SCMP was sold to the Alibaba group in 2016.

It is now owned by Jack Ma (Alibaba / 1688.com) but it takes a decidedly mixed editorial stance: some articles are very pro-China, and align with / support central government position. Other articles are (if not pro-US), aligned with US-policy positions and norms, and critical of China and the central government.

I expected SCMP would quickly become way more pro-China, supportive of central government on every issue after purchase by Ma, but while that has happened to some extent, it was very gradual.

Ma has stated that he wanted the paper to represent China to the outside world from more angles and perspectives.

Personally I find the mixed editorial stance annoying. I wish it would be more decisively one-side like most Western outlets I'm used to. But it really is mixed and has something for everyone, and it's true that you can find perspectives from "both sides" or "multiple sides" there, so I think it is achieving its objective of representing China in a fair way to readers.

For those reasons I think SCMP is a very reliable source for news on the region if you cannot read Chinese / even if you can. If you combine perspective across SCMP, a Western outlet, and a Chinese outlet (like: http://en.people.cn/) you get a much more faithful idea about China just reading one.

SCMP was acquired by Alibaba in 2016 [1], with predictable consequences [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Morning_Post#Purch...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Morning_Post#Contr...