Hong Kong: South China Morning Post editor-in-chief quits

Yes, Mark Clifford is stepping down as editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post, ending a short and controversial year-long tenure. Mr Clifford leaves two months after the departure of editor Fanny Fung. C K Lau, who filled Fung's position, now moves up to become top dog. (For more on Clifford's tenure at SCMP, click on scmp in Labels).

Here's the internal email announcing Mr Clifford's departure:

I wish to announce that Mark Clifford will step down as Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post with effect from 1 April 2007 to pursue another opportunity. Mark has been the driving force behind the SCMP's forthcoming re-design. He has contributed in the convergence of the print and digital efforts of the SCMP and overhauled the paper's training program for our journalists. During his tenure, Mark played a key role in changes that have both strengthened and improved the editorial operations.
Editor C.K.Lau will assume responsibility for editorial operations after Mark leaves.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and Management of the SCMP Group, we express our deep appreciation to Mark for his efforts and contributions in the past year, and we wish him the very best in his new position. Please extend your cooperation and support to CK and the rest of his team.

Kuok Khoon Ean
Chairman

Where's Mr C going? To the Asian Business Council, where he will become executive director. In May. It's not on the ABC website, yet(?). But for the official party line: ABC press release

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Hong Kong: South China Morning Post drama continues

Robert Mountfort was SCMP's photo editor until he was dismissed in June 2006 by the apparently humour-impaired Editor-in-Chief, Mark Clifford . . . Since when there have been a bunch more sackings and, erh, "resignations".

The latest South China Morning Post casualty?

Tuesday, Gracia Wong, a 19-year veteran SCMP librarian, was notified that she had been fired nine months short of her 20-year pension payout as a “mandatory redundancy with immediate effect.”

Nice one, SCMP.

SCMP's continuing turmoil: Asia Sentinel

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SCMP: more departures

Editor of the South China Morning Post, Fanny Fung has resigned. Number Two in the pecking order, she will be replaced effective 1 February 2007 by someone who was in the fifth editorial layer, C K Lau. Lau was Executive Editor, Policy.

Fung's departure is the fourth high-power resignation (or departure) in the last several months.

In October, a staff photographer took photos of the wrong person in a high-profile criminal court. After publication of one of the photos in the SCMP's Business Post, the SCMP was obliged to publish a large apology on the front page of the newspaper. The photographer was sacked, and staff were not happy about the sacking.

In November, two senior editors were sacked over a leaving page for sacked Sunday Post editor Niall Fraser. In the furore which followed, a third of the staff demanded the sackings be re-considered. To no avail.

In December, business editor Stuart Jackson resigned in the wake of the photo debacle.

Now, Fung. Well, she has recently started to feature as one of the talking heads the BBC Worldservice phone when they need a local slant on current affairs hereabouts . . .

Mark Clifford continues as Editor-in-Chief.

For newer/previous posts about SCMP staff stuff, please click on scmp in Labels (below). Thank you.

SCMP: more trouble at mill (bis)

Most excellent report by journalist Justin Mitchell, Top Editor Forced to Resign at South China Morning Post: asiasentinel

SCMP: more trouble at mill

On 27th October 2006, prominently displayed on both the front page of South China Morning Post and the same page of its daily supplement Business Post was the following:

We wish to state unequivocally and categorically that the photographs we published on the front page of the main section and on the front page of the business section of the South China Morning Post yesterday, October 26, 2006, purporting to be of Charles Schmitt were not in fact photographs of Charles Schmitt. They were of Mr Rainer W. Rommel. Mr Rommel has nothing to do with Charles Schmitt's conviction, sentence or crime.
The photographs were published as a result of an error by the SCMP.
We wish to apologise wholeheartedly and unreservedly to Mr Rommel for the distress and concern that this will undoubtedly have caused him.
Mark Clifford
Editor-in-Chief, South China Morning Post Publishers Limited

On a little island in the South China Sea, the collective response was, "heads will roll".

Roll, they have. Chinese-language Apple Daily reports not only has the errant photojournalist gone but SCMP Business Editor Stuart Jackson has now been forced to fall on his sword and quit for "personal reasons". For an English rendering of the Apple story: EastSouthWestNorth.

We know errors occur, mistakes are made. But one of the first laws of journalism is: may sure you spell their name right. In the photo-editing department that surely must be: make certain you get the picture right.

Still, as English dramatist and poet Alexander Pope reminds us, "To err is human". Pope then goes further, "to forgive divine". Perhaps the unfairly impugned Mr Rainer W Rommel, has never read Pope. Is that why the SCMP's Business Editor has lost his job? Has Mr Rommel, whoever he is, been so distressed he has hired expensive lawyers to seek a financial salve from the SCMP to ease away his pain?

Charles Schmitt: Ex-NYSE Manager Jailed for Hong Kong Hedge-Fund Fraud: bloomberg
One of the punters whio got suckered [update: see Comments, below) by Schmitt: expat@large

Rainer W Rommel? He doesn't exist, according to google. Not yet, anyway. He will, after this post is posted. Oh, wait a second . . . at the archive of media apologies and clarifications, More fun with photos (October 30, 2006): reget the error

Thanks to corporate crime watcher and indefatigable guardian of publishing standards for archiving the SCMP apology, Nick G!

