belief in our quality and integrity, we must ensure that what we do meets those expectations. We must strive for excellence in everything we do in our professional lives, both inside and outside of the news room--every phone call, every photo, every press conference and, yes, everything we do internally.
We have a bright future. We have many challenges, but our problems are minor compared to those that many newspapers face. The extraordinary changes in China and our position as the dominant English-language newspaper China provide us with extraordinary opportunities as we cover a story of historical importance. I hope that you share my sense of excitement about our prospects but above all I need your commitment to excel in everything you do for the newspaper.
Anonymous, many thanks!
Yes he sounds like a stupid cunt.
I worked with Clifford at the Standard and he is over his head. He never worked in a newspaper before the Standard and he got the job at the Post on the strength of the work of the number one and two editors at the Standard, whom he fired when he went to the Post. Good for the Post guys to stand up to him. Rid Hong Kong media of this vermin.
A correction is needed here. Clifford was never called a "cunt" in Niall's farewell page. Even thought he is.
Does anyone know why the two editors were sacked?
Can someone please attach the actual farewell page?
Ta
Quelle bonne idee!
If the adieu is available for public viewing, Mister B and sundry panyao would much appreciate a look over. As, no doubt, would many others.
However, posting to comment may not work. In which case, how about upload to flickr.com and then post URL here?
Cheers.
These farewell pages are a tradition at the post and many other english-speaking papers around the world and are not intended for public viewing. that is the whole point. sorry.
they are indeed a tradition; a long-standing one.
so isn't it a shame that some of the best and nicest journos in HK were given their marching orders for having helped to make it? personally I found it to be one of the funniest goodbye pages to date.
I see. 'English-speaking papers around the world' are rarely shy about delving into areas no doubt not 'intended for public viewing' but pompously protective ('that's the whole point. Sorry.')over their own privacy. There's a word for those who support such hypocrisy and it rhymes with 'bankers'.
www.asiasentinel.com
for the latest on Clifford
Asia Sentinel already linked:
http://misterbijou.blogspot.com/2006/11/hong-kong-scmp-sackings-no-joking.html
Thanks, Anonymous.
(Who knew there are so many people with the same name, Anonymous? Or, so many people pretending to be one person of that name?)
Shut up you cunts and get back to work before you are all sacked
it seems someone has decided to up the ante:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Morning_Post
In legal terms is calling someone a c**t (asterisks intact, as they apparently were) an offence that merits dismissal? C**t could represent 'coot' or 'clot,' for example. Both mildly derogatory, of course, but nothing an experienced senior hack should see as brand denting - unlike the less ambigious 'cl*wn' or 'cre*tin'. Perhaps m'learned friends could advise (pro bono).
there is an update on the Asia Sentinel site about this Clifford c**t. www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=264&Itemid=34
Please could an editor who has worked at the post and recently left contact me urgently at flickering@techol.net
I would be forever indebted to you... Flick
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