A view of the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) building in Toa Payoh. (File photo: TODAY/Najeer Yusof)
SINGAPORE: Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) will transfer its media business into a not-for-profit entity amid the ongoing challenge of falling advertising revenue, the company announced on Thursday (May 6).
The restructuring exercise involves transferring the entire media-related business of SPH to a newly incorporated wholly owned subsidiary, SPH Media Holdings.
The transfer involves relevant subsidiaries and employees, the News Centre and Print Centre and their respective leaseholds, as well as related intellectual property and information technology assets.
SPH will provide the initial resources and funding to capitalise SPH Media with a cash injection of S$80 million, S$30 million of SPH shares and SPH REIT units, and SPH's stakes in four of its digital media investments.
SPH Media will eventually be transferred to a not-for-profit entity for a nominal sum. This entity will be a newly formed public company limited by guarantee (CLG).
After the transfer of SPH Media to the CLG, SPH will no longer be subject to shareholder and other relevant restrictions under the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act, said the company.
"UNPRECEDENTED DISRUPTION"
The media industry has faced "unprecedented disruption" in recent years, SPH said in explaining the rationale for the move.
The company's operating revenue has halved in the past five years due largely to a decline in print advertising and print subscription revenue, it said.
SPH's media business has since fallen into the red, recording its first-ever loss of S$11.4 million for the financial year ended Aug 31, 2020.
If not for the Government's Job's Support Scheme (JSS), the loss would have been a deeper S$39.5 million, said SPH.
For the six months ended Feb 28, 2021, pre-tax profit fell 71 per cent to S$3.1 million compared to the same period a year ago. SPH would have incurred a pre-tax loss of S$9.7 million if not for the JSS grant, said the company.
Even with the resumption of business activities after Singapore's reopening from a COVID-19 "circuit breaker", decline in advertising revenue is expected to continue at a similar pace to the last five years, it said.
SPH's digital circulation now surpasses its print circulation, with digital transformation efforts nearly doubling the average monthly unique audience across all its titles to a record 28 million over the past two years.
But digital subscription and digital advertising have been unable to offset the decline in print advertising and print circulation revenues, said SPH.
The company has undertaken strict cost management measures in recent years to mitigate this.
"However, there is little scope for further cost cuts without impairing its ability to maintain quality journalism," said SPH.
"SPH's media business plays a critical function in Singapore with the provision of quality news and information to the public, in particular in the vernacular languages," said the company.
Given this, winding up the media business or selling it off were not feasible options, it said.
"However, remaining part of a publicly listed company where it is subject to expectations from shareholders of profitability and regular dividends is no longer a sustainable business model," said SPH.
"Hence, a not-for-profit structure that allows SPH Media to seek funding from a range of public and private sources with a shared interest in supporting quality journalism and credible information is the optimal solution."
Full story at Channel News Asia
SPH media restructuring: Privatisation, sale options considered but not viable
Speaking at a virtual dialogue organised by Sias, or the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) to address shareholder queries on Thursday evening, he said that options such as privatisation or selling the media business had indeed been considered.
However, any party that takes over the media business will be subject to the same challenges the company is facing in the media landscape, particularly the secular decline in print advertising revenue. Being in a commercial company whose shareholders expect a fair return was therefore not viable for the media business, said Mr Ng.
Transferring the entire media-related business to a company limited by guarantee, or CLG, will allow profits to be reinvested in the company rather than being distributed to shareholders.
"So this is how we came to a solution that requires us to find a sustainable future for the media business," he said. He added that the CLG model will present more opportunities for the business to raise funds.
SPH, which publishes The Business Times, had announced in May that it will transfer its entire media-related business to a CLG. The move was the result of a strategic review announced in March, amid structural changes that had severely disrupted the traditional business model, which had relied on print advertising revenue.
With the loss-making media business hived off, SPH is expected to benefit from its non-media assets, prompting queries as to why a "profitable business" should be handed over to Keppel Corporation.
Keppel had made a S$2.2 billion bid to privatise SPH's non-media business. The deal, which values SPH at S$3.4 billion, will take place through a scheme of arrangement, subject to SPH shareholders first approving its media restructuring plan.
Under the scheme, SPH shareholders will receive a total consideration of S$2.099 for each SPH share they own. This will consist of cash of S$0.668, 0.596 Keppel real estate investment trust (Reit) unit (valued at S$0.715) and 0.782 SPH Reit unit (valued at S$0.716).
