Hong Kong's main English newspaper appoints third editor since 2007

Jul 3, 2009, 7:25 GMT

   Hong Kong - Hong Kong's biggest English-language daily newspaper, the South China Morning Post, said Friday that it was changing editors for the third time in three years.

   Reginal Chua, former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, has been appointed editor-in-chief of the Post, replacing CK Lau, who the newspaper said was resigning after two years as editor.

   Chua, 48, is to be joined by former Beijing correspondent for The New York Times David Lague as managing editor. Both men are to take up their new roles July 13.

   Lau took over as editor of the Post after the departure of American Mark Clifford after less than a year as editor-in-chief of the newspaper, which has a circulation of about 100,000.

   Clifford departed in controversial circumstances, having fired two journalists over the production of a joke leaving page for a colleague that the editor-in-chief deemed offensive.

   In a statement in Friday's newspaper, the newspaper's chief executive officer, Kuok Hui Kwong, said Lau had decided to resign to pursue personal interests after a 'long and distinguished' career.

   'CK has played a key role in strengthening and improving our editorial operations,' the statement said. 'A committed and well-respected professional, he has contributed significantly to the Post and to the overall media community in Hong Kong.'

   Chua has worked for the Wall Street Journal for 16 years and was most recently a deputy managing editor based in New York. Before that, he was the longest-serving editor of its Asian edition.

   'I'm very pleased to be joining the South China Morning Post and to be becoming part of a storied newspaper with a long and proud tradition of high-quality journalism,' he said.

   The Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch until the Kuok family took it over in the 1990s, is one of Asia's best-known English-language newspapers and was once one of the world's most profitable.

   However, falling advertising revenues and continuing editorial instability have dented its status. Despite his relatively short tenure, Lau held the sole editorship longer than several of his predecessors over the past decade.