A tech takeover: Alibaba and the transforming work culture of South China Morning Post

Abstract

In the first ten years after the handover of Hong Kong, the Chinese authorities’ control over Hong Kong media was indirect, largely relying on close connections with local businessmen who owned local media outlets. Before and after the handover, several important local newspapers that were originally operated as a family business were acquired by businessmen who had political and business interests in the mainland. While the changes of media ownership have been shaping the ecology of Hong Kong media industry, the rapid development of digital technology such as the internet and social media was another critical factor in the industry’s transformation. Alibaba, the powerful e-commerce conglomerate, has sought to leverage its technological expertise to advance its development in the media industry through acquiring the century-old Hong Kong English-language newspaper, South China Morning Post (SCMP) in 2016. This paper, by using SCMP as a case study, focuses on the workers and their use of technologies at the media work process, from which offers a lens to investigate the ecology of Hong Kong media industry within the transitional period from print to digital news production. The study illustrates that even with strong and advanced technological investment as the case of SCMP, the phenomenon of print-tech hybrid work culture exists amongst the media outlet. This case study also shows that the implementation of Alibaba work culture at SCMP through technological application keeps insignificant over the four years following the Chinese acquisition.