Mr Ng said that while there is a plan to grow the non-media business on its own, the company had gone through the process of evaluating over 20 offers for its non-media business in order to get the best value for shareholders.
Addressing queries on Keppel's offer, Mr Ng said that while he understands that an all-cash offer may be favoured, none of the offerors had proposed such a deal.
SPH had said that the offer price of $2.099 per share represents a premium of about 40 per cent based on the last trading price before the announcement of SPH's strategic review on March 30.
Shareholders will also get to benefit from steady dividend yields in the 4 per cent range, based on the historical averages, for SPH Reit and Keppel Reit.
SPH will hold a virtual extraordinary general meeting at 2.30 pm on Sept 10 to seek shareholders' approval on its proposed restructuring and formation of a new constitution.
Shares of SPH ended Thursday at S$1.95, up S$0.02 or 1 per cent.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sph-media-restructuring-privatisation-sale-options-considered-but-not-viable
Ng Yat Chung should be made CEO of the corrupt Keppel Corp so he could sink it big time like he did NOL; I am positive in time to come he shall be hailed as a hero in the court of public opinion and all monumental fuck-ups previously committed thus forgiven.
The elites have run The Straits Times into the ground. What’s next?
Today we learnt from the news that Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is spinning off its media unit, including The Straits Times and many other publications, into a non-profit entity. This follows years of consistently poor performance amid digital disruption and other changes to the media industry.
Wiser minds will engage in more thorough post-mortems—has anybody seen Ho Ching’s feed today?—but I wanted to spark a small conversation on the culture of elite governance in Singapore.
“If not for the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), the loss would have been a deeper S$39.5 million,” Lee Boon Yang, SPH’s chairman, said in reference to the media business’s first-ever lost of S$11.4m, for the financial year which ended Aug 31 2020.
(Which includes management salaries. In case you missed it, since the JSS began in February 2020, the Singaporean taxpayer has helped pay even more for the upkeep of numerous millionaire elites.)
All this got me thinking. Why exactly is Lee Boon Yang the chairman of SPH?
Lee is a trained vet who entered politics in 1984 aged 37, and then entered the cabinet in 1991.
After leaving the cabinet in 2009, in the very same year he became chairman of the board of Keppel Corporation, where he is paid S$750,000 annually. Financially, I guess it was a nice cushion after having to give up his million-dollar ministership.
After leaving politics altogether in 2011, in the very same year he became chairman of the board of SPH, where he is paid S$216,000 annually. Financially, I guess it was a nice cushion after having to give up his (similar) politician’s pay.
It is not clear what qualifications Lee had to lead the board of a global conglomerate with offshore, marine and other interests, or the board of Singapore’s biggest media company. (Subservience?)
What we do know is that during his tenure both companies have performed poorly. Their stocks have tanked. Keppel has been ensnared in a massive corruption scandal while SPH is now on its knees seeking charity to salvage, among other things, one of Singapore’s fabled brands, The Straits Times, which was established in 1845. (Or one hundred and twenty years before Singapore became a fishing village.)
Yet it may seem harsh to focus only on a non-executive chairman, whose remit is limited. Far more damning is the composition of the entire SPH Board, which in turn is responsible for the choice of SPH’s CEO: Ng Yat Chung, a former chief of defence with zero prior experience in the media industry, was hired in 2017. (He’s the person caricatured by Sonny Liew above). The Board advises and helps the CEO on strategy and operations.
Let’s compare these Singaporean elites to the people who run a far more successful media brand. In 1843, just two years before The Straits Times was founded, the Brits who stayed at home established The Economist.
I decided to do a quick-and-dirty comparison of board and senior executive pay between SPH/The Straits Times and The Economist Group (TEG). I’ve chosen 2019 to reflect pre-pandemic levels.
Disclosure: I am a (tiny) minority shareholder in TEG, which is privately held. After joining the firm in 2006, I first bought shares in 2007 under the Employee Share Ownership Plan, which I still hold (despite leaving the firm in 2013).
