Asia Sentinel: Top editor at SCMP resigned following row

Top Editor Forced to Resign at South China Morning Post
Justin Mitchell


Reported by Asia Sentinel, Hong Kong-based Asia online news provider, with additional writing by Dennis Chong

Staff turmoil claims the scalp of the business editor inside one of Asia’s biggest and most respected newspapers, Asia Sentinel reports. The turmoil inside SCMP continued with the forced resignation of the paper’s business editor, Stuart Jackson. The move is seen inside the paper as a sharp rebuke to Post Editor-in-Chief Mark Clifford, as Jackson was brought over to the Post from the Standard, rival paper from which both resigned earlier this year. This also came one month after a staff revolt against Clifford after he fired a number of staff over a fairwell joke page what Clifford called obscene language. Asia Sentinel reported that staffers met with the Post's senior management following a petition against Clifford over the sackings and deep unhappiness was expressed not only with Clifford but also with Jackson. Following the departure of Jackson, Karen Chan and Ewen Campbell "will supervise the operation of the business section until a new business editor is appointed,” according to an internal email sent by Clifford, obtained by Asia Sentinel. That incident uncovered sharp differences between Clifford’s management style and the paper’s employees. The row was another incident following Clifford fired two of his top aides at the Standard following an offer by the SCMP, which caused hatred among journalists close to his sacked aides.