When I joined the South China Morning Post as a green reporter in 2007, I had received no prior training in English news writing. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I have learnt much of my English news writing skills by comparing my raw copies with products polished by our respected chief copy editor Mike Simms.
Mike was a highly professional and intelligent journalist whose wit impressed everyone around him. A native of New Zealand, he lived in Hong Kong for years and I would say his knowledge about the local society and politics was unmatched even by many who grew up here.
He was not a talkative member of the newsroom but if you have the chance to chat with him you would enjoy his sense of humour and pleasant personality. As in all newsrooms, when he approached a reporter in the evening it would mostly be for something that he sought to clarify, or an error that the reporter had made. Despite the pressure to both meet tight editorial deadlines and ensure accuracy, Mike would never let go a story with a single sentence that did not make sense. He would also quickly find better words that writers might not have thought of and make complicated subjects comprehensible to readers without compromising accuracy and depth of our news reports.
Before the time when everybody had a smartphone and we reporters could proofread edited copies on the way home, we were left with the choices of either staying in the newsroom till late at night after a long day or risking seeing a newly introduced mistake in the newspaper the next morning. Worse still, the latter could mean receiving complaints from interviewees and readers. Call me lazy but whenever I saw my stories in Mike’s hands, I would just happily go home!
On several occasions I realised my oversight only when Mike asked me a very simple but sensible question. Those mistakes did not only concern language but also numbers - I confess my mathematics is poor! A knowledgeable senior, he never talked to young reporters in a “Let-me-teach-you” manner and never tried to embarrass anyone who made mistakes in their writing. He would never change a word for the sake of changing it either as he very much respected the originality of reporters’ work. As our gatekeeper he was extremely committed to guarding the quality of our publication and that earned our respect for him.
Mike was our human Babelfish and Google Translation but he certainly did a much better job than them. I remember very well a day when I was still newbie at the Post, there was a Chinese word of which I could not think of an English equivalent. I asked every bilingual colleague whom I knew and all scratched their heads. When I approached my editor Quinton Chan for help, he had no idea what the word should be but told me: “Why don’t you ask Mike? He is fluent in Cantonese.” Problem swiftly solved! Unfortunately I can no longer recall the word which gave me a hard time. But since that episode I knew whom to turn to when I was lost in translation. In years to follow, I have suggested some of my younger colleagues seeking Mike’s advice in such situations. Regrettably I have never had an opportunity to find out how fluent his Cantonese was. Another big regret is that the humble Mike refused to show off his Cantonese proficiency when invited to sing at a karaoke party to send Quinton off……
When I left the Post for the first time in 2011, I went to Mike and personally thanked him for bearing with my poor writing and saving my errors for years. His response surprised me: “In fact I have made a mistake in one of your stories.” My eyebrows were raised. He would not tell me which story it was and the truth remains a mystery…...
Mike was so devoted to journalism that he did not want to retire when he reached the company’s official retirement age. As far as I understand the Post extended his job contract for some time. Although it was widely rumoured that his seat in Leighton Road had bad fung shui - unscientifically proven by the multiple injuries he suffered in his last few years of employment, he insisted on staying where he was. One day I heard that he was really retiring. I asked him about the news and he said, “No, I am not retiring. They are retiring me.” Again, a very precise use of words!
Some time after being retired, Mike set up a website called Good Language and he explained his philosophy of “Good language is better than bad language” there (See http://www.good-language.com/p/home.html). On his Facebook account we would from time to time read posts titled “Tautology of the day” with nonsense in news articles that he frowned upon. When we found a mistake in the paper, my colleagues and I would moan: “We should have Mike back!” In such a challenging time of online journalism when instant news is king and multiple deadlines in a day have replaced a deadline (or at most two) per night, a gatekeeper of quality journalism as Mike will be dearly missed.
Goodbye, our beloved Mike. I will always think of you when I see a tautology in the newspaper. May you rest in peace.