Chairman of the Board
SPH: Lee Boon Yang, S$216,000
TEG: Paul Deighton, S$206,500 (£118,000 x 1.75, a rough average for the year)
Total independent directors’ salaries
SPH: S$1.11m
TEG: S$588,000 (£336,000)
CEO
SPH: Ng Yat Chung, S$1.79m
TEG: Chris Stibbs, S$1.49m (£852,000)
Editor-in-chief
The Straits Times: Warren Fernandez, S$1m (estimate)*
The Economist: Zanny Minton Beddoes, S$796,000 (£455,000)
Think about the glaring skills gap.
Lee Boon Yang has little international experience, while Paul Deighton is a former Goldman Sachs executive who was later CEO of the London Olympics.
SPH’s independent directors list is like a scholars’ old boys club—and girls, including Janet Ang, SISTIC chairperson and new Nominated MP. TEG’s include the likes of John Elkann, CEO of Axor.
SPH’s CEO, Ng Yat Chung, has no prior experience in media and, by his own admission, is not even a gentleman. TEG’s CEO is Chris Stibbs, who was head of Group Finance when I joined in 2006, and worked his way up to the role, becoming CEO in 2013. (Lara Boro took over in Sep 2019.)
Finally, The Straits Times’s chief editor is somebody whose name is not known outside of Toa Payoh, while The Economist’s chief editor is the incredible Zanny Minton Beddoes, the first woman to hold the position.
Think about the skills gap, and then think again about the salaries.
Do appointments and salaries at SPH reflect merit and talent—or political allegiance?
Which other sectors are the elites slowly running into the ground?
Remember, Ho Ching and other elites love to lecture ordinary Singaporeans about improving ourselves to be able to compete with global talent.
Well, let me ask the same question: is Lee Boon Yang the most talented person available to serve as chairman of Keppel and SPH? Does Ng Yat Chung have to face competition from the world’s best media moguls?
This whole SPH mess is symptomatic of one great problem with Singaporean business and politics today: overpaid elites with God complexes and too much to lose lording over underpaid, under appreciated underlings.
SPH’s chairman; the entire independent board; the CEO; and the editor-in-chief all earn markedly more than their peers at The Economist Group.
Let that sink in, dear reader.
Because soon they’ll be coming to you hat in hand.
https://sudhirtv.com/2021/05/06/the-elites-have-run-the-straits-times-into-the-ground-whats-next/
The toilet times praises itself on the front page of its own newspaper kym?
HOLY SHIT! PENANG COW WHO HAS ZERO DIGITAL MEDIA-RELATED EXPERIENCE WILL BECOME CHAIRMAN OF NEW NON-PROFIT ENTITY HIVED OFF FROM SPH!
SINGAPORE: Retired former minister Khaw Boon Wan will be the chairman of the not-for-profit entity that will oversee Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) media business when it is hived off, said Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran on Monday (May 10).
SPH said last week that it will transfer its entire media-related business to a newly formed public company limited by guarantee (CLG), amid the ongoing challenge of falling advertising revenue.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Iswaran said the decision to appoint a chairman was an important and immediate decision that had to be made by the CLG.
The decision was discussed with SPH’s existing management shareholders, who agreed to form the CLG and be its founding members. This ensures that local news media will remain “in the hands of trusted institutions with a long-term stake in Singapore”, Mr Iswaran said.
The management shareholders are OCBC, Great Eastern, UOB, DBS, Singtel, NTUC Income, Temasek via Fullerton, the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.
“They have all agreed that, given the national importance of this undertaking and the scale of the challenge, the chairman should be Mr Khaw Boon Wan.
“With his high standing and more than 25 years of public service experience in various senior appointments, Mr Khaw will be able to provide strong strategic leadership for the CLG,” said Mr Iswaran.
He added that Mr Khaw has agreed to the appointment, and will speak about this "in due course".
In a statement on Monday, Mr Khaw said the appointment is a "heavy responsibility".
"I accept it with some anxiety as I have no digital media experience," he said, adding that he will look into ways to "adapt relevant experiences from successful transformation elsewhere".
"I agree with Minister Iswaran on the local media's critical role and will do my best to ensure we succeed in this national project," said Mr Khaw.
"This assignment will disrupt my retirement! In the last one year, I have been blissfully content. But I cannot allow a Singapore institution to go into decline.
"I will see how I can help unleash the talent and the passion in our newsrooms. We will re-focus on our primary mission of providing quality journalism to help build this young nation."
