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South China Morning Post

Is this your company?

A legacy newspaper turned upside down by atrocious leadership - Employee South China Morning Post Employee Review

2.0
May 11, 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people overall. Nice office design. Please note next paragraph.

Cons

The current state of change at SCMP exemplifies incompetence in leadership, degradation of content production, and an uprooting of all its fundamental strengths as the leading English medium newspaper. The recent change in leadership and organisation is an atrocious series of events where team structures have been demolished and replaced by a dysfunctional compartmentalisation of employees. SCMP used to be a haven for journalists, marketing professionals and digital experts to synthesise ideas and generate high quality news. Brutally reinforcing strict on site attendance is a killer of productivity. The new compartmentalisation and dictatorial working environment will inevitably result in a dissolution of creativity, generation of innovation, and team spirit. Key leaders within the organisation have either been bluntly removed or forced to leave out of strategic and idealistic differences. As this shift in power continues to permeate the increasingly fragile ecosystem of SCMP, there will be continued brain drain of talent from the company. The new CEO does not stand for the values upheld by this legacy newspaper for many years. Tactics of humiliation are manipulative and fosters a toxic working environment. Undoubtedly, this pushes employees to churn out low quality work and one can clearly observe this shift in SCMP’s newest content and initiatives in delivering content to its users - a rapid decline in journalistic professionalism and integrity. What used to be a legacy, a reliable and educational resource for Hong Kong and global readers alike, is now experiencing a dramatic and destructive evolution.

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South China Morning Post Response
3y
Thank you for taking the time to share your candid feedback on your experience with SCMP. We acknowledge your sentiment and feel disheartened to hear of the challenges you and your peers are experiencing. We recognise the importance of these aspects in fostering a healthy work environment and take these concerns seriously. As any organisation does with transitions in its leadership, we are going through significant changes as reflected in our strategy reviews. What has not changed, however, is the shared understanding of respect and collaboration as the foundation of our values. New management is endeavouring diligently to find their footing as they steer the organisation towards a new business phase. Transformation, especially for such a large organisation, can be incredibly complex, and we are cognizant of the fact that there is much that can be improved upon and done. We hope that you will be patient with us and bear with us as we rely on the support of our employees to help us stay true to our vision and mission. Please trust that it is our every intention to create a safe, sustainable and engaging environment for our people, even if we may fall short at times as humans do. We accept all constructive criticism and will open more channels of communications internally to properly restore trust. Starting this month (May 2023), we will invite regular organisational wide submissions on feedback that would be officially shared with management to address and handle. Employees will be guaranteed anonymity, as announced in internal communications.

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5.0
May 13, 2025
Anonymous intern
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Pros

Great experience for early career to know the industry

Cons

The salary is not enough to live in HK but it is common for internship in the journalism industry

5.0
Oct 21, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

SCMP is probably the best place I've worked in my career. The pay is lower than I'm used to, but that's easily offset by my excellent colleagues, great editorial freedom and an editor-in-chief I really respect.

Cons

I think that perhaps the opportunities for career growth within the company may not be so obvious, which can be demotivating in the long run. It's not entirely clear how the promotion process works (or if it's even possible, depending on which department you work in)

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South China Morning Post Response
1y
Thank you for your comments. Please contact me directly to further discuss your suggestion to create a transparent career plan. A direct dialogue will be very helpful for us to make SCMP an even better place to work. Best regards, Anthony Wong Head of People
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