Despite being Hong Kong’s most prominent news platform, the SCMP found itself in the headlines this week for a little boo-boo that saw them raise the price of a pro-Occupy Central ad from an agreed HKD45,000 to HKD147,000.
Originally booked by a group of Diocesan Boys’ and Girls’ School students, the advertisement called for scrutiny on police brutality and for demands for universal suffrage to be properly addressed. However, when the cost of the advertisement was hiked up by HKD102,000 within half an hour of the submission deadline, it was pulled by the students, transferred to Ming Pao, and the SCMP immediately went under fire.
Andrew Chan, one of the initiators of the ad, wrote on Facebook, “Shame on South China Morning Post for playing dirty political censorship tricks”.
In response, the SCMP stressed that politics was not the cause of the “mishap”; rather, it was “an internal error and the client was duly informed”. A spokesperson explained that the ad was initially considered an education-related advertisement, which is cheaper than general advertisement, therefore the lower price was incorrectly quoted.
In a perhaps slightly over-defensive comment, the newspaper told Marketing, “It should be noted that the SCMP has been ceaselessly reporting the Occupy Central and Umbrella Movement. Our coverage was cited and referenced by a number of international media”.
Oooh, get you!
