“I do know the ownership of the SCMP is, I believe, close enough to Beijing, to put some credence in this particular side of this story.”
I don’t know either, but they are based in Hong Kong and go way back, long before China ‘liberated’ Hong Kong from the British. From what I can tell, they seem to be fairly independent - considering that state-run TV in China is now in full Communist mode, with health workers (or more likely actors) literally SINGING the praises of how their great government is solving the problem.
I think they were purchased by Alibaba a while ago.
Jack Ma is the biggest shareholder.
I think.
I used to subscribe to the paper, but that was a long time ago.