Pressing on

Straits Times

3 days ago

Celebrating The Straits Times' legacy while embracing change will keep us relevant.
Yishun Innova Junior College students taking part in the What's The News? quiz competition – organised by ST as part of its 180th anniversary outreach – at Our Tampines Hub on May 21.
I was youngish once, and back in 2003 when I was 39, an editor asked me to write a paper on how The Straits Times could attract young readers in a new mobile age.
At the time, I was the editor of Life!, the section that covered arts, entertainment and lifestyle topics like fashion and food. It drew a younger readership.
That September, I had attended a conference in Helsinki organised by the World Association of Newspapers. The theme: attracting and retaining young readers.
Some presentations stood out. The Toronto Star in Canada had launched a free weekly tabloid for tweens, and El Mundo in Spain had one for teens. A French company created four tabloids for children aged five to 14, designed to be read in 10 minutes.
But the most memorable idea came from Finland's Helsingin Sanomat. Every Sunday to Thursday, eight students came to the newsroom to help produce one page in the paper. They worked in a glass atrium lobby in full public view, wore cool T-shirts and used what I described in my report as 'nice PCs'.
'There's a piano,' I wrote, 'and on the day I was there, one student took time out to play the piano while another played the violin.' (I still have that report).
The media industry in 2003 had already seen major upheavals, the impact of which – looking back from 2025 – we in the traditional newspaper world didn't fully grasp, or didn't want to. Many ideas at the conference were distinctly print-centric.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore HSA intensifies crackdown on vapes; young suspected Kpod peddlers nabbed in Bishan, Yishun
Singapore Man charged over distributing nearly 3 tonnes of vapes in one day in Bishan, Ubi Avenue 3
Singapore Public healthcare institutions to record all Kpod cases, confiscate vapes: MOH, HSA
Singapore Man allegedly attacks woman with knife at Kallang Wave Mall, to be charged with attempted murder
Singapore Singapore boosts support for Timor-Leste as it prepares to join Asean
Singapore UN aviation and maritime agencies pledge to collaborate to boost safety, tackle challenges
Singapore High Court dismisses appeal of drink driver who killed one after treating Tampines road like racetrack
Singapore 18 years' jail for woman who hacked adoptive father to death after tussle over Sengkang flat
Still, even though we didn't know then what a digital future would look like, we didn't want to be left behind by technology. By the mid-1990s, the internet was truly upon us and newspapers around the world rushed to set up websites. The Straits Times Interactive launched in 1995.
For years after that, management time was spent wrestling with a key question: Should we charge for online content, or give it for free? If free, would print sales plunge? But if we charged, how could we compete with titles without paywalls?
At the heart of the dilemma was revenue. Print advertisements brought in far more money than digital ones. So, for a long time, the major concern was how to grow digitally without pulling too many readers from print. The edict 'don't cannibalise print' became muscle memory for many of us.
At the turn of the century, with 24-hour cable news and growing demand for visuals, newspapers also tried building broadcast arms. Reporters were told to become 'amphibious', equally adept at writing a story and presenting it on camera. I was even roped in to host a TV show, World Life, for a thankfully short few months.
The broadcast experiment was short-lived. TV production was costly and complex. Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) foray lasted four years, ending in 2004. But video didn't die. It evolved. With the rise of the internet, smartphones, YouTube and social media, video returned in nimbler forms – shot on phones, made quickly for online viewers with short attention spans, and far more forgiving about production and delivery.
Around that time came another trend: free commuter sheets packed with short stories and ads. The idea was to meet young, urban readers where they were – on the move, at train stations. So from SPH came Streats (2000 to 2004) and the English-Chinese My Paper (2006 to 2016). Hard to imagine now, but people still read newspapers on their commutes in those days.
By 2003, when I wrote that paper on young readers, mobile technology was already changing habits, though the smartphone revolution was still four years away. (The iPhone was launched in 2007.)
'Today, the biggest challenge/threat/buzzword is mobile technology – SMS, MMS, wireless terminals, PDAs,' my report said.
'Like newspapers, mobile phones and other wireless devices allow you to get news headlines and other information. But unlike newspapers, they also give you access to the Net, games, music, messages, corporate data and also serve as diaries, all 24/7.'
I added, not without frustration: 'The Young Reader is a most difficult customer to please. He has a very short attention span, is fickle in his taste and lacks loyalty... He can devote hours playing Counter-Strike on his PC and Snake on his Nokia phone, but it would kill him to spend five minutes reading a newspaper. What's wrong with him?'
Courting the young
I joined The Straits Times in 1985 and for as long as I can remember, the paper has grappled with attracting younger readers. This was not just to grow our audience but to ensure that each new generation sees independent, credible journalism as part of their daily lives.
By 2003, we had tried many things: a school holiday programme where children could join activities organised by the paper (in 2000, they got to see Jackie Chan at a screening of Shanghai Noon), education-themed pages, 'Gen Y' pages, school media clubs and a Life! This Weekend section.
The re-invention hasn't stopped.
We have since launched student publications, upgraded our website, launched mobile apps, produced streaming videos, hosted live blogs, built interactive graphics and produced podcasts. We have explored new storytelling formats to engage on-the-go digital natives.
We embraced social media early on, from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok. We have deepened our community outreach, all the while staying focused on journalism and being a credible source of regional and international news.
Actor Jackie Chan at GV Grand in 2000. Children got to see the Hong Kong star at a screening of Shanghai Noon through a school holiday programme where they could join activities organised by The Straits Times.
ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
But media habits shift constantly, and the competition for attention is relentless. A brand that isn't constantly building new relationships – not only with the young but also with readers of all ages embracing technology – risks losing its place.
There's a lesson in the 2003 report I wrote.
The most compelling speaker at the Helsinki conference wasn't from a paper but from Nokia. The Finnish phone-maker then had 420 million users, 300 million of whom played Snake.
Addressing the newspaper audience, the top executive from Nokia warned: Any information that could be digitised would be digitised. New media – from e-mail to digital cameras and even TV – will 'have mobility'. Some industries have embraced 'e-technology', but newspapers were resistant. To survive, we must go mobile.
The irony? Nokia itself missed the mobile internet revolution.
When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 and Google followed with Android, Nokia was stuck with an outdated operating system. Its 2011 partnership with Microsoft couldn't turn things around. It sold its mobile phone division to Microsoft in 2014 . Microsoft later exited the space entirely.
It is a cautionary tale.
For a long time, the major concern was how to grow digitally without pulling too many readers from print.
ST ILLUSTRATION: MANNY FRANCISCO
The Straits Times turns 180 this year. This legacy anchors us and reminds us that we are part of a long, meaningful and continuing story. Others came before us, and we are just one chapter, holding the baton before passing it on.
But heritage alone isn't enough.
The Nokia story reminds us that past success is no defence against being overtaken by change.
Of course, we're in a different space. Nokia was primarily a hardware maker caught off guard by a software revolution. The Straits Times is more than a platform. We are a brand with purpose and identity, built on trusted journalism and a deep understanding of Singapore's evolving story.
Whether in print, online, on video, podcast or social media post, we tell stories that reflect the heart and soul of Singapore. This is what keeps us relevant.
The ability to keep listening, adapting and building trust with our readers is what will help us continue evolving – and remaining a part of your lives for years to come.