Over the last few weeks I have been struggling with the issue of bias in the SCMP.
I have for years been told by friends in the media, pundits on GeoExpat and people who repeat what they read that the SCMP is biased and heavily self censored.
A number of aggregators / media outlets claim that they are bias free or have a different bias from the SCMP. Two prominent outlets are the Harbour Times (been around for a while) and recently established HK Free Press.
The HT is more well rounded in its coverage of local issues and perhaps operates on a better business plan / funding structure than the HK FP. They will be around for a while.
The HK FP has optimism (ironically fuelled by a lot of cynicism towards the SCMP) on its side. I am still not sure if their coverage is good enough. I feel what we get from the HK FP is very much second hand.
BUT, my post is not about the HT or the HKFP. It is about spotting bias in the SCMP.
1) Do you feel that what they have published today is biased? What are the stories that you feel could have been portrayed differently? There are some obvious issues with some of their opinion columns but what about the news?
2) What are the issues / news that the local media have picked up today, which the SCMP has not covered? Would these issues have made any difference in the short term or long term or were they just "shit happens" and we don't have enough space left to print them?
(Just starting a discussion that perhaps everyone can benefit from .. I have no axe to grind.. )