Editorial independence is a Western talking point often invoked by Propaganda journals to show they're not controlled by anyone. BBC says the same stuff.Jack Ma doesn’t have control over what articles can or cannot be published. Unlike Jeff Bezos he doesn’t maintain editorial control over them.
At the end of they day, their bills are paid by its owner company (in this case Alibaba). I refuse to believe that a parent company has no power over how its subsidiary functions.
Jack Ma doesn't screen each and every article but he can certainly nudge SCMP to go in a specific direction.