Media must be credible, balanced and objective: PM Lee

These hallmarks of ST should be upheld as it adapts to changing media scene, he says
By Walter Sim, The Straits Times, 16 Jul 2015

From its first issue on July 15, 1845, The Straits Times has chronicled the Singapore story.

And by telling the story of Singapore, through Singaporean eyes, the paper has helped its readers make sense of developments around them. In doing so, the paper became an important part of the Singapore story, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday at a celebration of the newspaper's 170th anniversary.

Mr Lee, tracing the legacy of Singapore's most-read newspaper, said: "If you want to know what happened in Singapore or in the region around us, The Straits Times is an indispensable place to start.

"Because it has reported news reliably and objectively over the years, and it has done so through Singaporean eyes, helping Singaporeans make sense of the world and our place in it."

This was so when Singapore was part of the Straits Settlement, during the Japanese Occupation, the merger with Malaysia and then Separation, and the country's journey from Third World to First.

"The Straits Times story is one important strand of the Singapore story," he said in a speech at the ArtScience Museum, where he opened the ST170 exhibition. The launch was attended by over 200 people.

The free exhibition, titled Singapore STories: Then. Now. Tomorrow, depicts Singapore's history through the pages of the newspaper. It opens tomorrow and runs from 10am to 7pm daily until Oct 4.

"As the newspaper of record, you have standing in our society. You are not a fly-by-night piece of paper circulated in dark alleys when nobody is looking," he added. "You must remember what you report and how you report also inevitably influence people's opinions and the course of events in Singapore."

But the 170-year-old Straits Times, which is older than dailies such as The New York Times and England's Daily Telegraph, has not been immune to shifting media trends.

Noting this, Mr Lee said it has made its content more accessible in various forms, and adapted its operations to changing patterns of news consumption in its recent redesign.

"The Straits Times has to be of the new generation, by the new generation, and for the new generation of readers," he said.

"At the same time, it still needs experienced hands in the newsroom and it still needs to look after its older readers and those who have stayed loyal to it for many decades."

As it adapts to the changing media landscape, Mr Lee said it must not lose sight of its role as the newspaper of record, and continue to "maintain (its) hallmark of credible, balanced, objective reporting".

"As a Singapore newspaper whose past, present and future are intrinsically tied to our nation, your natural stance is to be pro-Singapore," he said. Being pro-Singapore means taking a balanced, long- term perspective of the country's interests, reporting the news for Singaporeans through Singaporean eyes, and understanding the country's social and regional context when reporting on sensitive and emotional issues.

The Straits Times is 170 years old! Since 1845, the paper has witnessed and reported many events in Singapore's history...
Posted by Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Been to the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands? If you haven't, now's a good time to go. str.sg/Z53KIt's free...
Posted by The Straits Times on Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Safeguarding a precious heirloom
Recent revamp to give 'fine china' a new glow to ensure it remains treasured, says ST editor
By Jermyn Chow, Defence Correspondent, The Straits Times, 16 Jul 2015

On the day before former president S R Nathan took over as executive chairman of The Straits Times in 1984, he was exhorted by founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to take care of the paper, which the latter likened to a "bowl of china".

"You break it, I can piece it together, but it will never be the same. Try not to," said the late Mr Lee.

Yesterday, The Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez told the more than 200 guests who attended a celebration to mark the paper's 170th birthday that "the fine china is intact".

In fact, the newspaper's July 1 revamp across its print, online and mobile platforms has given it "a new gloss and a new glow", said Mr Fernandez, who took over as the paper's editor in 2012.

"The challenge for my colleagues and me, going forward, is to safeguard this precious piece of china," said Mr Fernandez, 49, in his speech at the launch of an exhibition on Singapore. "Not just as a museum piece, but to ensure that this family heirloom continues to be valued and treasured, relevant to the changing needs of ST readers, and the wider Singapore community."

Called Singapore STories: Then. Now. Tomorrow, the exhibition at the ArtScience Museum was officially launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night to mark ST's 170th anniversary.