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Hong Kong: Clash of civilisations (also spelt, civilizations) at SCMP?

Mark Clifford, South China Morning Post newspaper editor-in-chief, make that 'change agent', versus the rest?

A mainstream media take on the latest sackings affair at the SCMP: International Herald Tribune Thanks, Gavin!

As of today, it is to be noted there has been no, to my knowledge, coverage in either of Hong Kong's English-language newspapers, neither in SCMP nor in (Hong Kong's) Standard.

First report of the latest SCMP sackings appeared in the Chinese-language press (Apple Daily, Ming Pao) and was thence reported by bilingual blogger EastSouthWestNorth.

Mister B, um, shuffling of feet, whereupon picked up the baton: senior editors sacked. According to logs, bloomberg, guardian, dow jones, singtao are among the news media which are known to have stopped by Mister B. Hi, everyone.

Anyway, for background on editorial hoo-ha at SCMP, please see previous posts by Mister B (+ accompanying comments in Comments): Stand Off and Sackings no joke and SCMP senior editors sacked

For newer/previous posts, please click on scmp in Labels.

SCMP and other four-letter lexical formations

SCMP and the power of c**t? Next time, how about c***? As in:

caba cabs caca cade cadi cads cafe caff cage cagy caid cain cake caky calf calk call calm calo calp calx came camp cams cane cang cann cans cant cany capa cape caph capi capo caps carb card care cark carl carn carp carr cars cart casa case cash cask cast cate cats cauf cauk caul caum caup cave cavy cawk caws cays ceas ceca cede cedi cees ceil cell cels celt cens cent cepe ceps cere cero cert cess cete chad chai chal cham chao chap char chas chat chaw chay chef cher chew chez chia chic chid chik chin chip chis chit chiv chiz choc chon chop chou chow chub chug chum chut ciao cide cids ciel cigs cill cine cion cire cirl cist cite cito cits city cive clad clag clam clan clap clat claw clay clef cleg clem clew clip clod clog clon clop clot clou clow cloy club clue coal coat coax cobb cobs coca coch cock coco coda code cods coed coff coft cogs coho coif coil coin coir coit coke coky cola cold cole coll cols colt coly coma comb come comp coms cond cone conf coni conk conn cons cony coof cook cool coom coon coop coos coot cope cops copy cord core corf cork corm corn cors cory cose cosh coss cost cosy cote coth cots cott coup cour cove cowl cowp cows cowy coxa coxy coys coze cozy crab crag cram cran crap craw cred cree crew crib crim cris crit croc crop crow crud crue crus crux cube cubs cuds cued cues cuff cuif cuit cuke cull culm cult cunt cups curb curd cure curf curl curn curr curs curt cush cusk cusp cuss cute cuts cwms cyan cyma cyme cyst cyte czar

Source: Ozzie Scrabble

Plus, coot. Don't forget coot. For two earlier reports (plus must-read Comments) about SCMP and its internecine war of words: Mister B: sackings no joke and Mister B: senior editors sacked


UPDATE: UK's online Press Gazette: "What apparently upset Clifford was the use of the word c*** under the SMP masthead (with asterisks included, I should point out) and some mildy derogatory references to the newspaper's deputy editor, a Chinese woman by the name of Fanny Fung."
(Image: Press Gazette)

UPDATE: Elsewhere, British TV person Sir David Frost now has a show on the new English-language output at Al Jazeera TV. That show is, however, unlikely to be as interesting as the one on London Weekend TV which Frost hosted in 1970.

Self-proclaimed Yippie Jerry Rubin, Whole Earth Catalog founder Stewart Brand, and musician David Crosby offered Frost some dope. The smarmy Frost turned them down but the show turned chaotic anyway, and someone uttered the C-word -- a first for Britsh telly, apparently.

This historic moment is revealed at youtube

Via Guardian's arts blog.

Hong Kong: SCMP sackings? No joking please, we’re journalists

A most excellent piece about the latest sackings at South China Morning Post:

In an unprecedented action, an estimated 80-plus newsroom staffers – male, female, Chinese and western alike – have signed what amounts to a no-confidence vote in Mark Clifford, the editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s largest English language newspaper, after he fired two senior editors for their small roles in a mock front page farewell gift for another editor whom Clifford had fired.

The incident, which began as a traditional office ritual for a departing employee, has uncovered a sharp divide in the newsroom of one of Asia’s oldest newspapers, essentially pitting a new chief editor against many of the paper’s long-time employees.

Please read the whole thing by Justin Mitchell at Asia Sentinel. Via every day HK

UPDATE: Subs sacked over leaving page: MediaGuardian

That Guardian report requires cookies as well as Registration Required. However, you can read the Guardian report in Comments (below) as well as an unlocatable (no URL found so far) report by Ken Sweet at Bloomberg. Thanks for both, Anonymous and Anonymous!

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Hong Kong: SCMP senior editors sacked

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.