SCMP Leaves Readers Begging For More

Readers of the South China Morning Post were once again left begging for more context after finishing several of the latest articles published on the site today.

SCMP articles which are designed to fit in the palm of a reader’s hand often leave readers without much needed context, or answers to obvious questions, such as Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

“I just finished an online article about the Chinese government charging a bunch of Burmese nationals with murder and telecoms fraud,” said avid SCMP fan Chow Wai-Lam. “But, I still have some questions. Why doesn’t the article list the names of who was charged? Are those names under a court decree and can’t be released? Or, did the journalist not have access to that information? Either way, it would have been helpful to know. There’s also mention of some local powerful Ming family members being arrested, but that was just in the subheadline, and then nothing else for the rest of the article.”

Readers may also have been curious why the suspects were tried in China, and not in Burma, or how the cross-border crime fighting task force was established and who runs it. Were any of the scam funds recovered? If so, will authorities attempt to remit them back to the people who were cheated, or do those monies end up in some sort of government fund? SCMP doesn’t provide readers with any additional information, not even links to other internal articles that might cover some related aspect of the story.

Another reader, Leung Ka-Yan, gets the print edition everyday. “I’ve been reading the SCMP for more than twenty years. I keep hoping that each new edition will have articles that contain more context, more details, but every article just reads the same. Just as I feel like the journalist is getting deep into the substance of the issue, about to give me some background… it just ends.”

At press time, SCMP editors were reportedly reminding new hires to keep every article under 100 words—or risk being outwritten by someone who could.