Equating cutting costs with cutting manpower may send the ST into a death spiral. I have witnessed this happen to other print media for example the now defunct FEER and the AWSJ ( the current WSJ is a mere replica of the US newspaper whereas AWSJ was a distinct and separate entity). In both these cases a similar dynamic was at play: the paper lost money; a management consultant from HQ was brought it ( I believe ST hired someone too); predictably the recommendation was to cut costs the major one of which in any newspaper must be the writers; the in-depth, detailed and textured reporting for which the two publications were known and for which they commanded a core loyal readership were replaced by short, superficial pieces by writers with little experience of the region; consequently the loyal core left without the publications gaining new a new readership sending the publications into a dead spiral. The same happened to Asiaweek. Whatever you may think of the ST, its regional coverage is unexcelled by any other Asian newspaper and it is read for that by elites throughout Southeast Asia. I hope the ST will not make the same mistake as FEER and AWSJ and cut its foreign bureaus. The fact is all print publications across the world are losing readers as new generations get their news or what passes for news ( mainly opinion) from other sources. This is a global trend that SPH ought to recognized cannot be bucked. The only solution if ST wants to retain its print publications is cross-subsidization from other parts of SPH. Otherwise we will just see a lowering of quality and depth of regional news coverage --- already evident in Sunday Times which is trashier than even TNP --- and a slow death. Singapore would then lose an important source of regional soft power. Alert readers will notice that I have confined my comments only to STs regional news; domestically the ST had already hired reporters people who were under the impression that the young of rats are mice and I can only wring my hands in despair.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 08:37:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015