The free exhibition, chronicling stories and photographs from ST's archives since its launch in 1845, will be open to the public from tomorrow to Oct 4. It was put together by a curatorial team comprising Straits Times Press general manager Susan Long, ST's picture editor Stephanie Yeow, chief photographer Joyce Fang, arts correspondent Huang Lijie, ArtScience Museum executive director Honor Harger and curator Julia Vasko.

CapitaLand is the presenting sponsor. Standard Chartered Bank is a gold sponsor and Best Denki is the equipment sponsor.

CapitaLand president and group chief executive Lim Ming Yan told ST the exhibition not only looks back at the past 170 years but also tries to paint "an interesting picture of the future".

The property developer crowdsourced for ideas on how to build the futuristic Singapore city earlier this year. These ideas will be on display at the exhibition as well.

Guests invited to last night's preview said the exhibition told the story of the paper and Singapore's growth over nearly two centuries.

Among them was freelance writer Leong Sek Choon, 54, who said visitors will get not only "a sense of how the nation came about and developed but also how the paper evolved".

Former ST editor-in-chief Peter Lim, who retired in 1990, said memories of his time in the newsroom are still fresh in his mind. "Journalism is so dynamic and timeless... There may be different personalities, different circumstances but it's the same human conditions. It's the same old story but with exciting new developments."

Right from the start, ST saw itself as being identified with the general interests of Singapore society. It saw Singapore through world wars, economic depression and race riots, said Mr Fernandez.

The paper has also fought off many competitors and "rode waves of change" in technology, from the introduction of the telegraph and the telephone to the Internet.

"Through it all, The Straits Times survived, and thrived, and lived to tell the story," said Mr Fernandez.

"And it is this that gives us a certain quiet confidence that we will see through the current turbulence in the media industry."

ST must continue to be conscious of its key role
PM Lee Hsien Loong spoke at the opening of the ST170 exhibition at the ArtScience Museum on Wednesday. This is a transcript of what he said.
The Straits Times, 17 Jul 2015

I'm very happy to celebrate with you on the actual day of The Straits Times' 170th birthday today, and to launch this very special exhibition, Singapore STories: Then. Now. Tomorrow.

The Straits Times has been the newspaper of record for Singapore for 170 years. It has reported many important events in Singapore, in the region and in the world around us - from the time when we were part of the Straits Settlements, to the war and the Japanese Occupation, to the post-war anti-colonial struggles and merger with Malaysia.

And then when Singapore separated from Malaysia, The Straits Times also separated into The Straits Times in Singapore and the New Straits Times in Malaysia.

Singapore has done well, and I think The Straits Times in Singapore has also done well.

From that time, The Straits Times reported on Singapore as we journeyed from Third World to First.

This year, Singapore celebrates SG50 and we're proud of how far we've come. And on your 170th birthday, I'm sure you are also proud of how far The Straits Times has come. It's a remarkable achievement to reach such a grand old age.

If you want to know what happened in Singapore or in the region around us, The Straits Times is an indispensable place to start - because it has reported news reliably and objectively over the years, and it has done so through Singaporean eyes, helping Singaporeans make sense of the world and our place in it.

And you can feel it from the front pages and the photographs in the exhibition - how much the world has changed, how much we in Singapore have changed, and how The Straits Times has changed.

So The Straits Times story is one important strand of the Singapore story.

The world is changing for Singapore. I think the world is changing for newspapers and it's changing for The Straits Times too.

Newspapers are consolidating, searching for a new model. Technology is disrupting the existing business models.

People's habits are changing, they're consuming news in new ways, not big meals but little snacks, especially through the Internet. And The Straits Times is affected by these trends, but it's adapting and modernising itself for the new age. It's made its content more accessible in various forms of social media. It's adapted its operations to the changing patterns of news consumption.

You must generate product all day and all night, and not once a day at offstone time.

And it has to do this in order to retain its relevance and its viability.