More at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/khaw-boon-wan-chairman-sph-clg-media-business-14779766
Netizens lambast MCI for “wasting taxpayers’ money” to support SPH, urge SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung to step down instead
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has earlier announced that it will restructure itself and will be transferring its media business, SPH Media, to a not-for-profit entity as part of its strategic review.
This restructuring exercise will entail transferring the entire media-related businesses of SPH including relevant subsidiaries, relevant employees, News Centre, and Print Centre along with their respective leaseholds, as well as all related intellectual property and information technology assets to a newly incorporated wholly-owned subsidiary, SPH Media Holdings Pte Ltd.
SPH will provide the initial resources and funding by capitalising SPH Media with a cash injection of S$80 million, S$30 million worth of SPH shares, and SPH REIT units, as well as SPH’s stakes in four of its digital media investments.
The transfer will take place at a nominal sum. The not-for-profit entity will be a newly formed public company limited by guarantee CLG.
Following the transfer, SPH will thus no longer be subject to shareholder and other relevant restrictions under the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA).
The Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) released a statement on Thursday (6 May) noting that the Government is supportive of SPH’s plans and is prepared to provide funding support to help it “build capabilities for the future” and accelerate its digital transformation.
“It is in the interest of Singapore and Singaporeans that our local media continues to thrive and deliver quality journalism,” the Ministry wrote.
“After SPH Media is transferred to a CLG, MCI is prepared to provide it with funding support to help it build capabilities for the future.”
It added that Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran will also be delivering a ministerial statement on the matter in Parliament next Monday (10 May).
Mr Iswaran said in the statement that having a “professional, capable and respected local news media” is critical to Singapore’s national interest.
“They report through a Singaporean lens, so that our citizens have a good understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing our country, the choices we need to make, and our place in the world. The Government therefore supports high quality, credible journalism in our local news media,” he remarked.
Over on social media, many netizens took to CNA’s, ST’s and TODAY’s Facebook posts slamming the MCI’s move to support SPH’s plans to restructure as they noted that the Government is using “taxpayers’ money” to support the company.
Some even urged SPH CEO Ng Yat Chung to step down from his position, saying that his “incompetence” and “bad management” have caused the company’s failures.
One netizen wrote: “Why are taxpayers funding the incompetence of the CEO? Just fire him and get another more competent one to turn it around lah..”
One netizen commented that the MCI being supportive of SPH’s plans to restructure seems like “a bail out by taxpayers”, adding that it may be “more cost-effective” to change management instead of transferring the media business to a not-for-profit entity.
Another netizen commented that SPH should “remove all the redundant old-timers” before expecting taxpayers to pay for “these headcounts”.
“Since newspaper getting thinner, magazines closed down many and readership all dropped tremendously, do SPH still need so many editorial staff and Group Editors? Please, time to review deeper before passing the costs to tax payers,” said the netizen.
A couple of netizens commented that the Government is using the citizens’ “hard earned money” for their “own propaganda”.
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2021/05/08/netizens-lambast-mci-for-wasting-taxpayers-money-to-support-sph-urge-sph-ceo-ng-yat-chung-to-step-down-instead/
Grim Reaper Waves Scythe at Singapore’s Flagship Newspaper
Once a highly profitable newspaper with regional pretensions, Singapore’s Straits Times and its vernacular stablemates are being dumped as dud assets by SPH Group, a depressing indication that even with a monopoly and a captive audience, print journalism was unable to survive profitably.
The paper declares combined print and digital daily circulation of 370,700, with another 5,000 in a Myanmar edition and 2,500 in the Sultanate of Brunei.
SPH had already diversified away from newspapers into real estate, shopping malls in Singapore and Australia, aged care homes in Singapore and Japan, purpose-built student accommodation in the UK and Germany and 5G telecommunications locally.
Chairman Lee Boon Yang said shareholders have little tolerance for depressed profits and dividends. The SPH Group board unanimously agreed to bucket the media assets into a stand-alone entity which would be transferred to a non-profit, limited-by-guarantee company, for private-public funding by October. (A limited-by-guarantee company is a distinct legal entity from its owners and is responsible for its own debts)
Red ink flood
The media assets of the Singapore Press Holdings conglomerate suffered their first full-year loss of S$11.4 million (US$8.55 million) for the financial year ending August 31, 2020. The company said if not for the government’s injection of its Jobs Support Scheme for the Covid-19 crisis, the loss would have been S$39.5 million. For the six months of the current financial year to end-February 2021, pre-tax profit declined by 71 percent compared to the same period last year.
