海角大神

In the old days when Hong Kong was a British colony, the South China Morning Post spoke for the territory鈥檚 political and business elite. Beijing would frequently respond by excoriating the venerable English-language daily as a 鈥渞unning dog of the British empire.鈥�

Now, as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba takes over the paper, readers and staff fear that its future will be as a lapdog of the Communist regime on the mainland.

But the new owners must delicately tread between guarding the paper鈥檚 reputation for independence 鈥� key to its commercial prospects 鈥� and respecting Beijing鈥檚 political dictates, say media analysts.

鈥淚f they try to be really competitive in news coverage it will create problems for them with the [Chinese government],鈥� says David Bandurski, editor of the China Media Project at Hong Kong University. 鈥淭here are no easy solutions for Alibaba.鈥�

Since China took back Hong Kong in 1997, the former colony has enjoyed a privileged status, offering freedoms unknown on the mainland. From this vantage point, the SCMP has reported on sensitive domestic topics that no mainland Chinese newspaper would dare touch.

Covert pressure

The paper has long been known as a beacon of free expression, though critics have said for years that its light had flickered under covert pressure from Beijing. Now it has become the property of a flagship Chinese company whose success 鈥� like that of any big Chinese firm - depends on official benevolence.

So doubts about the paper鈥檚 independence have surfaced again.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, a former English teacher who is now among China's richest tycoons, scoffed at those doubts聽Wednesday, telling the Wall Street Journal that 鈥渋n our hands it [the SCMP] should get even more respect and attention and not be persecuted. Trust us.鈥�

Alibaba executives say the $226 million deal to buy the paper from its Malaysian owner, announced Dec. 11, was driven only by commercial motives and fits the corporation鈥檚 international strategy. Last year Alibaba listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $25 billion in what was the world's largest ever IPO.聽

Gong Wenxiang, a journalism professor at Peking University, is skeptical of the company's claims. 鈥淭his must be political,鈥� he says firmly. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a new maneuver鈥� by the government 鈥渢o try to strengthen China鈥檚 voice in the international sphere.鈥�

The Chinese government, via Alibaba鈥檚 ownership of the SCMP, is also keen 鈥渢o create a more powerful presence in public opinion鈥� in Hong Kong, where mistrust of Beijing exploded into weeks of anti-government demonstrations last year, Prof. Gong suggests.

Alibaba鈥檚 executive vice chairman, Joseph Tsai, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post that 鈥渨e will let the editors decide the editorial policy and direction of coverage for any story.鈥� 聽But he also presented his vision of the new SCMP as an alternative to western media, which he said were biased in covering China.

鈥淲estern mainstream news organizations cover China鈥�through the lens that China is a communist state鈥�and that taints their view of coverage,鈥� Mr. Tsai said. 鈥淲e see things differently.鈥�

49 journalists in Chinese jails

That does not mean that the paper will be a catspaw for Beijing, cautions Mr. Bandurski. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not so simple as saying they are aligned with the leadership,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd the Communist party does not trust the commercial media鈥� that it has allowed to grow on the mainland.

On Tuesday the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists released figures showing that China imprisons the most journalists of any nation, some 49 of 199 cases as of Dec. 1, including a number of business and finance journalists. (Egypt was No. 2.)聽

Bandurski fears that because of Mr. Ma鈥檚 close ties with Chinese government leaders and his need to safeguard his business interests on the mainland, 鈥渘ews coverage will become a political calculation.鈥�

How far such calculations might influence coverage nobody knows. 鈥淢a is not so stupid as to turn the paper into another China Daily,鈥� says Prof. Gong, referring to the dull and timid English-language daily in Beijing. 鈥淭hat would be a complete failure.鈥�

Gong sees Alibaba鈥檚 purchase of the SCMP as part of a new, more sophisticated and subtle government communications strategy. He hails it as an improvement over 鈥渙ld style Maoist propaganda.鈥� But he expects that even if the SCMP is given a long leash, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think Mr. Ma can make decisions on his own鈥� about the political stance of his new paper.

鈥淚t鈥檚 too political,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd any businessman in China knows that if you are too political you are close to failure. The propaganda authorities will have some kind of control.鈥�

That will pose tricky problems for the new proprietors, says one former editor. Mr. Tsai said Alibaba would end the paywall around SCMP content on the web, so 鈥渢hey clearly want more readers,鈥� the former editor points out. 鈥淏ut it will be a challenge to keep the readership鈥�if the flavor of the paper changes. Once people realize it is no longer the paper it was, they will lose interest.鈥�

One possible model, speculates Francis Moriarty, a veteran Hong Kong journalist and organizer of the Foreign Correspondents鈥� Club Human Rights Press Award, could be CCTV-USA. That programming, overseen by China's state-run broadcaster, is an effort to look and sound like a US TV news channel while toeing 鈥� and pushing 鈥� the Chinese government line.

鈥淚t could be a slick, well run organization producing eminently readable product,鈥� says Mr. Moriarty, who has written for the Monitor. 鈥淏ut Ma will have to walk a very interesting tightrope.鈥