The Straits Times has to be of the new generation, by the new generation, and for the new generation of readers.

At the same time, it still needs experienced hands in the newsroom and it still needs to look after its older readers and those who have stayed loyal to it for many decades. They are still around, they haven't disappeared.

And I'm sure these considerations must have influenced your latest redesign of the newspaper, in print and online.

While you're adapting and finding new ways to produce a high-quality and commercially viable newspaper, you must continue to be conscious of your important role in Singapore, and maintain your hallmark of credible, balanced, objective reporting.

As the newspaper of record, you have standing in our society. You are not a fly-by-night piece of paper circulated in dark alleys when nobody is looking.

Everybody reads The Straits Times, and surveys show that Singapore newspapers, including The Straits Times, enjoy high credibility and respect.

So, you're not just an observer and a reporter of what happens, though that's your principal role.

But you must also remember that what you report and how you report also inevitably influence people's opinions and the course of events in Singapore.

Yes, there will be a place for eye- catching scandals and human interest stories, even in the most high-brow of newspapers. But I hope you will continue to maintain a balance, take a long-term perspective of Singapore's interests, and report the news for Singaporeans through Singaporean eyes.

Inform, educate and entertain - roughly in that order - and in the process upholding the national interest, not campaigning for personal or corporate purposes, understanding our social and our regional context when you're reporting and commenting on sensitive or emotional issues.

As a Singapore newspaper whose past, present and future is intrinsically tied to our nation, your natural stance is to be pro-Singapore, and I think that's the natural way for longevity for such a newspaper. So congratulations on your 170th birthday, and may you have many more happy and joyous years to come.

The Straits Times has been covering Singapore since 1845. Living History is an e-book that marks ST's 170th anniversary...
Posted by The Straits Times on Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Reflections on turning 170 today
Editorial, The Straits Times, 15 Jul 2015

On its 170th anniversary today, this newspaper is both an ultimate Singapore pioneer and a youthful groundbreaker. It cleaves to a long tradition of "the honourableness" of journalistic purposes and "faithful advocacy" of the public interest, while being "ever identified with the general interests" of the Singapore community, as declared by the very first editorial of The Straits Times, on July 15, 1845. And it looks forward to embracing ever- evolving forms of journalism spurred by a digital world, as the present team of journalists avows.

Imagining the future, as newspaper people are wont to do, 19th-century American editors envisaged readers seeing "every event in the kinetoscope (a motion-picture device)" alongside the published news, "a machine for transforming pictures by wire", and scope for readers to tailor content to fit their "own individual and particular wants". Prescient as their predecessors were, today's editors might be a little more circumspect about predicting the future of newspapers, given the quick march of technology and the accelerating pace with which news content is both produced and consumed. New forms might create novel ways of communicating and interacting with future users. Just when you thought the latest thing was the tablet, came the smartphone, and now the even smarter watch, with news being delivered faster, shorter and sharper, round the clock, as it happens.

For these very reasons, some critics claim that print newspapers have no future. That would be to ignore the quintessence of the newspaper, once dependent on pulp but now also borne over the air. As a cultural product, its dynamic and dialogic impulses represent an enduring recognition that its audience lies at the heart of all it does. The Straits Times' early existence was intertwined with the merchant community here. But as migrants poured in and planted the seeds of a nation, the paper sought to serve not just the elites and tuans, but also a broad mass audience, by being both authoritative and accessible. Over the years, it has captured the tumult and thrill of events without missing a beat - the fall of Singapore to invading forces, the scourge of Sars, and the triumphs of the nation's table tennis and football teams.

So embedded is the relationship that newspapers generally form with the communities they serve that the legendary Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway group is investing in newspapers, while others debate whether it's print or digital that should come first to sustain a viable business model. The Straits Times' approach is akin to what Mr Buffett's media chief Terry Kroeger declared earlier this year: "The truth is the model that's most likely to work is customer first." News that matters, and is trusted, served the way you, the reader, wants it was - and is - our way forward.