Simone McCarthy is a Senior News Desk Reporter, China, for CNN International. Based in Hong Kong, she writes breaking news, analysis and feature stories on China’s politics, society, and foreign affairs. She is also a contributor to CNN’s three-times-per-week Meanwhile in China newsletter.

Before joining CNN in 2022, McCarthy covered China and health security at the South China Morning Post, where she drove coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s response to the outbreak. Her work was subsequently honored at the WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards in 2021. Prior to this role, she was a contributor to the US-based outlet SupChina, where she wrote feature stories on social trends and technology from Shanghai.

McCarthy is from Martha’s Vineyard in the US. She has a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University School of Journalism and a Bachelors in Literature from Yale University. She has studied Mandarin Chinese at Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beijing’s Tsinghua University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she continues her studies of the language.