There is no gravity-defying trick for advertising-dependent traditional newspapers. Advertisers have switched budgets from high-cost, high-wastage print advertising to the affordable inventory of online sites and social media. Furthermore, they can specify the target audiences they want to reach. SPH has aggressively invested in digital start-ups and expanded digital revenues and subscriptions, but the digital contributions fall far short of the heavy declines in print.
As the diversified parent group revenues declined from 2016 – due largely to shrinking media revenues, its dividends to shareholders shriveled from 18 cents per share in 2016 to S2.5 cents in 2020. That was the last straw. The SPH board, cattle-prodded by irate shareholders, agreed on drastic surgery of the diseased media limb. To add insult to injury, SPH Group was dropped in June last year by the Stock Exchange from the top 30 listed companies (by market capitalization), that constitute its ST Index (STI).
By end-March 2021, SPH concluded a strategic review “to unlock and maximize long-term shareholder value.” The market read that as intent to excise the media drag. At its May 6 press conference, SPH confirmed bundling its media assets into a wholly-owned SPH Media Holdings entity. SPH Group felt that retaining the underperforming media assets under shareholder expectations of profits and dividends, was not sustainable.
The media entity will be fast-tracked by October into a nonprofit company, without share capital or shareholders, for public and private funding, plus extra government financial support. It will be managed more as a public good like the Arts House and the arts centers of the Esplanade, which have similar ‘limited by guarantee’ structures. The Ministry of Communications & Information has given approval in principle to the restructuring. The listed group will be free from all the previous obligations under media control legislation.
Send-off provisions
SPH Media Holdings sails off with a cash injection of S$80 million, SPH shares worth S$30 million, SPH Reit units, plus SPH stakes in four digital media investments. It will retain its staff, intellectual property, leasehold land, print assets, and information technology back-end. Chairman Lee said this would allow a three to four year “safe landing” for the stand-alone entity, provided it is prudently managed.
Lee left the options to “right-size, down-size, adjust wages, etc.” for the new entity to decide. The media operations have undergone three rounds of retrenchment over three years. Last August another 140 staff were let go. Lee emphasized that the transfer would not disadvantage or undermine the media capabilities of SPH Media Holdings. There was little room left to cut costs without adversely impacting “quality journalism.”
The chairman was cool and paternal, saying all the right things to calm anxious staff, and even more anxious Singapore citizens. Shutting down the media assets was not an option, as they were critical information providers for Singapore’s multi-ethnic society. Asked if government funding would compromise editorial independence, chairman Lee evoked the “values” of earning public trust, confidence, and respect, which would be the DNA “ported over” to the new entity, to nurture its legacy.
These pious claims would stump citizens and media observers alike. The SPH puts its journalistic capabilities to work on superb coverage of the politics of its neighbors. But it cannot serve the same critical analysis to its citizens about their own nation. Previous management had “ported over” security personnel into the newsroom to screen local copy for “unpatriotic content.”
But there was no other way for Lee to explain hacking off the loss-making media assets in order to free the listed company to grow. The group negotiated a formula with government for SPH Media to continue as a public service. Foundations and trusts owning media have proven viable in Germany, France, the UK, and USA. The commitment to independent journalism of those media brands are why they have trust, respect, and public support. That may be the challenge for SPH Media.
“Chairman is a gentleman…I am not”
International reporters asking inconvenient questions have long been swatted angrily by the late Lee Kuan Yew and his successors. It is taboo to dare to ask questions beyond the staged theatre. But a Singaporean journalist from the regional broadcaster Channel News Asia (CNA) dared to ask. Her second question was if the various initiatives undertaken by SPH Group failed, who was responsible? Both questions were addressed to the chairman.
The second question triggered apoplexy in CEO Ng Yat Chung, the retired lieutenant-general whose tenure as group president and CEO of Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines from 2011-2017 saw the nation’s shipping icon sold to French shipping line CMA. He had announced in 2016 as CEO that “without the scale necessary to compete on costs, the best choice was to sell." In its first quarter 2017 after acquisition, CMA turned NOL into a net profit of S$26 million.
Ng turned into a fuming, pugnacious, parade-ground bully. “I take umbrage,” he shouted, berating the reporters present and the CNA reporter, in particular, pointing an accusatory finger at her. He challenged the reporters if in doing their jobs they ‘concede’ editorial to advertisers. How dare she impugn SPH titles? That was not her question. He evaded the real question that triggered his wrath.
Ng lost his cool badly in public, on live broadcast. “The chairman is a gentleman…I am not” he smirked. The irony of the nation’s premier media CEO being so inept at handling reporters was not lost on Singapore’s feisty social media commentators, who are having a field day.
Questions have been raised repeatedly about the wisdom of PM Lee, a former brigadier-general, flipping his buddies into GLCs and public-listed corporations. There are many more perched where they destroy enterprise value cluelessly. Most were brilliant academic scholars. SPH touted the “three masters’ degrees” that Ng had accumulated when they appointed him after his NOL debacle.
https://www.asiasentinel.com/p/grim-reaper-waves-scythe-at-singapores
The minister was also asked for his thoughts on SPH chief executive Ng Yat Chung's comments at a press conference announcing the move, which have sparked a furore online.
Mr Ng had told the reporter he took umbrage at her question, and a video of his remarks went viral. The reporter, from Mediacorp's CNA Digital, had asked if the company "will now pivot to emphasise editorial integrity, for example, ahead of advertiser interests".
"Both the reporter who asked the question, and her editor, Walter (Fernandez), know that taking money from an advertiser doesn't automatically mean that independence is compromised," Mr Shanmugam said.
"If that were so, most newspapers in the world would not be considered independent because most newspapers do, in fact, completely rely on advertisements."
He added that the question was nevertheless a fair one, given that journalists would be concerned about their independence.
Separately, Mr Ng issued an apology on the subject on Saturday. He told The Straits Times: "I had stood up for SPH Media's long-cherished editorial integrity and will continue to do so. Being a direct and blunt-speaking person, I apologise for any offence I might have caused and regret any distraction from the merits of the proposed restructuring."
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/sph-media-restructuring-must-be-seen-in-context-of-pressures-faced-by-newspapers
Sinkie takes umbrage at SPH CEO's boorish behaviour, starts petition demanding that he be sacked.
https://www.change.org/p/the-board-of-singapore-press-holdings-singaporeans-take-umbrage-at-sph-ceo-s-behaviour
Fun fact: Umbrage Ng was paid more than 1.3 million bucks last year despite SPH having suffered substantial losses.
Some SPH staff concerned about editorial independence of non-profit funding model, as worries over job security ease
SINGAPORE — After the bombshell announcement that the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) would be cutting off its media business arm to form a not-for-profit entity, there were initial fears by employees over their job security and wages.
The worries were somewhat assuaged after several reassurances from the company’s upper management. What lingered were concerns about how the change would impact their day-to-day reporting.
This was the feedback from some staff members of SPH’s media business, who spoke to TODAY on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
With the ongoing challenges of falling advertising revenue, SPH announced on Thursday (May 6) that its media business will be first housed under a new subsidiary, SPH Media Holdings, and eventually become a company limited by guarantee. This is expected to happen by October, subject to shareholders’ approval.
While restructuring it into a company limited by guarantee will allow its media business to get funding from private and public sources, including extra financial support from the Government, employees there told TODAY that it is anyone’s guess who would choose to fund the new entity.
One staff member who has worked in one of its newsrooms for four years said: “Who it gets its funding from... would dictate the direction SPH is taking. That’s the clarity people are asking for right now.”
TODAY learned that SPH held two town hall meetings on Thursday evening with its employees.
Mr Warren Fernandez, who is the editor-in-chief of English daily The Straits Times, fielded several questions from the floor on whether there would be any retrenchments or pay cuts.
Staff members who attended the town halls said Mr Fernandez reassured them that there are no such plans to retrench workers and that moving SPH’s media business into a company limited by guarantee was to ensure the longevity of the newsroom.
One newsroom employee told TODAY that he felt more assured after the session because it allayed people’s concerns on job security.
“That said, there is still uncertainty. We are not sure how roles might change, whether there will be re-organisation,” he said.
The employees interviewed said that there were already uncertainties in the newsrooms even before the announcement on Thursday morning.
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/some-sph-staff-concerned-about-editorial-independence-non-profit-funding-model-worries
RIP Chew Hui Min's career, how dare she questioned an ex 3-star paper general! 成何体统!